What More Can I Do That right? (April 20th)

Wow, where did this week go??

I feel like I was just writing everyone, and yet here I am again.

This week was a really good week.  Nothing really new going on but Hermana Ka'a'a and I have just been having such good feelings about the work.   We having been sorting through a lot of the people that are not ready yet and we know it is only a matter of time before someone that is prepared comes a long. 

So this week we had Zone Conference which was really good.  We talked a lot about what more we can do that is right.  Instead of focusing so much on what we aren't doing, as a mission we are trying to put our focus more on what more we can do as individuals to be worthy of the spirit and gain the Lord's trust.  It has been awesome to see how much more there is I can be doing as a missionary.  It is a little bit overwhelming but I know that as long as I take it one step at a time and try not to do everything at once that I will see blessings because of it.  Also we learned at zone conference that in 6-8 weeks we will be getting Ipads.  Woooh! I am excited to see all of the cool missionary tools we will have access to through them.  

Also this week I went on exchanges with one of the Sister Training Leaders, Hermana Webb.  She is an awesome missionary and I learned so much from her that I am trying to put into my own missionary work.

So my thoughts this week have been on one of the talks in the April Ensign titled, Faith and Works in a Secular Socitey by Keith B. McMullin.  I really  was impressed by the benchmarks of faith he talked about.  As I have sought to increase my faith on the mission I often struggle with how I can tell that my faith has actually grown.  I loved the four things he talked about that we can use to measure where our faith is at.  He said that we can measure our faith by:

1. The choices we make

2. The devotion we exhibit

3. The obedience we practice

4. The service we give

It is through our desire and ability to make righteous choices, our increase in our devotion to the Lord and His teachings, our obedience to his words, and through our desires to serve and the service that we give that we can see where our faith is at.  As I read this I realized that my faith is growing. Little by little, which is maybe why it is hard to recognize, my desire and ability to do each of these things has increased.  At the same time though it is humbling because I know I have so much more I can do to make better choices, be a more devoted and obedient servant, and seek to serve in all that I do.  I know though that as I seek to increase my faith and follow the Savior that my ability to do these things will increase as well. I think these benchmarks are something we can all use regularly to measure our faith and make the changes we need to to increase our faith.  I know that as we do we will see changes in every one of these areas.  We won't have to be told to do these things but rather we will desire to do each of these in our own lives.

Anyway, I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!

Love,

Hermana Carpenter

Me and Hermana Webb

Celebrating Hermana Kaaa's Birthday!