Sister Goss---W2: Sunsets, Volleyball, and TRC

Hello everyone!!

It's finally Preparation Day (Pday) again for me! Yay!! It's crazy to think that my second week has already flown by. CRAZZYYY! Watching all the new missionaries come in on Wednesday made me feel so old and so inadequate at the same time haha!! Last Sunday we, the new missionaries, were privileged to watch a devotional by Elder Bednar called "The Character of Christ" based on Mosiah 3:19: "For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him." This devotional changed my whole outlook; I need to be trying to serve others and turn OUTWARD when I would normally want to turn INWARD. Christ always thought of others before Himself. Always! I have been trying to work really hard on this. It's already blessed my week so much; I encourage you all to try it. :)

Temple trip this morning (this time the whole district!!)

 As part of the missionary training, along with classes on how to teach and meet people, we practice teaching gospel principles at the Teaching Resource Center. The people we teach are called TRCs and Sister Glancy and I practiced this for the first time! To be honest, I became very discouraged as I had a hard time teaching simply and became frustrated with my efforts. I felt like the TRCs were just confused and I wanted so badly to get it right. However as I've studied the Book of Mormon, especially 3 Nephi 17:2-3, I have felt God telling me that it's okay I'm not perfect. This isn't my work. This is His work, and He knows how to work through my imperfections! I need to have patience with myself and the process. Overtime, and through Him, I will get better. 

Quick story about a TRC discussion: we wanted to get our TRC a Book of Mormon, and asked the front desk for a copy. When we got there 7 minutes prior to our meeting, we found the book covered with notes and saw it was someone's personal copy. Sister Glancy had an unused copy in our apartment so we literally booked it to our apartment, grabbed the Book of Mormon, and ran back just in time. I felt a little cheesy running back with the Book of Mormon in hand, but I guess you could say we were really trying to "hasten the work!" Hahaha!

Right after volleyball; notice the pretty mountain in the back!!

We have exercise time each night with our district and it has been SO MUCH FUN!! We've played a lot of volleyball and it can get so ridiculous I almost fall over laughing. As we play volleyball or kickball on the beautiful lawn in front of the temple, the sun is going down on the mountains and it's stunningly gorgeous. You couldn't get much better exercise than with the best people ever, beautiful weather, and jaw-dropping views. I am so blessed!! Even when I wipe out and fall on my face in front of everyone trying to chase the kickball down the hill... ;) Yeah it was pretty embarrassing. But what's a good kickball game without falling on your face??

 

Just one of the low-quality pics of a high-quality sunset :)

The MTC cat, Sister Mittens

This email is getting long already, so I'll just share one quick miracle to save your time. ;) Sister Jarman, another missionary in my district, told us about her nephew and how his life was spared right after she was dropped off at the MTC to serve a mission. Literally hours after she said goodbye, her nephew was hit by a car while chasing his dog and flew several feet before hitting the ground. Miraculously, he only had a few scratches; no broken bones or anything. Sister Jarman knows that part of the reason he was saved was because of her decision to serve a mission. This is God's work and I am so grateful to be here!! I know the church is true and God has called a prophet today just as in times of old. 

Thanks for reading through my ridiculously long email!! I will try to make them shorter in the future. Haha! I miss you all so so much and I hope you are doing well!! Please email me if you have any questions, miracles, thoughts, funny stories, etc. to share. :) Love you lots and lots!! Week 2 has been eye-opening, a little hard, and super wonderful!!

Love, Sister Goss ❤

{Annabeth here--Sister Goss didn't add captions for these pictures, but I believe the first two are from the MTC; one looking north and you can see the Provo Temple, and one looking south onto BYU campus. Third picture, lunch with her district. Fourth picture, the stone that has inspired many people.}

 

"When I was in college, I was a member of the BYU International Folk Dancers. One summer our group had the unique privilege to tour the missions in Europe. It was a difficult summer for me because a few months earlier my father had unexpectedly passed away. While we were in Scotland, I felt especially alone and became discouraged. We danced at a chapel that night, and then after our performance we went next door to the mission home. As I proceeded up the walk, I saw a stone placed in a well-kept garden by the gate. On it I read the words, “What-e’er thou art, act well thy part.” At that moment those words went deeply into my heart, and I felt the powers of heaven reach out and give me a message. I knew I was known by a loving Heavenly Father. I felt I was not alone. I stood in that garden with tears in my eyes. “What-e’er thou art, act well thy part.” That simple statement renewed my vision that Heavenly Father knew me and had a plan for my life, and the spirit I felt helped me understand that my part mattered.

Later I learned that this saying had once motivated the prophet David O. McKay while he was serving as a young missionary in Scotland. He had seen it on a stone on a building at a discouraging time in his life and on his mission, and the words lifted him. Years later as the building was being torn down, he made arrangements to obtain the stone and had it placed in the garden at the mission home." By Elaine S. Dalton (Read the excellent talk "We are Daughters of Our Heavenly Father" here)