Mormon Messages: Pattern of Light

Mormon Messages: Patterns of Light from Elder Bednar

         Patterns of Light: Discerning Light

How do we recognize divine light and discern it from our own thoughts?
In part 2 of this three part series, Elder David A. Bednar discusses
how to discern and act upon light from God.

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2012-01-011-patterns-of-light-discerning-light?lang=eng

http://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2012-01-010-patterns-of-light-the-light-of-christ?lang=eng

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2012-01-012-patterns-of-light-spirit-of-revelation?lang=eng

Sent from my iPad

Week 37

Dear friends.

This week I decided to detail one day out of the 500+ days I will
spend as a missionary. Enjoy it in all it's overdramatic cheesiness.

February 14, 2014.

6:30. The weird techno alarm goes off on the iPad. 6:30 does not get
any easier even 9 months in. Time to roll over and exercise. (I will
not be what we call a "futon missionary ...)

7:12. I pour myself a bowl of chocolate Cheerios and top it off with a
banana and plain yogurt. Whip out the iPad and watch some Mormon
Messages I downloaded the other day.  A minute in to "My New Life" and
I'm choked up. Gosh darn it all, becoming a missionary turned me into
such a sap.

7:59. Personal study. Elder Eyring's"Where is the Pavilion?" Read it.

8:37. Should have left 7 minutes ago for district meeting ... Whoops.
Bundle up in 5 layers of tights and scarves and dash out the door.

9:03. After a rousing rendition of "High on the Mountaintop," Sado
Island District Meeting commences, via Skype with the zone leaders in
Niigata. "Welcome Sado District.  This is probably unlike any other
Valentine's Day you've ever had." The six of us stare at each other
awkwardly.

10:47. Emergency dash to the pharmacy. Whipping out the iPad again ...
(Where one earth are the antihistamines? Moments like these I regret
not having studied kanji harder in elementary school ... The man
clutching his stomach on this label makes me think this is for
indigestion ...)

12:50. Niigata sisters call. Here for exchanges. "We're sitting at the
bus stop! Where are you?" We dash out the door and look in the snow
flurries for two 6-foot tall brunettes. Spotted.

1:07. Sister MacArthur and I head to Yahata to house. We spot a lady
(a lady I think? Winter coats are not always very gender-indicative).
We chase her a block down the street and then start walking a couple
paces behind her. "Slow your breath down." She turns around. To Sister
MacArthur: "Wow! You're really big!" To me: "Wow! Where did you come
from?" We introduce the Restoration. She receives it well but is busy
taking care of her 92-year old mother and doesn't think she has time.
She walks away. We realize we didn't give her our phone number so we
chase down the street again.

3:23. Apartment after apartment, house after house. We find a man who
used to meet with the missionaries but there was a communication
barrier so lessons didn't really continue. We promise the elders are
really good at Japanese and refer him. We find young mom who wants to
her how the gospel can strengthen her family and we exchange phone
numbers to meet again.

6:03. Our fridge is a wonderland of obscure vegetables. So I chop them
all up and make them into curry. Mmmmm. Happy Valentine's Day to us.

7:03. It's blizzarding outside. Bikes are a definite no so we hop on
the bus to visit a potential investigator. Sister MacArthur and I
wander around in the dark looking for the apartment. Not home. We'll
be back another day.

8:30. Housing near the apartment. We find a lady who is really
receptive to our message but is getting to run out the door for a
night shift. Another potential.

9:00. Daily planning.

9:30. Eat some chocolate almonds. Sister MacArther gives me a
Valentine with a cat on it.

10:27. SLEEPOVER! Shove three futons together for four sisters to
sleep on. Good thing Sister Mondano and I are 5-foot. It's too bad the
other two sisters are 6-foot. It was a good day to be a missionary.

This week was full of so many miracles. The other day, Sister Mondano
and I were praying specifically to find Filipinos. It feels a little
weird to be praying for that but well ... we did. We were walking down
a deserted street when we saw a lady parking her car. "Filipina!"
Sister Mondano says. We start talking to her in Tagalog (more like
Sister Mondano talks to her in Tagalog) and she invites us into the
house she parked her car outside of. Inside are 4 more Filipinas who
buy us coffee and are so excited to see the Mormons. We share Alma
18:32. They tell us it was a miracle that we met them that day because
they are spread all over the island and they just happened to gather
that day. They all want to meet again and finally decide on a day
after some lively banter. This is where they've been hiding," we think
to ourselves. 5 new investigators.

I wish I could list all the miracles that happened this week but time
is short and you probably don't want to read even more of a novel.

So to close, my favorite excerpt from President Eyring's talk: "In the
depths of his anguish in Liberty Jail, the Prophet Joseph Smith cried
out: 'O God, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth
thy hiding place?' Many of us, in moments of personal anguish, feel
that God is far from us. The pavilion that seems to intercept divine
aid does not cover God but occasionally covers us. God is never
hidden, yet sometimes we are, covered by a pavilion of motivations
that draw us away from God and make Him seem distant and inaccessible.
Our own desires, rather than a feeling of 'Thy will be done,' create
the feeling of a pavilion blocking God. God is not unable to see us or
communicate with us, but we may be unwilling to listen or submit to
His will and His time."

Whose will are we praying for? As we ask what The Lord would have us
do or what The Lord wants, we are entitled to more spiritual
inspiration and divine aid. The pavilion is removed as we look
heavenward and remember that there is a plan bigger than all of us.

Love, ウィルデン姉妹

Sent from my iPad

(Monday, February 17, 2014)

Pic 1: Happy Valentine's Day from the sweetest companion in the whole world.
Pic 2: Me and my 5 new Filipina friends. "Hey, baby!" they said to me.
"How you doin'?"Haha.
Pic 3: Post dinner/studying the Book of Mormon with Mamako and Papako,
my lovely grandparents. AREN'T WE JUST THE CUTEST THING YOU'VE EVER
SEEN?

Week 36

Hi minasan!

This week, I am going to count my blessings.  One by one. Here are a few.

INSULATED RAIN BOOTS. The weather has been unusually cold here in
Sado. I thought Wisconsin prepped me enough for winter anywhere, but
then again I don't just normally walk around outside for full day in
any sort of weather.

STALWART MEMBERS. I think I already mentioned, but it's sort of cold
here. Since there is no efficient way to travel here in Sado (I pray
for the day when they announce they will be building a train), a
couple from the branch drove us all over the island in a blizzard to
visit less actives. I'm pretty sure that would have not been on my
list of fun activities for a Saturday afternoon (I know, I have a long
ways to go), but they are such examples of what it means to do what we
call "LOVE ONE ANOTHER."

HOT SHOWERS. Our pipes froze. I boiled water on the stove so I could
wash my hair. It was still like doing the polar bear plunge on New
Years Day in Lake Michigan. Then the gas went out the next day so I
couldn't even boil water. But I learned how to reset the gas so all is
well again and my hair is now clean.

APPLE. I thought going on mission would create a little hiatus from
technology, but the Tokyo Mission is trying a little experiment on
behalf of all the international missions and are having he
missionaries carry around personal iPads. I still can't believe it
either. The church developed the handiest app so we are 24/7 carrying
around the Area Book, member list, scriptures in every language,
Mormon Messages, kanji dictionaries, etc. etc. I also quickly
discovered that becoming a sister missionary unfortunately does not
erase the urge to take unlimited selfies and filter them à la
Instragram. (This is of course not referring to me).

MIRACLES. The other day we received a referral from the elders.  A
lady who lived in an apartment that we had housed literally a week
ago. At first we were a little skeptical when she told us she was too
busy when we tried to make an appointment, but we kept yammering (I'm
not exactly sure what about) and soon we found ourselves in her genkan
teaching the entire Plan of Salvation. She told us about the trials
she had faced in her life and asked If it was some sort of punishment,
so we pulled out our handy dandy iPads and read with her D&C 121. I
don't feel like I cry very much during lessons, but none of us could
hold back the tears. The love that the Savior and our Heavenly Father
has for us was just so TANGIBLE I could almost taste it. Needless to
say we will be meeting her again soon. We've been hitting a lot of
dead ends this past week and finding a family that was so in
incredibly prepared just blocks from the church where we had housed a
million times is evidence that Kamisama has a plan that is a whole lot
bigger than any of us.

MORMON MESSAGES. This week as I was eating my kiwis and yogurt for
breakfast, I was watching Elder Bednar's Mormon Message series,
Patterns of Light. (It used to be on the TVs in the fitness center at
the MTC but I didn't have headphones then so it's kind of nice know
what he's actually saying now ...) Anyway, what he says is a whole lot
better than anything than I could ever say. So go watch it if you
haven't already. It's inspirational and succinct (unlike this email).

Okay. That's all for now. Love you all!

Sister Willden

PS If you emailed me earlier this week and I didn't respond, write me
again. It's possible it got lost in the transition over to the iPad.

Sent from my iPad

(Monday, February 10, 2014)

Pic 1: We just couldn't help ourselves.
Pic 2: The field is white! See D&C 4 for details.
Pic 3: Taking the ferry, after the "Hastening the work through technology tour."
Pic 4: The Church is true! Even if only 7 people come to church.

Week 35

Hi minasan!

Week two on the freezing tiny little island of Sado has been glorious.  People see us on our bicycles and stare at us like we are the weirdos that we are (no one rides bikes here, and definitely no one rides bikes in skirts and helmets at the same time), but mostly everyone willingly stops to listen.  There are miracles around every corner. 

Here they come...

On Tuesday, we survived a rain-hail-snowstorm.  The weather here changes in the blink of an eye.  But we like bad weather because then people feel bad for us and let us in.

On Wednesday night, we were just about to run out to catch a bus when President Budge called us.  "Sister Willden, how are you?  Right now you are on speaker phone with a general authority."  I already feel like I am an awkward telephone-talker but the Assistants (who were laughing in the back of the car listening in) said it was prettttty funny.  President Budge and Elder Whiting of the Seventy were just calling to see how we were doing in Sado but I was a little flustered because he is a very busy person and doesn't exactly just call every day.  But I told him Sado is good.

After that, we boarded the ferry and went to Niigata for the conference with Elder Whiting.  BEST THING OF MY WHOLE LIFE.  It was like every little thing said was exactly what I needed to hear.  Read on to hear what he talked about. 

On Saturday, we hopped on the ferry again to go home and survived a rather bumpy ride.  We  had the best intentions to study on the ride but it just turned into us six missionaries laying on the ground in corpse pose for 2 1/2 hours. 

Also Saturday.  Seven boxes of furniture delivered to us.  Sister Mondano and I are quite the handywomen, if I do say so myself. 

Today, we found a new family to teach.  The cutest middle school girl came out of her house and we shared with her the Book of Mormon.  She received it giddily and asked us if we would come back tomorrow to teach her family.  Why yes, we would love to.

This week was full of so many insights.  Housing the other day we talked to one man who said the island is really struggling.  Everyone on the island is growing old, there are no jobs for anyone, and there doesn't seem to be any hope in sight.  That is why we have the gospel, we told him.  And isn't that the truth?  My absolute favorite definition in the Bible Dictionary (I like to read it straight through--it's that good) is the definition of GRACE.  Elder Whiting mentioned this in the conference:

"The main idea of the word is divine means of help or strength, given through the bounteous mercy and love of Jesus Christ ... This grace is an enabling power that allows men and women to lay hold on eternal life and exaltation after they have expended their own best efforts."

Life is hard, but sometimes we make it harder than it has to be.  The price has already been paid, so why don't tap into the power that it holds?  Sometimes I think "I am the worst missionary in the whole entire world because I didn't sprint after that person and talk to them / dozed off during personal study / got annoyed when that grumpy old man starting yelling at us / etc. etc."  But repentance is a principle of change.  And we have the strength to change as we put forth our best efforts and turn to grace.  It's not something I feel like we talk about very much in Church ... but I like it a lot.  And I really don't know how to express it very eloquently in words, so read the scriptures because it does it a lot better than me. 

Anyway, this was sort of all over the place.  As usual.   But be excited for next week, because it will be becoming to you from an iPad mini.  The Church is true.  And getting very techie. 

Love, Sister Margaret

Pic 1:  Sister MacArthur, who was in my district in the MTC, sorting through the Area Book while we were in Niigata for the conference.  As we eat weird frozen banana things.

(Monday, February 3, 2014)

Where Exactly is Sister Willden?

You can read up on "Sado Island" at http://www.visitsado.com.

1. Find Tokyo on the map below.
2. Find Fukushima directly north of Tokyo.
3. Find Niigata directly west of Fukushima.
4. Find Sado Island west of Niigata.

Week 34: This Place is Freezing!

Dear readers,

This email comes to you from a tiny little building in the middle of nowhere on a tiny little island in the middle of the sea, aka Sado Island.

My new companion is Sister Mondano, who is from the Philippines and completely fluent in Cebuano, Tagalog, and English.  There are a fair amount of Filipino people here (a cellphone company hired them or something?) so I am working on my Tagalog. I never thought I would have a companion that is the same size as me but sometimes I am wrong. 

It's been quite the adventure.  Last Thursday, a 1 hour train ride, 5 hour bus ride and 2 1/2 hour boat ride later, Sister Mondano and 4 elders and I made our way to Sado, famous for its fish.  It's a strange fusion of Portland (all the ports, haha), Utah (the mountains), and Wisconsin (the blizzards), and then I look around and remember that there's no white people in sight.  Actually, there are no people at all in sight.  Basically, everything I ever did to proselyte has gone out the window.

Here's what we did in Chiba to find people:

-visit members and house/ street in the area (here, we will have to make the member book)

-hand out chirashis at the eki (here, we walked for 2 1/2 hours and saw 5 old men the entire time)

-call people from the area book (here, there is no area book)

-stop people on the streets (missionaries normally say "behind the many is the one," but here we say "behind the one is the many")

So housing is the name of the game.  Fortunately, people seem to be less busy and are nice and come out of their houses and talk to us.  And tell us that we look cold.  (Well, it is blizzarding outside ... )

Also, fun fact, my grandparents live here!  We decided to surprise them and just show up on their doorstep, which ended up being a 2 1/2 hour adventure through the rice paddies, but no matter.  I got really good at using the GPS on our fancy little flip phone, and my grandma cooked us some veggies and beef and miso soup really fast, and gave us a ride home. 

Sister Mondano and I have high hopes for our time here in Sado.  It feels a little weird, starting from scratch (and I mean scratch) but we feel so lucky to be sent here.  The branch is tiny--there were 9 people and 6 missionaries (not that missionaries aren't people, but you know what I mean), but the branch has been praying for sisters for a long time.  So that kind of feels like a lot of pressure because, I mean, all they got was us, but we're expecting lots of miracles. 

I love this work a lot. 

Love, Sister Margaret

Pic 1: We're on a boat!  It was weird.  There were people sleeping on the floor everywhere.

Pic 2:  Water.

Pic 3:  leaving church!

PS: Exciting news, iPad minis come in two weeks.  Every missionary is supposedly receiving one.  #hasteningtheworkwithapple

(Monday, January 27)