Some random events that happened this week:
Intercambios in Copiapo!! Lots of walking. Up giant hills. I still have blisters... I love vallenar and I never wanna leave.
Our friend Oscar has been progressing a ton!! He was really struggling with cigarettes, and still is, but we had a really good lesson the other day and in the middle of the lesson i remembered that months ago, before Oscar moved to another city (and then moved back), I had asked a member of my ward in Calama who had struggled with smoking to share her testimony over a voice message. So she sent it, and i received it the same week that Oscar moved away, and never got to show it to him! But then during the middle of that lesson I remembered it existed, but didn't remember what it had said. So we played the message for him, and it talked about how he needed to make the decision to stop smoking, with lots of faith and lots of enthusiasm, but if he didn't make that first step, God wasn't going to help him, and he was never going to be able to get over this problem.
It was also my dad's birthday this week so and I spent way too long writing a little song over the last month or so. To everyone else, I love you but it was too much work to write a song, so don't expect one
We had a ward party, but everyone was traveling and so no one came... it was kinda awkward, because it was a dance, and as missionaries we're not allowed to dance, but hardly anyone else was there. Those that were there sure did dance though!! It was so hard because I would have loved to break that rule, I love to dance! (Sometimes!) And maybe it just seemed more fun because I'm not allowed but I was so sad!!
I've been reading/listening to a lot of BYU devotionals, and particularly I listened go two of them back to back while cleaning the church on Saturday. The first one called Be 100% Responsible, and the second one called Women and Education, I don't remember their names but they're both on the top 20 most popular list of BYU devos.
Hna Sorenson were able to talk a lot about what we learned about them, especially with them being back to back....
I loved the women and education one so much, because it didn't say all women need to get a doctorate degree (the woman who gave the talk has one!) and it also didn't say all women should be in the home. It talked about how each and every woman has a plan and a future that only God can see for us. She talked about taking responsibility for our own education and choosing to learn, not just to get a better job or to be a bread winner, but choosing to learn in order to strengthen the divine being that lives within us. She talked a ton about how God speaks to us each in a way that we can understand, and for each person the journey of education will be different according to what he wants for us. She also talks about living according to our dreams and it made me think a lot about what I really want to do with myself after this "little pause on real life"
interestingly, I read something else this week that talked about how women who serve missions are considerably more likely to go on to complete their four year degree and to have better grades after... I imagine that has something to do with learning to work hard as a missionary!
So the other talk was about being 100% responsible, and it was talking a lot about how removing responsibility from yourself is like taking away your own agency. If you are to be 100% free to choose, you are also to be 100% responsible for the consequences. He talked about how putting blame on others, blaming circumstances, etc. will only take away your own agency. He told a story about how there was a team who had a ton of errors/late deliveries, and so he told them it's gonna be a $1 penalty for all errores, no matter who's fault it was, and a $100 bonus if they have no errores in the month. At first they complained about how it wasn't fair, but then they started being a lot more careful about calling the delivery company and re checking the orders, and making sure there were no errors, because they didn't want to lose their bonus! After a couple months they were able to get their bonus every month because they had put in a system to keep errors from happening... by being responsible for their actions and taking care of business.
Hna Sorenson and I were able to talk a lot about how these two things relate. I think before the mission I was kind of a lazy student sometimes, and I would blame my late homework on having to work or having personal emotional problems, or whatever else, and I can recognize with this talk that I should really take responsibility for my own education. Not just to get good grades and graduate, but to actually feel the desire to learn and grow through the hard things. She talked a lot as well about how integrity includes taking responsibility for your actions. Which could lead me down another rabbit hole, but it suficeth me to say that after the mission I know I will be taking my education a lot more seriously!!
Love you all so much!!
xo-hna griffin
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