Buongiorno Fratelli e Sorelle,
For those of you that don’t know me, my name is Emma Miller, although I’m getting used to being called Sorella Miller. We moved into your ward at the beginning of July & we are loving McCall and our new ward family.
Have you ever been asked the get to know you question: If you could travel to any country what country would it be? Ever since I was little, my answer has always been Italy. I had seen all of the beautiful coastlines and buildings and even the shape of Italy is cool. It was #1 on my bucket list to make it to Italy someday.
Fast forward a couple years- we are sitting at church learning about the New Youth Program. They had passed the youth the booklets with the four categories: Social, Physical, Spiritual, & Intellectual. I decided my intellectual goal would be to learn Italian.I came home from that meeting feeling very motivated because now I was not only going to travel to Italy someday, I would be able to speak the language. I downloaded the Duolingo app, and told my parents that I was going to do it. They were very supportive (whether or not they thought I would actually accomplish this goal), my dad even got the app as well and said he would learn it with me. Well, my dad lasted for about a week, but I continued to study Italian for a few minutes everyday for about a year. I learned lots of interesting words: sugar, monkey, and boots to list a few. As dedicated as I thought I was to learn Italian, my progress felt little to none. I had a decent Italian vocabulary full of words I wouldn’t use in conversation. My senior year of high school I dropped the ball, and stopped consistently practicing the language.
Towards the end of my senior year, I was able to submit my mission paperwork. Right around the time I was ready to submit, covid was beginning to be an issue. As I'm sure all of you can relate, there were lots of things that didn’t work out the way I had hoped they would due to Covid. We had a family vacation canceled, the end of my senior golf season, and the end of my senior year and graduation… I remember having the thought, “ Emma, you could wait. You could do a year of school and then go on your mission. If you go now you could be quarantined, or reassigned…” I wrestled with it for a little, but continued to feel a super strong assurance that I needed to submit my papers now and that Heavenly Father would work everything else out. So that is what I did.
I will never forget the night I opened my mission call. I had spent many nights praying that no matter where I was called, it would feel right; that I would know that that is where He needed me. I was sitting on the hearth of the fireplace, reading through the intro of the call until I reached my assignment:
You are assigned to labor in the Italy Milan Mission and will prepare to preach the gospel in the Italian language.
I have never felt so individually known by the Lord as I did in that moment & it has strengthened my testimony of prayer, and fortified my knowledge that I am a daughter of a loving Heavenly Father that knows me perfectly.
But the story doesn’t stop there, a few months later I learned that I wouldn’t be headed to the Provo MTC in September, instead my home would become my training center.
Two weeks into the MTC, I received a reassignment to the Honolulu Hawaii mission.
Looking back on the last few months- I am able to see so many blessings that have come from serving a mission right now. It hasn’t all been easy, balancing being a missionary but still being at home took some getting used to, my reassignment to Hawaii is English Speaking after 6 weeks of diligently trying to learn Italian and now having to continue studying it on my own, and there are still a lot of unknowns with when I’ll get to go to Milan and the timing of all of it. However, I have trusted it to my Heavenly Father. I know that He is involved in every detail of my life and that He has a plan specifically for each of us. While I was initially bummed to have to do the MTC at home and miss out on the experience of the Provo MTC, the online MTC is exactly what I needed. It came with the blessing of being able to have an extra six weeks with my family. I have learned that the Spirit can be felt no matter the circumstance, even through a computer screen. I’ve also seen that
the Lord’s work doesn’t stop when the world does
I went into the MTC on sept. 9th with 220 new missionaries- I had a friend that entered the online MTC on October 7 with 280 new missionaries. I loved in General Conference how Elder Uchtdorf said,
if there is one thing I do know, this virus did not catch Heavenly Father by surprise.
He has a perfect plan for each of us, and we will be blessed as we accept His will and try our best to do as He would have us do.
I finished the MTC this last Friday, and am leaving for Hawaii early tomorrow morning . I have learned so much in the last 6 weeks and it has been an experience that I will never forget.
In the MTC, there are things that we call TRC’s, which means as a companionship, we have the opportunity to plan a lesson and practice teaching another person over zoom. We have had to do a couple in English and in Italian, and almost every time the lesson has been Lesson 1: section 1: God is our loving Heavenly Father. This truth is the essential to a testimony of the Gospel, it is no wonder it is the first section of the first lesson. A sure knowledge of the nature of God, leads to a sure knowledge of His Gospel.
There is a quote by Elder Uchtdorf that says,
“Though we are incomplete, God loves us completely. Though we are imperfect, He loves us perfectly. Though we may feel lost and without compass, God's love encompasses us completely. ... He loves every one of us, even those who are flawed, rejected, awkward, sorrowful, or broken.”
Out of all of the titles given to God: Omnipotent, all-knowing, all-powerful, Most High, Alph&Omega… He has asked us to call him Father. We will never be able to fully comprehend the love of our Father in Heaven. But despite our shortcomings and our imperfections He continues to show us how much He loves us. God’s greatest evidence to us of His love was his selfless and greatest gift: His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
In Isaiah 53:3-5 it reads,
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 ¶ Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
I was blessed with the best MTC teachers: Fratello Ross and Sorella Ellison. About two weeks in, Fratello Ross, was leading a discussion on the atonement and he asked some questions that have stuck with me.
He asked, “ How often do you exclude yourself from the atonement? Are you holding yourself guilty or unworthy to access His forgiveness? Are you limiting the power of the Atonement in your life by not believing that it is for you?”
The testimony of the Atonement being real for others is pointless if we don’t first understand it for ourselves. Jesus Christ suffered and died for you. He knows your struggles, He understands your fears and your frustrations, but He also knows your joys and what you’re excited about. He is there for you on the good days as well as the bad. The atonement is for much more than just repenting of our sins and shortcomings.
He bled in the Garden and hung on the cross for you! But the beautiful thing is that He already suffered and He overcame all of it. We aren’t lessening His suffering by not using the atonement, in fact, I believe it pains Him more to know that we aren’t fully utilizing His sacrifice on our behalf. He Has asked us to come to Him.
28 ¶ aCome unto me, all ye that blabour and are heavy laden, and I will give you crest.
29 Take my ayoke upon you, and blearn of me; for I am cmeek and dlowly in eheart: and ye shall find frest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is aeasy, and my burden is light.
Because He lives, we can make it home to our Heavenly Parents. Believe in His atonement, repent of what you need to, and let it go- give it to the Savior.
Like usual, Elder Holland explained it perfectly;
I testify that the Savior's Atonement lifts from us not only the burden of our sins but also the burden of our disappointments and sorrows, our heartaches and our despair...
... I promise you He is not going to turn His back on us now. When He says to the poor in spirit, "Come unto me," He means He knows the way out and He knows the way up. He knows it because He has walked it. He knows the way because He is the way.
I am so grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ. I am grateful for a Savior that provides a way home, because I couldn’t get there without Him. But I have also come to rely on the Savior and His atonement for the hope and strength that comes only through Christ.
Tomorrow, I am going to have to board a plane to Hawaii, 8 hours and an ocean away from my home, and my sweet family. Terrified would be a complete understatement. I am relying 100% on my Savior. I know that He knows how I am feeling, and no matter how alone I feel, I know that I won’t be. Like Elder Holland said, He knows because He has been there.
I have taken so much comfort from my favorite scripture found in 1 Nephi 21:16:
16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the apalms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.
We are literally engraven on the palms of our Savior’s hands. Our walls, our trials, fears and struggles are known to Him.
I hope today you have felt God's love for you. I hope you can trust in Christ’s atonement- trust that it is for you. Trust that He can lift you from any hole, no matter how deep. Take advantage of His sacrifice for you0 He longs for you to be happy.
In the MTC, they have drilled into our heads, that you don’t leave a discussion without an invitation- so I want to conclude my talk with an invitation to each of you.
I invite you to find time today, to ask God how He feels about you. Get on your knees and ask Him. I promise that if you do, He will let you know. Unlike the adversary who tells us all the things we aren’t, Heavenly Father tells us all that we are, all that we are to Him. He will tell us there is only one direction, and that is forward. And He loves us enough to help us get there.
TESTIMONIANZA IN ITALIANO
Nel nome di Gesù Cristo, Amen.
TESTIMONIANZA TUTTO IN ITALIANO
Sono molto grato per la mia Salvatore, Gesù Cristo. Sono grato per un amorevole Padre Celeste, chi mi ama abbastanza a mi da i Suoi figlio diletto. So che Dio ci ama moltissimo. Dio ha uno piano per tutti i suoi figli, ci vuole felici.
So che Gesù Cristo ha sofferto per tutti i nostri peccati. Lui capisce le ogni cose che possiamo esperienza. Gesù è morto per me e per te. Il scopo di Dio è avere tutti i suoi figli tornerà a Lui. e mediante l’espiazione di Gesù Cristo è l'unico modo che possiamo tornerà.
Sono grato di essere il Suo missionario. Sono grato avere l'opportunità amare le persone in Hawaii e alla fine in Milano, Italia.
Amo la mia padre celeste e il Suo figlio. So che questo vangelo è vero.
Diciamo questo, nel nome di Gesù Cristo, Amen.
Comments
Post a Comment