Some pictures and quick thoughts

5/18/09

Hey! I took some random pics with people from the ward. The family is the family I went to the temple with. We showed up to their house at eight; she had a full plate of rice, salad, and meat waiting for us, with hot milk and cookies for dessert. I'm not fitting into my skirts.

We now only have thirty minutes to be on the computer; I think I'm over.

(More reason to send e-mails and letters to Susie's mission e-mail urugoest@gmail.com with Sister Salisbury in the subject.)

The next picture is with our neighbors. They are awesome! She's from Brazil, and we hardly understand her.

Of the ten people we prepared to go to church, none of them came. It felt lame as the members came in and we show up with out anybody. But then I started thinking, well why do we go to church anyway? Why is it important? Why am I encouraging people to come? I mean honestly, I've never been the biggest church goer either; sometimes its been kind of a drag, most of the time I'd fall asleep or draw pictures, or went mainly for the social aspects. So why am I trying to get people in church? Aren’t there other family-fortifying activities?

After studying it out, I figure the original reason that we attend the chapel once a week is as a sign of love. We to church is to worship, our creator, our Lord, our God. In John...OK, I don’t know the reference, but it says "If you love me, keep my commandments."

We can obey and do a lot of things about the commandments for a lot of different reasons. As a missionary, I’ve found that obedience out of love is a lot purer, stronger, and long-lasting than any other type of motive. If we go to the church to learn, we could easily rationalize other ways to study the scriptures and improve our knowledge. If we go to church to be with our family, we definitely could think of a few other alternatives. It's the same with service, social events, and peaceful feelings. Of all the other things that come up in the agenda and to-do list of the life, its easy to lower church attendance on the priority list.

But also think how much of it is a testimony of your love for the Lord...that despite all of the other alternatives, or all of the other responsibilities you had, you put it all aside to go to worship Him in His house.

The partaking of the sacrament, the spiritual strength or renewal, the family unity, the opportunities of service, the new principle we learn, the friendly smiles and conversations are the blessings—not the motives. Let our motive be the love we have for our Lord.