Off with the Natural and in with the New

Dear Family and Friends,

So sorry about the short email last week. My companion and I had the amazing opportunity to go to the temple. The closest temple is three hours away in Memphis so it was a bit of a trek but lots of fun. Also last week Tami and Kam got baptized! Their whole family came to support them and many pictures were taken and many tears were shed. It was great. Sister Mecham and I were asked to sing "Amazing Grace" accappella #onlyinthesouth and it went fairly well. I don't think either of us will have a record deal anytime soon but Tami appreciated it and that's all that mattered :) One of the best parts of the whole baptism was when Tami got to bear her testimony. It was so simple and sweet and you could tell that she knew she had found the truth. I am so grateful that I was able to be a part of her and Kam's conversion. I truly love both of them and can't wait to see them progress in the Gospel. Kam is already talking about how excited he is to serve a mission. I love it!

Of course because we had a baptism and a temple trip over the weekend, this week was a little more slow. But that's ok. We did a lot of searching but not too much finding but we are so excited for this upcoming week because we are on bikes and finding is always easier on bike week. That's about the only good thing about bike week :)
 

This is how they serve watermelon in the south. This is also why the average weight gain is 40 pounds. we were eating at this lady's house and we had just finished a full meal and she asks if we want some watermelon. And I'm like sure I love watermelon. And this is what she brings me. My face must have been priceless because Sister Mecham just started cracking up. Don't worry I didn't finish the whole thing I brought most of it home :)

 

Last week we had a specialized training meeting with our whole zone and our mission president. He presented to us the new focus of the mission which is to increase the spiritual capacity of the missionaries. He said that we have been focusing a lot on investigators and members but forgetting that it all starts with the missionary. If we can increase our own spiritual capacity as missionaries all the other things will fall into place. So this past week I was studying about how to increase my spiritual capacity and I was reading a scripture in Colossians 3 verse 10 that talks all about putting on the new man and then in the following verses it goes on to explain how to do this. We need to put on kindness and mercy and charity etc. This made me think of another scripture, one of my favorites in the Book of Mormon Mosiah 3:19 that talks about putting off the natural man. Just as we can't put on another outfit once we are already dressed (well technically you could but it would look pretty silly and you would die in the Arkansas heat). We can't just put on the new man if we do not first put off the natural man. Likewise we can't use put off the natural man and be done, but we must also put on the new man. We must put off the natural and put on the new. And by doing so we come closer to Christ.  

 

Next week is bike week - BRING IT ON!

As always thank you all for all the support and love. I appreciate it so much. Hope everyone has a great week. 

Love

Sister Aase