It's starting to get cold here at the MTC (in the mornings until about 10am). I forgot to pack a sweatshirt, so I bought one here. Everything is pretty heavily discounted for missionaries at the MTC bookstore, so it was pretty cheap. We have gym time about 4 times a week, about an hour each time. It's nice to get out and walk around the MTC field and up by the temple. With the mountains in the background, we get to see a pretty amazing sunrise.
I'm so anxious to get out into the mission field, wherever I will be going (and eventually to Mexico City). I am anxious to teach and help and love. One point I was studying and thinking about this week is the following:
God is a fair god. for those who don't have the opportunity in this life to hear this gospel will have an opportunity in the next life (the spirit world, where our spirits await the resurrection--reuniting of the spirit and body). So why, then, should we have the gospel here in this life? Isn't it easier just to live however you want in this life and then look for the truth in the next? I am thinking of all the blessings and good things that have happened to me because of having this gospel in this life. The commandments and instructions we have in the church are not binding, but rather liberating. No smoking, for example. I had a teacher that once told me he had a friend. The friend said "HaHa! I can smoke anytime I want! Your church is too strict!". My teacher replied "that's true, that you can smoke any time you want, but so can I. It's you that can't STOP smoking anytime you want." That is so very true. I testify that God commands not to bind, but to liberate us. To ensure that we are our own agents. That we make our own decisions. That we learn by making those decisions. Nicotine shouldn't make our decisions. Alcohol shouldn't. Any addictive substance--loads of caffeine in coffee included-- shouldn't.
God's commandments are a way to keep us on the road that is plowed, salted, and on which we have traction, as we drive through the countryside of life in the vehicles of families. I love God. He's awesome. Literally.
I love you all and miss you!
