Monday August 18, 2014

To anyone who is still reading Rachel's blog.  My computer is fixed and I'm through traveling.  At least for right now.  I have one question, some how I turned her blog into another language. Can anyone help me know what word to push to turn it back to English.  Thanks and thanks to all who read this blog.  Teresa

Sunday Aug. 17, 2014 

Dear family,

I'm sorry it's taken me a while to get a letter out! But this past week was pretty fun. Saturday we had a fairly busy day lined up, only to have everyone cancel Friday night. Perfect. Lots of finding! Which is what our area needs right now. So we set out with high hopes to this area a little further away that we rarely go to. And it was fun! We got to knock a lot of doors. As we were about ten minutes to the end of the time we'd set aside for straight finding (the hour after that was for finding LA's in the area), we finished knocking all the doors on the street. There was a side street however, and we wondered if we should start up it, or just finish early and head to the LA houses. We prayed and decided to go up it. And I'm so glad. At the very end of that street and around another corner, we knocked into a 黃 (Huang2) Xiang1 Yu3. She has a Book of Mormon and has met missionaries before, but this time was willing to pray herself and set up! Thank you to seed-planting missionaries. And we almost didn't knock up the street.

I also had exchanges this week with Sister Walker! (My "grandbaby," because I trained Sister George, and now she's training Sister Walker) It was so fun. And she is such a good missionary. I also had exchanges with Miao4 Jiemei, the temple sister, and that was really good. We talked about some things I'd been wondering about and it was so good to get another person's perspective. It's so fun to exchange because you always get a new, fresh perspective on missionary work. Everyone has a little bit different style, and you can learn from everyone.

Lately I've been reading the Old Testament, and I'm LOVING it. There is so much more in there than I remember the last time I tried to read it. And so much of it is about temples and covenant making. This morning I was reading and had new insights about the Atonement. The Chapter heading for Leviticus 7 reads "They [Israel] worship by sacrifice--Through sacrifice they gain forgiveness, make vows, consecrate their property, render thanks, and are reconciled to God." The Bible Dictionary says that the word Atonement "describes the setting 'at one' of those who have been estranged, and denotes the reconciliation of man to God." Through their sacrifices, the children of Israel reconciled themselves to God. We are the same now in our day. Sacrifice is still the method in which we access the power of the Atonement. We sacrifice our will for God's; we overcome our natural man for something higher. That is the process of developing faith, repenting, being baptized and receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. As I read about the sacrifices of the children of Israel I realized that the outward sacrifices were just methods of helping them to have the inward process just described. The process of putting the will of God before their own will. And when we strive to do that, we find true joy as we are made "at one" with God.

I love you! I hope you have a great week!