Week 20: Arrependi-Mentos e Diet Coke
This week's adventure was Mission Tour, where we got to hear from Elder Cascardi (a member of the Quorum of the 70). It was awesome. He spoke a ton about the doctrine of Christ (you know, the five things we talk about pretty much all day: faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end) but he went super in depth and woah. I learned so so much. The whole devotional was cram-packed with bomb-diggity doctrine, but I especially appreciated the part he spoke about repentance.
A lot of the time when we think about repentance, we think about the huge sins some people make and the need to stop and make a huge difference in order to change. Repentance is often associated with words like "punishment" and "consequences," but in reality it isn't that at all. Our goal in this life is to return to God and inherit His glory. To do this, we need to be pure enough to enter (and feel comfortable) in His presence, which isn't possible when we sin. Sin is a separation from God, a separation from the Spirit, and when we sin we are cut off from the peace, joy, and blessings that God wants us to receive. No one is perfect and so left to our own devices we would be absolute trash. I mean, sin leaves us lower than the dust, worthy of nothing but to dissolve into nothingness and allow the purity of God to fill the space we took up. But God doesn't want that. He wants us to learn and grow, to use our agency to make good choices and learn from the mistakes. For this He sent Christ to pay the price of our sins, so that we can repent and become clean again, worthy to continue and one day return to Him. We just need to accept His grace and keep moving forward, trying to make each day a little better than the day before.
But this isn't just for the huge things (I for one have never had to repent of murder). Usually it's more of a recommitment to be better. Any area where we are not, in fact, perfect, or any tiny little thing that is not in harmony with the teachings of God, is sin. In conclusion, we sin every day. Multiple times every day. If you're anything like me, it's multiple times every minute. But the great blessing of repentance is that we can change. We are not confined to our mistakes. We can start fresh, make new goals, and become clean again and little by little we can learn how to be like God is. Perfect. Not in this life, but one day, if we keep trying, making mistakes, repenting, and learning, we can turn into something great.
I'm learning so much here and trying to apply the atonement each and every day. Some days are better than others but I know that God really is helping me to learn and grow, and the joy I feel when the people we're teaching understand God's love and plan for them is just overwhelming. I love it. I love the Holy Ghost which is always so close, I love my companion, and I love each of the people we meet each day. I know that this is the church of Jesus Christ, restored in its fullness to the Earth to bless our lives and help us achieve our divine potential.
I love you all!
Sister Hannah Hiatt
P.S. If you're feeling really bored, you could put together a flash drive with some bopulous Mo-Tab (or sorry, Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square) tunes and hits of the Primary to send to me
Sister Hannah Hiatt
Av Dr. Luís Rocha Miranda, 159
8º Andar
Jabaquara
04344-010 São Paulo - SP
Brazil
A lot of the time when we think about repentance, we think about the huge sins some people make and the need to stop and make a huge difference in order to change. Repentance is often associated with words like "punishment" and "consequences," but in reality it isn't that at all. Our goal in this life is to return to God and inherit His glory. To do this, we need to be pure enough to enter (and feel comfortable) in His presence, which isn't possible when we sin. Sin is a separation from God, a separation from the Spirit, and when we sin we are cut off from the peace, joy, and blessings that God wants us to receive. No one is perfect and so left to our own devices we would be absolute trash. I mean, sin leaves us lower than the dust, worthy of nothing but to dissolve into nothingness and allow the purity of God to fill the space we took up. But God doesn't want that. He wants us to learn and grow, to use our agency to make good choices and learn from the mistakes. For this He sent Christ to pay the price of our sins, so that we can repent and become clean again, worthy to continue and one day return to Him. We just need to accept His grace and keep moving forward, trying to make each day a little better than the day before.
But this isn't just for the huge things (I for one have never had to repent of murder). Usually it's more of a recommitment to be better. Any area where we are not, in fact, perfect, or any tiny little thing that is not in harmony with the teachings of God, is sin. In conclusion, we sin every day. Multiple times every day. If you're anything like me, it's multiple times every minute. But the great blessing of repentance is that we can change. We are not confined to our mistakes. We can start fresh, make new goals, and become clean again and little by little we can learn how to be like God is. Perfect. Not in this life, but one day, if we keep trying, making mistakes, repenting, and learning, we can turn into something great.
I'm learning so much here and trying to apply the atonement each and every day. Some days are better than others but I know that God really is helping me to learn and grow, and the joy I feel when the people we're teaching understand God's love and plan for them is just overwhelming. I love it. I love the Holy Ghost which is always so close, I love my companion, and I love each of the people we meet each day. I know that this is the church of Jesus Christ, restored in its fullness to the Earth to bless our lives and help us achieve our divine potential.
I love you all!
Sister Hannah Hiatt
P.S. If you're feeling really bored, you could put together a flash drive with some bopulous Mo-Tab (or sorry, Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square) tunes and hits of the Primary to send to me
Sister Hannah Hiatt
Av Dr. Luís Rocha Miranda, 159
8º Andar
Jabaquara
04344-010 São Paulo - SP
Brazil
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