Sept. 2, 2019

No pictures this week.  Just an email :)

The package was awesome! Thank you so much! I don't really know what else you could send me. I feel like I have everything I need right now. Life has been good. I weigh under 200 pounds again. It's been a while, haha. But more importantly the work is progressing so well! Our zone is doing amazing, and has set some very high goals this month. We can definitely accomplish them with the way everyone has been working though. I am getting roughly the same amount of sleep, haha, but it isn't too bad anymore. Because of how much we work out, especially the cardio we do, I find myself getting less and less tired. 

We had a ton of people come to church this week, and found another new person to teach! So life is pretty bomb right now. 

As far as Max is concerned, I've never raised a kid, so I don't know what to tell you. Just keep loving him and praying for him. Maybe Heavenly Father will give him an experience that'll change his mind the way He gave me an experience. I've been thinking back to that a lot lately. I feel like I've come so far since a few years ago. I find people getting on my nerves or doing things that annoy me, and I find myself letting it go a lot easier. I'm not sure what has been teaching me patience, but I'm definitely progressing. It's cool to see progression. I invite you to look for it in yourself. See the changes, and recognize if it was for the better or the worse. 

Changing is so often viewed in a negative context. "Why would I need to change? Aren't I good enough now?" The answer is a hard one. No. You're not good enough now. None of us are. Once we understand the commitment to, "Come unto Christ and be perfected in Him," we can realize that we should NEVER convince ourselves that we are at a good point. That we can stop and relax. The term is eternal progression for a reason. Yes, we can be perfected in Christ. We can become perfect. But not in this life. And not in the ways we want. 

 

I love a quote by C.S. Lewis;

"Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”

 

Changing is painful, which perhaps explains why it's so often viewed negatively. It isn't easy to change. It isn't easy to accept our faults, admit to our wrongs, and choose to become better. In fact it's quite hard. It takes a lot of will to say to yourself, or to someone else, "I need to be fixed. There are things in my life that are wrong. There are mistakes I have made that I need to right." That's hard to do. But it is necessary. Necessary at least to accept the invitation to become perfect. 

 

I think the hardest part of changing is the comparison. It is so easy to view another and say, "They need to fix that. They need to work on that." It is so easy to judge another. As one of my favorite hymns says, 

"Who am I to judge another

When I walk imperfectly?

In the quiet heart is hidden

Sorrow that the eye can't see.

Who am I to judge another?"

 

Comparison is one of the adversaries biggest tools. There is a talk I read recently called "Wrestling with Comparison." I invite each of you to look it up and read it. Stop focusing on where someone else is at. Stop wondering why others don't fix their faults, or on the other end, why others are so much better than you. Comparison ALWAYS leads to either pride or discouragement. Stop worrying about others, and look inward. Where are the things that you hide, that you secretly want the Savior to heal. Where are the parts of you that you like, that you know the Savior NEEDS to heal regardless. Are you willing to make the sacrifices, no matter how big or small they are? 

 

I love you all so much. I hope you know that. But as much as I love you, as much as I care, there is One who cares a lot more. Please let Him help you. Let Him heal you. Invite Him in. He will build a mansion greater than you ever dreamed of. He will show you that you truly are a child of God, with the potential to become like Him. Turn to the Savior. He understands you a lot better than you understand yourself. 

-Elder Trezise