Colorado to Kingston : Sacrifices and Sunny Days

Hey people! Hope all is well with all of you :)

This week we had zone meeting in Spanish Town! We talked a lot about living by revelation and acting on the promptings of the spirit... I think I can speak for all of us when I say we left that meeting incredibly excited to continue missionary work. That evening, all of our appointments and all of our backups fell through... and instead of walking on the road just talking to people that were outside like we normally would do in this mission, we started going door to door. We've set a goal to talk to people in every house in our neighborhood by the end of the transfer... that's a lot of houses. But we can do it with the help of the Lord!

We had to walk to part of our area that's like really really far away a few times this week... and one time it was SO HOT. I thought I was melting. Later that night in companionship prayer, Sister Slater said "We're grateful we never fainted on the way to Old Harbour Bay today because the sun was really really hot." Hahaha the things you learn to be grateful for on a mission. But seriously, that is definitely something to be grateful for!

We had to teach the gospel principles class in church yesterday and we taught on sacrifice. While we were preparing the lesson last week, I spent a lot of time studying the story of the Anti-Nephi Lehies in the Book of Mormon. (If you guys haven't read it lately, you should. It's in Alma chapter 23-24 I think.) But anyways... all that studying about sacrifice has gotten me thinking.

Sometimes the Lord asks us to do things to make or keep covenants with him. The Anti Nephi Lehies had to give up all their weapons and bury them in the ground... that's the first sacrifice I guess. Like where they were making the covenant not to shed blood anymore. Then they had to sacrifice again to keep that covenant. They were under attack, and they literally just laid down and let their enemies kill them. They knew the importance of the covenant they had made with the Lord and they were willing to sacrifice everything to keep that covenant... even their own lives. That got me thinking... what am I willing to sacrifice to keep my covenants? At the beginning of my mission, I thought I was sacrificing a lot to keep my covenants. I mean, I was leaving my family, and my friends, and school, and work... and a ton of other things to come to a foreign country with no one I know to teach people I've never met. And then as my mission has gone along, sometimes I still think I'm sacrificing a lot... I've realized that not a lot of things that I left when I came out are going to be there when I come home. The people I knew have changed a lot, the places I knew have changed... I guess just the world is changing haha. Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in the "Wow, I'm giving up so much to be here" kind of attitude. But then I remembered one of my very favorite verses in the story of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies... it's right as the Lamanites are coming to attack the Anti-Nephi-Lehies. "And thus without meeting any resistance, they did slay a thousand and five of them; and we know that they are blessed, for they have gone to dwell with their God." That verse reminds me that no matter what we think we're giving up, really we aren't giving up anything at all because we're just replacing the things we give up with some pretty great blessings from God. So I've realized that no matter what I thought I sacrificed to come on a mission, really it wasn't a sacrifice at all because of all the blessings I've received over the last year. I hope that makes sense. I know that this mission isn't going to be the end of the things I'll think I have to give up for the Lord and my covenants with Him either... but really, sacrifices are no sacrifices at all when you look at the grand scheme of things. There is no sacrifice that would be great enough to pay back Heavenly Father, because no matter how much we think we're giving up... He's always just going to give us more than what we gave up. Just like the people of Anti Nephi Lehi, we will be blessed one day to live with God as long as we do our absolute best to make and keep covenants with Him while we're here :)

Alright I love you all! Have a great week!!!

xoxoxoxo,

Sister Oman

Our backyard. we live sorta out in the country and i love it... plus i don't know why, but seeing clothes drying on the line just makes me really happy haha.

The good news is, we know which way to go if there's ever a tsunami!

This one neighborhood we walk in is like a giant maze of houses that look exactly the same... We get lost like all the time.

One morning I got out of the shower and heard what sounded like a little kid crying hysterically in the backyard. I looked out the window and it was a goat! good grief. haha.