Liesel: 1 YEAR GOES TOO FAST

 Goooooooooooooood Morrrrrrrrrrrnnnnnnning Vietnam!!!!!!

Hello friends and family! How are you and how was your week!?

My week was awesome and long and like a freaking rollarcoaster of emotions and laughs. I hit MY 1 YEAR AS A MISSIONARY!!!!!!! WHAT THE HECK!!!!

IM OLD....

We had Kaceys baptism and that was so good and now the whole Benitez family is baptized and working to go to the temple!! So fun

We had exchanges this week and so we were up in Laughlin and that was good. We went street contacting and got hard core rejected so many times honestly noo mercy..... But hey "aint nothing gonna break my stride, aint nothing gonna slow me down oh no I got to keep on moving!!!!". The Lord is preparing people and well I guess those people were not ready so we were only planting seeds for the next missionaries to come along and help them to the covenant path. 

I am learning to be more humble and letting the Lord work me like a squishy ball of playdooh that I am. I am working to be an instrument in his hands and not the other way around. When we are letting the Lord work through us and letting him help us along then we can see true and everlasting happiness. One thing that I have realized while serving my mission is that there are 2 types of happiness and 1 being tempral happiness, or things that last only momentarly, fleeting moments of happiness, or day to day happiness. Like you are waiting for your next hit of happiness to push you through the day. And then 2 is everlasting happiness, the kind that never goes away. The one that is there no matter what. But you are probably thinking what about when life gets hard and i am miserable? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why is susie down the street thriving and I am dying?

 First some advice from Mary Evans that I live by===> 

1. Happiness is a choice

2. life is unfair

3. comparison is the thief of joy

Now a little doctrinal for you. 2 Nephi 2:25 "Adam Fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy." Meaning that Adam fell and ate of the fruit so that we could be happy and live here. But we have to experience sorrow and pain and grief in order to know what happiness and joy are! It is crucial. D&C 58:4 "After much tribulation come the blessings". I was reading a talk by President Russell M Nelson form April 1992 called "Doors of Death". It was amazing and I will insert some of the quotes that i loved that partain to this email 

1."the only way to take sorrow out of death is to take love out of life"

2."The only length of life that seems to satisfy the longings of the human heart is life everlasting"

Life is painful and hard, but like I always say "it was hard for the savior so why wouldnt it be hard for us?". The comforting part is that he has already gone through it so that we can have a friend through the hard times. 

Know that you arent alone in your trials and that you have a purpose in this life. Rely on him.

I love you all and I hope that this helped someone in some small ways

have a great week

Hermana Evans 

Pictures

1.my salad

2.library time

3.Kaceys baptism!!

4.Acai bowls!!

5.Hudsons baptism at the lake