I know it’s way long, but this email means a lot to me. Please give it a read. All of it…….

Hey everyone! It has been a busy week! 

Well we started the week with exchanges, so it was me, my companion and and the exchange sister for a day and it was a party! We went fishing one morning with some Elders and it had been sooooo long! I forgot how much I love fishing❤️ I actually kissed one of the fish and it made my facemask smell like fish for the rest of the day hahaha. 

We had Zone conference this week and I once again got to see my amazing Denton friends! It was way fun and there were some great messages shared. We also all got flu shots that day which was just fantastic! Kinda fun though! Our car won the cleanest car award out of 3 different Zones!! Let’s goooooooo! 

We had the fun opportunity on Saturday to do a neighborhood cleanup! We got free t-shirts and we went around and picked up all the garbage we could find. We ended up going to a pond and cleaning up a BUNCH of trash there. It made me kind sad actually how much trash there was… So it felt good to clean it all up! And we met a little turtle friend while we were doing it! We named him John. 

My spiritual part of this week’s email is centered on the topic of conversation we had in this week’s institute class. We are reading the book: “The Divine Gift of Forgiveness” by Neil L. Anderson and it is incredible. This week we discussed repentance and the process of repentance and stuff like that. Something about the conversation the class was having really bothered me though. Several missionaries made comments, most of which I agreed with, however many of them talked about how to truly repent, we must suffer. There must be some sort of suffering or pain that has to be felt to truly go through the repentance process…. Boy when I heard that.. I was floored. Not just floored, I was indignant. 

Are you kidding me?? Do we really believe that? I suppose you can believe whatever you’d like, but to me that is fantastically wrong!! The suffering is OVER! It’s finished! The price has been paid! I was so outraged from these comments that I stayed after the class just so I could spew my thoughts to my teacher and get his opinions as well. Here is the sentiment I expressed to him…

The thought of having to suffer through the repentance process can not, and WILL NOT sit well with me. Not now, not ever. That’s not the point! The focus is not, and SHOULD not, be on the bad of the situation. I will explain, but first let me start by saying this: Finding the drive to change is not about focusing on how bad the bad is, but on focusing on how good the good is. Now let me explain that…

A lot of people think that when they make a mistake, they should feel GUILT. And here’s why… The hope is that they will associate that nasty, self-degrading emotion of “guilt” with the mistake itself to the point of making them feel SICK to even THINK about it, therefore making it so you never want to make that mistake again. Right? NO. WRONG. This is WRONG!! This is “focusing on how BAD the BAD is”. And that is straight up wrong. 

What we should be doing is focusing on the flipped version of that. On how GOOD the GOOD is! When we make a mistake we are distanced spiritually from our Father in Heaven. We lose that spirit of living worthy lives! And we want that back!!! When we are living the way our Father wants us to live, the blessings are apparent, beautiful and testimony-building. That’s where we want to be!! That’s where we find the most joy!! So when we make mistakes, instead of saying “UGH this is so terrible I hate this so much I never want to do this again because I feel so awful!!”…. We should say- “I know how it feels to have the Savior and His Spirit in my life and boy is it amazing. I’m going to work hard to get that back!” It’s not about not wanting the bad, but about wanting the good. 

Now don’t misunderstand me… I’m NOT saying that we should feel fine about the mistakes we make. There is still a sense of “Godly sorrow” that is necessary for repentance. We need to recognize when we’ve made the mistake. But we don’t need to DWELL on it! The mistake has been made! Okay, NOW WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO ABOUT It?? Drop it and get yourself to the Savior’s feet! Run so far away from it so you can get back to basking in the joy that comes from having the influence of the Savior in your life. Jesus Christ already suffered for your sins. The suffering is OVER. The only suffering we experience will come from our lack of utilizing the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Suffering comes from DWELLING on the sin. But peace, joy, love, determination, motivation to change comes from dropping the sin and running to the Savior. Wanting to be back in our Father’s presence. Knowing how wonderful it is to be there and striving with all you got to returning. NO LOOKING BACK.

Well I’m very serious about this, you guys. I’ve learned this lesson time and time again in my life and I can’t stress it enough… I’ll leave you this week on that note and just encourage you to stop the suffering! It’s over! Jesus paid your debt in Full! Turn to Him and find peace in the process❤️ I know these things are true.

Have a fantastic week! 
Scripture of the week: Jacob 1:19
Get Busy, Get Lost! -Sister Oldham