Temple, the Cleansing Power of the Atonement, and Lizards.

Lehlie Mainko!

(Learning new words all the time here! Main is honorific for 1 person, Mainko is for more people. Spelling might be incorrect, but yeah.)

I hope everyone's week has been super great! Hope you aren't freezing too bad there, but enjoying the coolness. It's super hot here, and the A/C in our room is still broken. It blew air, but never cold air. And now we can't even turn it on. Let's just say that a lizard crawled into it and got it's tail cut off... Also there's another dead lizard I found in it while looking for the one with a missing tail. Gross. Hopefully the Landlord fixes it soon. (PS, mom don't read this, it's gross. I know it's tail was cut off because I found it on the floor, and it was twitching for like 20 minutes after. That's nerves for you, I guess.)

This week I focused on virtue. I know that as we purify our minds, our words and actions will also be pure. Also, as our minds are filled with good thoughts, as we focus on the Lord "with an eye single to the Glory of God", there is no room for temptation to sway us from the work. This week I will focus on Obedience.

Oh and the last week since I didn't say was Knowledge. Ya'll can read my notes about it in the picture.

Just a note about Cartwright, the investigator I have been telling you about. He has come leaps and bounds. We didn't see him until I think Wednesday because he was never home. But when we did see him, his friend Kim also sat in on the lesson. And even though we were gone, I know the Spirit was working on him. He has been reading the Book of Mormon (in English, because he lived in the states for a long time) and is making changes in his life. And then last night, we got him (or I should say the Spirit got him) to pray at the end of our lesson. He is really searching for God, but now is also willing and trying to make the changes in his life that will bring him closer to God. It's beautiful to see the Spirit working with him.

This week it's Pohnpei's turn to take part in the Mission's 40 day fast. Not sure what day Sister Fehoko and I will do it yet, but I am so excited to see the blessings that come from it. 

This week 35 families from Sekere ward are going to the temple!! I am so excited and happy for them. I know it will help strengthen the ward. Sister Fehoko and I have been searching out the less actives, and inviting them to repent and come back to church so they can receive the blessings of the Gospel again in their lives. Yesterday, I have felt the power of partaking of the Sacrament stronger than I have ever felt before. I always try to focus my thoughts on the Savior, but this time was different. There was a lot of tension between Sister Fehoko and I as we drove to church (long story, but it's all good now. We were just allowing Satan to get between us. Oops.) As I took the bread, I was wondering how I could take the sacrament when there was such tension, when there was anger in my heart. But as I was praying, I felt this overwhelming sense of peace. I felt much like Alma describes how he felt in Alma 36:18-21:

18 Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death. 19 And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up bythe memory of my sins no more. 20 And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain! 21 Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea,and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand,there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy.

I felt so much peace. I could remember what we had been arguing about, but the pain and anger was gone. It was a sudden feeling of peace, in an instant. It is so hard to describe, and I wish everyone could feel the way I felt. It was beautiful. My testimony of the Sacrament and cleansing power of the Atonement is so much stronger. I am so grateful for the opportunity we have to take the Sacrament every week, and also to repent daily. I know that it is because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ that we can find peace, joy, and hope when we are angry, sorrowing, or lost. 

Along the lines of the Atonement, one morning I was studying for some investigators, and I was studying the Atonement. And this analogy came to me (Heidi or someone artistically talented, you could totally draw a picture):

When we make mistakes and sin, it's like we are building a wall between us and God. We continue to sin, we continue to build up the wall, until we cannot see him nor his light anymore. But Christ is there, always there, ready to break down the wall of sin we have built with his hammer, the Atonement. The only stopping him is us. We have spent so much time and effort building the wall, and now we have forgotten what is on the other side. We are afraid of what we do not know, and so we tell him, don't touch the wall. Don't break down my sins. But when we have the faith and the courage, and we trust Him, we let him step up. We let him break down the wall. And as he does, God's light comes back into our life. As we repent, and change, we remember what we were missing. And it is definitely not something to be afraid of. 

Anyway, that's it for this week. I love you all, I pray for you all. Stay safe, stay warm, stay happy. 

Kasalel Kumwail!

Sister Springer