The Sabbath Day

Hello Family!

I love talking about the Sabbath Day! Do you remember the talk from last conference? I loved it. I had to think of ways that I could better keep the Sabbath Day holy because honestly it feels the same as every other day as a missionary. 

I make sure we only listen to Motab hymns on Sundays instead of the EFY music we usually listen to. I know that's small but it's made a difference. We are supposed to prepare ALL week to take the Sacrament.

I just think it's so important because it's the only day where we can completely focus on the Lord! The rest of the days we can serve in callings, study the scriptures, etc. but we always have something else like work or school that distract us from the Gospel. 

But on Sunday we can direct our thoughts at every moment to the Lord. The Sabbath isn't just a day of rest. it is a day of rest from OUR work. and a Busy day in the Lord's work! I am really grateful that He has given us a day where we can focus just on Him. In that way my vision on the mission has changed. 

My favorite question now is what sign do our activities show to the Lord? Everything we do on the Sabbath day should direct our thoughts to Him and show Him our devotion. So if there is anything that distracts us from that, we shouldn't do it. My goal for when I return home from my mission is to no longer watch TV shows, not listen to worldly music, and to no longer do my homework on Sundays. Better to do things with my family that are uplifting and try to do more work for the Lord on this special day.

Something I really appreciate that we do as a family is to visit our grandparents. I love that. I miss it a lot! I remember growing up that we would always be together. We couldn't go swimming in Grandma's pool, and we would read the scriptures all together!

Also, I love the Sacrament. I have developed a new love for Sundays because of the Sacrament. I love to think about what the bread and water signify as they are blessed and passed. I remember hearing or reading in a talk once about something I had never thought about. 

The bread, which is the body of Christ, shows that all of us have been unconditionally saved from physical death. The water, which represents Christ's blood that was shed for us, represents that He has saved us from spiritual death if we choose to accept Him and keep all of our baptismal covenants. 

We should think about our baptismal covenants not only on Sunday but during the entire week. (because it's our baptismal covenant to remember Him always!)

There are 5 Sister Traning Leader companionships in the mission. A companionship for each zone! So we are in charge of the Caguas Zone. I had my first exchange this week with Hna. Allan! I was really excited... because it was kind of like being with Sister Allen. Close! Haha. She is really awesome. I think I did an OK job. We didn't get lost or anything! For all the exchanges I will be staying in Guayama because Hna. Gallardo's license is from Mexico and so she can't drive here. Everything turned out okay and I didn't have to call her to ask for directions, haha!

One lesson we taught this week was to an atheist woman. Well, she was baptized a long time ago and has decided this past year that she is atheist. That lesson stood out to me in particular because we were actually there to visit her son who is less active but is preparing to return again. 

So I was able to share my testimony of our Living God and that was special because I don't meet a lot of people here who straight up do not believe in Him. I feel sad for her. But I was just so grateful for my family and for Mom and Dad who taught me to believe in God and in Christ. So that was a testimony builder for me. I invited her to pray to Heavenly Father and ask Him if He exists or not. She didn't seem too sincere to me. But at least I invited her.

Yesterday we were able to visit our recent convert who has been in intensive care the past two weeks. They finally moved her to a normal room and we were able to go. The poor thing. But the RS is doing an amazing job taking care of her. The only problem is that she doesn't want to eat the food in the hospital because it doesn't have salt. (she can't eat salt because of the problems with her kidneys). 

So I told her that the Word of Wisdom now has a sixth substance that she can't take and that's salt. So I definitely committed her to not eating salt and then we walked to a member's house to grab some lemons to give to her to flavor her food.

That's awesome that Hannah sang on Sunday! That's awesome.

I can't believe you ran 23 miles. WHAT??

Well I am out of time already. That went by crazy fast! I hope everyone has an amazing week and that Hannah has an amazing birthday!!!

xoxo Hermana Hardy