Trials

Hi Everybody!

 

Another good week here in Buenos Aires! HOT!

 

Today officially marks 6 months until I grace the United States with my presence yet again. Really humble right! :) It is amazing how time flies and reality hits. The Sister Missionaries serve for 18 months and the Elders or Male Missionaries serve for two years, so today I am officially passing for a sister missionary status to an Elder Status....I feel like a man!

 

The work has been difficult but consistant and producing results! So that has helped me keep my spirits up even when it is 40 degrees outside. Not sure what that is in Farenheit but I'll leave the conversion to you guys!

 

Lately I've been thinking of a scripture found in Doctrine and Covenants. The Lord gave this revelation to the prophet Joseph Smith after the Pioneers had suffered from many massacres and mistreatment in the state of Missouri. He talks alot about "Why bad things happen to good people."

 

In this occasion he said, "For after much tribulation, as I have said unto you in a former commandment, cometh the blessing."

 

I truly believe in this principle that is so simple. In other words that are more crude "If it doesn't kill you it makes you stronger!" Life is like eating spinach or taking cough medicine sometimes. Nobody (except for my mother) likes spinach or cough medicine but when we take it, suffering through every moment, afterwards we are blessed. I see that God follows that same pattern in all things. He often passes us through fire to purify us and make us stronger. I have come to realize how grateful I am for my trials (this is in no way asking for more) and how much I have grown as a product of having to pass through many fires. God has never let me down and has always given me all the necessary tools to pass through my trials and afflictions well. God loves us, and for that very reason life is not easy. If it were easy we could never come to learn what it truly is to love.

 

I love you all very much. One of my greatest trials is being so far away from you all, and yet this time of my life has formed me more than any other....funny how that works out.

 

I love you all so much,

 

Elder Anderson