Just Keep Swimming

Hola mi familia!!

Well, to start off, I just want to make sure that y'all realize that in one year, y'all will be picking me up at the airport....I'll just let that sink in ;) Time is going too fast! Part of me hopes that the year goes by really fast, but the other part hopes this wonderful experience I'm having never ends!

This week was AMAZING! I have seen so many miracles happen, and I definitely know that the Lord looks out for His missionaries, especially the sisters ;) My companion and I started reading the Book of Mormon every day together with a specific question in mind. We have seen so many blessing from that!! We found 3 new investigators this week :O and we know that it was all because of us putting forth an effort and being willing to be guided by the Lord.

A couple of times, we were just walking on campus, saying hi to people, and then my companion starts "how to begin teaching"! It throws me off for a second, but then we're both on the same page, and we actually taught a lesson on the spot! I am learning, more and more, how to have faith and trust in the Lord that if I open my mouth, it will be filled.

We got an "emergency call" to clean the temple on Friday. Apparently missionaries were supposed to come, but the people who signed up the missionaries didn't tell them... SO, we went and I got to go in parts of the temple that I've never been in before! I went down where the oxen are in the baptistry!! I was so excited! It was like when a new Harry Potter book was coming out, or when my macarons turned out like they were supposed to :D

Fun thing, I am singing in a musical number for zone conference this week! Last week, one of the elders in our district called and asked if my companion or I would want to do a duet with him--half in spanish and half in english. I said "Sure! I'll do it!" THEN, on Wednesday, he told me that we were singing in church on Sunday too! X0 I was so upset!! (I'm kind of joking, but not really) We sang "I Need Thee Every Hour" and the first verse was him, in english, then the second verse I sang in Spanish, and then the third verse we both sang, but I was in english and he was in spanish, and then the last verse was spanish, and I harmonized on the chorus. It went really well! We sang it acapella and I was really nervous that my voice wouldn't be loud enough, but it worked! Before Sacrament meeting, we met to practice it one more time, and I was so nervous and I was shaking so bad that I was like "I need to sit down" so, out of the corner of my eye I saw two chairs on either side of me, so I reasoned that there was a chair directly behind me....I was wrong. XD I fell flat on my behind, and was kind of stunned for a second. My companion and then the elders were laughing sooooo hard. Sister Harvey was crying! I have had so many experiences like this on my mission, it's not even funny, but at the same time, it's hilarious. I'm learning that laughing at myself is a good thing!

In the Joseph Smith movie, one of my favorite parts is when Emma and her mother are talking, and her mother tells her that "there are plenty of fish in the sea" and then Emma replies with "yes, but why would I want to fish in shallow waters?" (and then Joseph walks by :D ) Later in the film, after the prophet is tarred and feathered, Emma asks why bad things keep happening, and Joseph says "Perhaps I am meant to swim in deep water--better deep than shallow." I love that line. We can learn to swim in shallow water, the basics like the doggy paddle, or strokes and proper breathing, but it is only by moving to deeper water that we can acquire the strength and skill that we need in order to become proficient. This principle is the same in the gospel: it is only by moving away from our "comfort zone" and from that which we know that we can learn and grown and become the strong and valiant sons and daughters of God that we are meant to become. I know this is true, I have seen it in others, and I am living it right now. The whole point behind this is that I found the scripture where it talks about deep water. It's Doctrine & Covenants 127:2.

And as for the perils which I am called to pass through, they seem but a small thing to me, as the envy and wrath of man have been my common lot all the days of my life; and for what cause it seems mysterious, unless I was ordained from before the foundation of the world for some good end, or bad, as you may choose to call it. Judge ye for yourselves. God knoweth all these things, whether it be good or bad. But nevertheless, deep water is what I am wont to swim in. It all has become a second nature to me; and I feel, like Paul, to glory in tribulation; for to this day has the God of my fathers delivered me out of them all, and will deliver me from henceforth; for behold, and lo, I shall triumph over all my enemies, for the Lord God hath spoken it.

It's really long, but my favorite part is that it says: "deep water is what I am wont to swim in." and that it has "become a second nature to me". When we are constantly swimming against the current, we grow stronger and then we don't even realize that our path is hard. I know that as we do this, it is only because of Jesus Christ and His Atonement, and the strength found therein that makes it all possible.

I love you all so much, and I am so looking forward to when I can see you all again and give you the biggest hug ever! But I want you all to know that this work is amazing, and it truly is His.

Until next week!

Love,

Sister Tycksen