So pretty much Virginia Beach is supa sweet and the gospel rocks!! Wow this has been a crazy week! I feel so... alive! haha I am meeting tons of people every day and getting weird looks and yelled at and hugged and name-tag checked out and all sorts of great stuff by all sorts of people I don't know!
My companionship get better and better! My trainer is awesome and we have gotten really close. My other companion I swear is a minion from Despicable Me and it seriously cracks me up. Sometimes it takes everything in my power to not just start crying from laughing so hard... in a good way! She is so sweet but seriously reminds me of a minion!
This last week we were on hurricane watch for a little while so it was SUPER stormy and exciting!! Like we would walk from the car to the apartment and be drenched. So I feel very at home :) and when you aren't wet from the rain, the humidity will get you! I now know what 100% humidity and not raining is. Imagine walking through the air full of giant floating raindrops (floating, not falling, is the key word here), yeah it's fun stuff! haha
We have taught some more less actives and got new investigators! We taught a part-member family yesterday on exchanges (so I got to go to Chesapeake for the day) and they live in a zoo. We also met their 5 dogs and birds and chickens with chicks and goats and horses and all other members of their diverse family. So free trip to the zoo and a lesson in one trip! totally sweet! Also, we taught a lesson in a sushi restaurant to our Chinese waitress. That was so random/hilarious/great. Some Elders who like to eat there referred her to us and she was excited to see us but we also had to order (and being in a YSA we all know how the $ situation goes...) so she was like bringing our food and serving other customers but would then come sit next to us and ask us questions. Her name is Yoki and she is the cutest thing every. I was wondering why she was so curious about God and what we had to say. After we taught her about prayer we asked her what kinds of things she wants to know or ask God and she said the desire of her heart was for her parents to get visas. yeah. that was the Kicker haha. But I know God can work miracles and if it's meant to be it's meant to be! She wanted us to show her how to pray so we did right there in the restaurant and I think that the couples on dates around us were a little confused haha. It made me laugh because never in a million years did I imagine I would be in Virginia, in a sushi restaurant, talking to Yoki who can barely speak English, and praying out loud in front of other customers. It was awesome. The gospel is true. Also.... in our lesson with Scott I invited him to be baptized and he said YES!!! aaAAHHH!!! I just wanted to scream and hug him and kiss him I was so happy. But I contained my excitement to a smile and a nice testimony.
Britt's Weekly Devotional: (Sidenote: if you are talking about yourself in 3rd person is it appropriate to use your first name? I'm going to say yes. Missionary probs...)
Okay so at institute this week we listened to a talk about happiness from some Jewish man in 1989 and it was really thought provoking! So I've been thinking about happiness and pain this week and wanted to talk about it. Pain does not mean that we need to be miserable, or sad, or unhappy. In fact, there is nothing that brings us happiness that isn't also filled with pain. Think about it. Relationships with family and close friends and significant others, great jobs, our devotions, our talents, simply, (sometimes) getting up in the morning, or exercising. Growing pains are not just to be experienced physically throughout our adolescence, but rather, in all aspect of our being, all throughout our life! Pain may just mean that we are stretching, changing, growing, and experiencing life, which is actually a very, very good thing! Sometimes we fill our lives with meaningless activities that may be fun but don't necessarily bring us happiness... we are seeking in the wrong places. As we seek to grow closer to our Heavenly Father, recognizing our weaknesses (which may bring a little pain) in order to replace them with strengths, and turn outward, focusing on others when the human nature in us might want to turn in (also might bring some pain).. we will realize that we are truly happy! In that moment we can see the stretching, growing and experiencing have been for our good and for, ultimately, our happiness. The greatest act of eternal pain and grief was the Atonement of Christ, and inconsequentially, this also (when applied in our lives) will result in the greatest happiness we can know. Our Father in Heaven loves us and wants us to be happy. He will help us to enjoy our journey home!
Commitment: Go outside of your comfort zone and help others when you regularly would not! See a little pain and a little change to make a better person!
Life is good. The Gospel is true. Be kind.
Love,
Sister Brittany Westover
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