Sister Michelle Christine North: Christ's life is the Perfect Pep-Talk‏

Hermana Tadeo and I got some interesting shout outs from the Evangelical possy this weekend. We were tracking some houses in our sector to find some new loves to teach and every single one happened to be Evangelical (supposedly we have competition here ;)). The funny part of this story is that at the end of our night, after being rejected hopelessly time and time again by the Evangelicals, we ran into yet another Evangelical…or so we thought. We ran into a lady named Sonia who was watering her lawn. We had actually past by her in the street earlier that day so we decided that we would take our second chance and talk with her. She told us all about her life: widowed twice, divorced once, she has 2 grown up kids and she is Adventist (aka Evangelical) but that at the moment was lejos de Dios [Far from God]. We told her that we were here to help people strengthen their relationship with God and so she let us in, and just like that we started teaching her about the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ. As we were teaching her, the spirit in the room was felt so strong; stronger than I have felt in a really long time. Sonia even stopped us in the middle of the lesson and told us, “God really must love me because he sent you guys to my house; he is here with us right now.” That made me smile really big! She recognized what she was feeling, what we all were feeling. It was amazing to me the questions that she was asking throughout the whole lesson and how well she understood everything, as if she had heard it all before. I kept thinking that she was one of those golden investigators from the “District” videos- I was so excited for her! Then at the end of the lesson, after she committed to praying to know if what we shared with her was true, we invited her to be baptized. After a long pause she looked at us and said, “No. I will not be baptized chiquias. Why? Because I have already been baptized twice in the Adventist church and once in the Mormon church.” Hermana Tadeo and I just looked at each other and started laughing. Sonia joined in too…but then continued to tell us, “but really I won’t be baptized again.” We calmed her down and assured her that she actually couldn’t be baptized again because she already did it with someone who held the authority to do so…but that what she needed to do was come to church with us. She agreed and come Sunday, she actually came! We were so excited to have her with us. She loved all of the classes and members and supposedly this Thursday night she is going to participate in the ward’s Zumba class.

This week I reflected a lot about Christ’s life here on Earth. I’ve found that His life is the Perfect Pep-talk for me. His life was an absolute miracle and every time I read about it in the scriptures, or think about it for that matter, I can feel His love for me so strongly. It gives me the strength that I need to endure during my trials but it also gives me more motivation to love and serve those around me. I read a quote the other day by Elder Ballard that says, “You can never look at yourself in the same way if you know that you are a Child of God and that He knows you, loves you and cares about you. And you can never look at others disappointedly if you know that they are your eternal brothers and sisters who like you, are here on Earth trying to learn and grown through mortal experiences both good and bad.” We are all Children of God- literally. Because God loves us and wants us to live with Him again, He sent His son Jesus Christ to give us an example, show us the way back to our eternal home and then to help us back by suffering the price for our sins in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross. Christ had to suffer every pain and affliction, every trial and temptation that we face in our individual lives. Once we come to truly understand this, Christ’s life will become our Perfect Pep-Talk because as we come to learn more about Him, we will come to know of his love for us. And that love heals all. When I have felt disappointed with my Chilean loves or even overly stressed (ahemmm, last week), I need to remember that we are all trying, nobody is perfect, and that it is only through Christ, that every little thing is gonna be alright. That patience is an eternal gift and that all these things shall be for my good. So this week was a better week for me as I have taken the time to read and remember the person that I supposed to represent each day that I serve.

I hope that you guys can feel that Love that Christ has for you. Look for it because it exists, no matter who you are. And I am not just saying that because I am a missionary.

Chao loves!

Xoxox, Hermana North

Picture 1: Pizza lovers