I kind of felt like I was back in the MTC for a second this week because we had to turn our brains into sponges like we did when we were first being introduced to missionary life. It has been wonderful and amazing to have all of this new knowledge and these different ways to do missionary work, but it's almost been a bit of an overload!
It started on Tuesday when we went to the temple. I love the temple so so much, and I learn something new every single time I go (which I say all the time in my emails about the temple, but I keep saying it because it's true!). This time, I learned about myself. There was a point in the temple where I sat by myself in this big beautiful room and I couldn't see any of the other people in the room because of where I was sitting. It felt like I was completely alone in the room because everyone was being reverent and not making a sound, so it felt like it was just me and God... It was amazing. I felt so close to Him, and I knew that He was there with me, helping me to feel the Spirit and teaching me as I prayed and read the scriptures. I had been praying about how I could best improve my teaching and my overall self over the next 5 months, and I got my answer in the temple. He told me simply, "Listen. Then Act." It was a very interesting answer that I was half expecting, but for the most part it was a surprise. I've been trying to decipher what that means, but I've realized it could mean a lot of different things. It could mean to listen to the promptings of the Spirit and then act on the promptings I receive, or it could mean to listen to what the people we are teaching have to say and then act according to their needs, or something else completely! It was so interesting, because the next day at the Mission Conference for Online Training, "Acting" was a huge theme.
The Conference was on Wednesday, and the emphasis was online teaching. We got new iPads that are filtered a bit differently so that we can have more ways to teach and help the work to go forth, but they don't have Facebook yet. We were trained on how to better teach online and utilize the tools that we have been given to help people progress, and we learned a LOT! That is where the whole "sponge brain" thing comes into affect. I don't have enough time to explain everything we learned, but Elder Brent H. Nielsen of the First Quorum of the Seventy spoke to us quite a bit about ACTION. He shared this scripture in 1 Nephi 2, verse 14, which says,
"And now, my sons, I speak unto you these things for your profit and learning; for there is a God, and he hath created all things, both the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are, both things to act and things to be acted upon."
He explained that almost all of God's creations were made to be acted upon. Except you. An agent acts, and an object is acted upon, hence the word "agency." As children of God, we have the ability to choose, or the ability to ACT, and Satan hates that. He wants us to become objects to be acted upon because we each made the choice before we came to this earth to act and choose for ourselves, which is not what he wanted. Sitting and doing nothing is the world's greatest temptation, because it takes away our responsibility to act, and makes us idle, stopping us from acting! Our responsibility is to act forever. President Taylor followed up with this statement,
"We don't have the right to stop doing what we promised to do."
We all made a promise when we chose God's plan and decided to come to Earth. We promised that we would follow the commandments and do our best to be close to Him. That is a promise we made with GOD. Of course we don't have the right to stop doing what we promised to do, He put us here so we could fulfill that promise! All of this training and revelation and powerful statements by authority was no coincidence. God doesn't do random, so of course acting was a main part of the training after I had received revelation to "Listen then Act" in the temple just the day before!!!!
God is real. And He is your Father in Heaven who LOVES you. Please listen to Him. Hearken to the words of the Spirit, for that is how God communicates with us. I am so grateful for all that I am learning out here, and I am happy to know that I have 5 more whole months to learn everything God needs me to learn while I am out here serving Him as a missionary. I love you, and I will talk to you next week!
Love Always,
Sister Nicole Guilott
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