Halfway

 Hey everyone! Happy (late) Mother's Day to all the mom's out there!!! You've each influenced my life for so much good. And shoutout to you, mom!! I love you & I'm so grateful for you!

Okay so this week was really good! Brayan is getting baptized THIS Saturday! He had his interview yesterday and he's ready! He's so cool and lessons with him bring me sooo much joy. Every time, he carries in his Book of Mormon with him and loves reading it with us. I'm so excited for him!

On Tuesday I hit my halfway mark on the mission!!! Aaahh I can't believe it. Time feels so weird on the mission. It seems like it's moving slow, and then all of a sudden you're looking back and it's flown by. I had a dream the other night that I got home from my mission and I literally woke myself up out of it because I got so sad in the dream. Not because I'm excited for the day I get to see everyone at home again, but just because I will miss this phase of my life SO much, and I'll never get it back again! It's so nice to have this opportunity to fully dedicate my time to the Lord and learn how to recognize the Spirit in my life. It's so cool to get to be unplugged from the chaos of the world, of media, and to just focus on what really matters. I woke up relieved that it was just a dream hahaha.

On Wednesday I had exchanges with Hermana Matson in Santa Maria! Hermana Matson is SO fun and we've served around each other before, so it was awesome getting to be together for a day. I loved getting to be in my old area again and had so many flashbacks from when I was serving there!! One of my favorite lessons was with a family whose son, Cornelio, was baptized about about a year ago. He just recently left to serve a mission (he's in Salt Lake City learning English)! And now they're taking lessons from the missionaries. It was cute to see the photos of Cornelio hung up on their fridge. I know that he is being such a powerful influence for good on his family because he's serving a mission. Some family members have already been baptized since he's been out, but not all of them. As I was sitting in their house, the Spirit was so strong, and I felt like I was witnessing the miracle coming out of Cornelio's mission. It was cool to think that I was one of the missionaries getting to teach his family while he's out serving the Lord.

On Friday we had another exchange, this time with Hermana Nielson in my area! She actually was an English-speaking sister missionary up until this last transfer, when she suddenly got called to learn Spanish, which is crazyyy. She's absolutely killing it though!!! She has the best attitude and she's so funny. We had some amazing lessons that day. One of our friends, Eddy, had a video-call lesson with us. The Spirit was SO strong in that call. He talked about how he felt so good as he was talking with us and wanted to keep learning. I explained to him that that feeling is the Holy Ghost. Our last lesson of the night was with a friend we've been teaching for a while, and we invited an English-speaking member to join us for fellowship. Whenever we do that, we translate their comments into Spanish for our friends. Well during the lesson, all of a sudden, our friend started talking to the member in PERFECT ENGLISH and I was so shocked hahaha. Apparently this entire time he's spoken English and Spanish, but it took like 10 lessons with him for me to figure that out lol. 

On Saturday, we had interviews with President Rodriguez! I love President and Hermana Rodriguez with my whole entire heart. While we were waiting for our interviews, we got to make waffles at the church:) We also had a powerful discussion with President Rodriguez about testifying of Joseph Smith, and I want to get better at doing that in my lessons. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God, and I am grateful for the part he played in restoring the Jesus Christ's Church.

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

This week, I feel like we ran into so many people who said the same thing. They each talked about how they don't feel like we need an organized church to be doing what the Lord has asked.

And to some extent, they have a point. We don't have to be part of an organized church to be good people. I've met lots of great people who don't go to church.

So I had to ask myself a lot this week, WHY is it so important that we testify of THIS Church and Christ's gospel?

The first important truth I've been reminded of is that God loves His children so much. All of us, no matter what. But, He loves us way too much to let us stay the way we are.

Jesus Christ DID organize a church. And He DOES expect us to follow His teachings. I know that He had authority to organize the Church, and that that authority has been restored to the earth today.

It got confusing for me to hear people tell me that they didn't think God really has a specific expectation for us. But as I was reading the scriptures this week, I ran into a verse that explained that the law of justice and mercy brought "remorse of conscience" unto man (Alma 42:18).

If there was no law, there would be no difference between right and wrong. I am so grateful that there IS a law, and that we have the opportunity to choose between right and wrong.

I am grateful that God and Jesus Christ have high expectations for us because they know what we're capable of. I'm also forever grateful to my Savior, Jesus Christ, for His sacrifice, because without it, none of us would be capable of meeting God's expectations.

My invitation for you all is to read Alma 42 in the Book of Mormon! It's one of my favorite chapters about justice & mercy, and it's a good reminder why we need an organized church!

I love you all so much!

-Hermana DeMordaunt