May 13, 2013 — Week #9 And it came to pass . . . . .

So this computer might just kick me off. . . in about three minutes. We’ll see.

Family. Friends. I love you all. I probably can’t tell you enough. 🙂 So you are going to keep hearing it.

This really cool thing happened yesterday. . . I got to skype my family! I sure love you guys.

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Some other cool things have happened this week. . . like sweeping into a new area. Gotta love that. Again. 🙂  I definitely miss my last ward, but already I feel right at home here in Liberty Lake. And what’s really cool is that– guess what? I GET TO GO TO 5 HOURS OF CHURCH. I love going to church as a missionary and meeting all the members, and we are covering two wards right now. . . So we get to go to a lot of church.  And I love it.

hmmm…  this letter might not be very long… because I skyped my family yesterday, but I’ll at least give some sort of uplifting thought:

In the last conference, President Monson said,

“The Savior demonstrated genuine love of God by living the perfect life, by honoring the sacred mission that was His. Never was He haughty. Never was He puffed up with pride. Never was He disloyal. Ever was He humble. Ever was He sincere. Ever was He obedient.

Though He was tempted by that master of deceit, even the devil, though He was physically weakened from fasting 40 days and 40 nights and was an hungered, yet when the evil one proffered Jesus the most alluring and tempting proposals, He gave to us a divine example of obedience by refusing to deviate from what He knew was right.13

When faced with the agony of Gethsemane, where He endured such pain that “his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground,”14 He exemplified the obedient Son by saying, “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.”15

As the Savior instructed His early Apostles, so He instructs you and me, “Follow thou me.”16 Are we willing to obey?”

I love so many things about this quote.

First of all: It is so important for us to be obedient.  If we want to be like the Savior, we must be obedient as the Savior was.  If we want to show Heavenly Father we love him, we must be obedient to his commandments.

Second, I’ve recently been studying cases in the scriptures that use the word “Nevertheless” and it has been one of my new favorite vocabulary words.  So often people in the scriptures use nevertheless to bring comfort or to show triumph in hard times.  “ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer…” D&C 78:18;  “my heart groaneth because of my sins, nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted.” 2 Ne. 4:19;  “Nevertheless I believe…” Alma 19:9; and finally “Nevertheless not my will, but thine be done.” and “Which asuffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might bnot drink the bitter cup, and shrink—Nevertheless, glory be to the father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men.” D&C 19:18-19

No matter what we are suffering with, no matter how hard life may be, the Savior has felt our pains and knows us personally.  Next time you feel you are ready to give up, or seem to be drowning, next time you feel inadequate, or feel you cannot take another step, use the nevertheless tactic.  and BE OF GOOD CHEER.

I love you all. 🙂

Thanks for all the support.

Love,

Sister Meservy!