Sister Kofford in Tahiti: The Good Life!

8/3/15

We had another amazing week here in our wonderful area of Papeari! I love my mission. I am learning so much about everything and sometimes it's a little bit hard for me to take it all in! Sometimes I wish I could have a paper and pen and a free moment to write down every thought! This week we realized again that life is like cleaning a messy house. You know that its a mess and that things need to be changed. So you start to clean and you clean and clean and its not your favorite thing but you do it anyway. Sometimes you even turn on the music and have some fun in the process! And while you are cleaning you are surprised to find that you left ten dollars in your pocket and now you have cash to go out to lunch! As you continue you find that you also forgot to clean up your late night snack and now the milk is crusted in the cup with the Oreo crumbs, this takes a little more time to clean up than it originally would have. All in all, its a good process because the final product is a clean house where people feel welcomed and happy . . . along with you, you are happy. In life we are constantly going about cleaning ourselves up! Our purpose is to live our life to the best of our ability in accordance with the principles of the gospel. Through this we come to know ourselves because we come to know God. He shows us our strong points when we need them most. We are molded into the people that He knows we can become through our weaknesses. On my mission I learn new weaknesses that I have each and every day. I learned that before I started this spiritual journey I truly did not even know who I was. Through the last couple of baptisms that we have had I have really got to understand the repentance process through the lives of others. I have seen people change and be obedient to the commandments through their desire to change and their love for God. It has been truly amazing for me to see! From the Word of Wisdom to the Law of Chastity, no matter how hard a commandment is for a person, they can change. This change is only possible through the Atonement and sacrifice of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I have started to pray to ask God to better help me understand the Atonement in my life. He answered my prayers by bringing all of my past weaknesses and sins to my mind. This was a hard day. I felt so bad and so guilty! Then I ran across a quote from Elder Packer that said if we have any doubts about anything or are feeling sad that we need to put the atonement to the test. So I genuinely thought about all of these little things that I could have done better in my life. From not being nice to my sister to wasting so much of my time being lazy and much more. I was sincere and prayed and throughout the whole week I felt an inner peace! I cleaned up that messy house and invited an even stronger influence of the spirit into my life. I am so thankful for the Atonement in our lives! I know that Christ lives and that He knows us each individually! He loves us! If any of you are sad or worried about something, put His atonement to the test! This Church is so true! I am so thankful for the 18 months I have to come to know and love my Heavenly Father! I love you all and know we are in each others lives for good reasons! Have a great week!

Love, Sœur Heather Kofford