Thank you for YOUR PRAYERS!!! I can feel them! Thank you so much!!! I LOVE YOU!!! and pray for you every day as well!
On Sunday night, Sister Bertasso spoke at the MTC devotional they have every Sunday, and she talked about how Heavenly Father can speak to us while we sleep. It's in the bible and the Book of Mormon, and she shared a story about how when she was a young mother and had either 7 or 9 (I can't remember) children between the ages of 12 and 9 months. She fell down the stairs onto a concrete floor and broke her collar bone. Because she continued trying to do SO MUCH, it wasn't healing right, so 2 weeks later, they had to re-break the bone, and put her in a splint with her arm up in L shape and a metal pole so she couldn't move it. She was so devastated and had no idea how on earth she was going to do everything. She prayed for help one night for guidance, and when she woke up, she tied her three year old's shoes with one hand. She figured out how to do everything with one hand. (and it was not her dominant hand). So she shared this quote, about how if we pray for our Heavenly Father's help while we sleep, read our scriptures and leave them open, and think of everything we're grateful for while we're falling asleep, He will help us. So I've been doing just that every night and it has made the WORLD of a difference!
When I came out here, I thought I felt like a floppy fish. What I really am is a floppy Nemo. Because I am not perfect; I have a handicap fin. But unlike Nemo, I am not lost. I am exactly where my Heavenly Father wants me and He is aware of me and is here to help me.
This week has been so rewarding, but also so hard.
Heavenly Father knows me so well and I know that He loves me. I know that He knows and loves you too.
I am learning so much. Another thing about being a "Floppy Nemo" is that here on the mission, I am not the only 'floppy nemo". I have just joined a school of "floppy Nemos."
And above all, because of Christ's Atonement, we NEVER have to be alone. He knows and loves us, and I am so grateful for all that He's done for me. I'm grateful for the atonement, because I can repent of all of the mistakes I have made this week, and I'm grateful for the sacrament, because then I can renew my baptismal covenants every Sunday.
Thanks mom for the Dear Elder you sent of Friday. It was obviously PERFECT timing, and I went back and re-read that talk. If you are interested in the talk go to: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/04/latter-day-saints-keep-on-trying?lang=eng
I have just been trying to remember the Nelson Mandela quote, " A saint is a sinner who keeps on trying."
I'm a floppy Nemo, with a handicap fin. I can't do this a lone, but thankfully, I don't have to!
I am so grateful for my time at the MTC, but am stoked to be headed out tomorrow!
I love you so much! and miss you more than you can imagine!!!
Love,
Madeleine
Also:
I wish I'd memorized Nacho Libre before I came here. I always want to quote it.
My joke of the week: a teacher wanted whoever had the most pets to be the investigator once, so I said, "Yo se que mi familia tiene un perra, pero no se si tenemos pescados todavia." He corrected me by reminding me that "Pescado" is fish you eat, "Pez" is a pet fish. I then said, "Oh. Vale, No se si mi familia todavia tiene peces, o tiene pescados". The Elders loved that one.
LOVE YOU!!!!
