Saved For This Day

Hello everyone! About 10 days until I leave for Denmark! I’m so excited! This week has been a crazy adventure. I got to fast on not fast Sunday, to go to San Francisco, and to have some amazing devotionals. 

On Friday, we fasted.As a district we were all struggling with something personally that we felt like we needed a district fast. We felt as though we were at a stopping point in our personal, companion, and district growth. I personally fasted for my companion and our ability to teach alongside one another, as I think I’ve divulged in the past - it’s been me mostly writing the lessons which has been a struggle. My fast worked though! This is kind of out of my timeline story mode thing or whatever, but I fasted for it, and my prayer was answered. I was inspired to tell him that he was in charge of the lesson. That he’s taking the lead whether it’s in Danish or not, and he stepped right up to the plate. Yesterday was probably the most successful time, he lead the lesson, wrote down some notes, I added a scripture, my testimony, and a little conversational stuff, but he did the majority of it. He found a really awesome talk by President Nelson from the recent conference called “Come, Follow me” (Which in danish is »Kom så og følg mig« which translates directly to “come see and follow me” which I love because it feels as though it is two invitations, seeing is not just enough, we must follow him in our actions, thoughts, and desires.) Our lesson was about families, and this quote really touched me 

“Pour out your heart to God. Ask Him if these things are true. Make time to study His words. Really study! If you truly love your family and if you desire to be exalted with them throughout eternity, pay the price now—through serious study and fervent prayer—to know these eternal truths and then to abide by them.

“If you are not sure you even believe in God, start there. Understand that in the absence of experiences with God, one can doubt the existence of God. So, put yourself in a position to begin having experiences with Him. Humble yourself. Pray to have eyes to see God’s hand in your life and in the world around you. Ask Him to tell you if He is really there—if He knows you. Ask Him how He feels about you. And then listen.”
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2019/04/46nelson?lang=eng

I know that asking really does work, if you have a desire and really want to know, the Lord will answer you. But you have to be listening for the answer, having faith that you will receive one.

On Saturday, all I wrote in my journal was “the atonement is an unimaginable sacrifice” and I’m so grateful for it. I can’t imagine the pain He went through, just so that I could become clean before the Lord and have hope that I can one day return to him. 

On Monday I went to San Francisco! It was an AMAZING and WEIRD experience. We got up at 3:00 to head over to SLC Airport, I went with Elder Stowe and Elder Madsen, and we were all sick. We got there, had a nice Sister let us call our parents, met someone that had a brother currently serving a mission in Denmark (what are the odds of that happening???), and just waited for our plane. We sat next to a really nice guy who served his mission in Chile, told us good luck and that we will love it. (Also someone told us some scary things about the MTC… like they put laxatives in the juice??? I don’t know if I quite believe it, but dang I hope not haha) So we show up in San Francisco, chill in the mall across the consulate, then we went to the consulate waited for over 2 ½ hours to get our Visas because they messed up our payments, and then we had 1 ½ hours to ourselves. We went to the massive mall in San Francisco, really didn’t buy anything though because we were all cheap haha, but went around there, got Panda Express (which was SOOOOO good… I miss real food hahaha), and then got yelled at by this guy who kept swearing at us telling us we can’t tell him how to live his life (mind you, we didn’t say a word to the man haha). Which is kind of a weird thing, wearing the tag throughout the entire day gave us so many weird looks haha, I kind of love it. Either they were happy to see us, or angry, or weirded out, or curious… It made me super happy haha. 
Then we started heading back to the BART train (first time on it that day, it was an experience, we technically sat on illegal seating and felt really awkward when we read the sign that said it was illegal, but then we moved so it was all good). We went on the BART train back, got to the airport. There, we saw a little girl who said really loud, “Are those the missionaries?” which made me BEYOND happy, I waved back at her, and then one of the Elders sat near her on the way there! It made me so happy, because when I was a kid, even when I was a teen, I always looked up to the missionaries and probably said that exact thing to my mom. I’m so grateful to be a servant of the Lord and to help bring even the younger children unto Christ. It is such a cool opportunity when you have kids everywhere looking up to you. 
We also met a man named Joe. Joe is a Jehovah’s Witness, really friendly guy, but he doesn’t believe completely in all of the JW’s beliefs such as not using modern medicine like blood transfusion. He felt frustrated that they didn’t believe in that because he had to have one in order to live, but his testimony of Heavenly Father was amazing. He told us about multiple times how he was in life threatening circumstances, but knew God was there helping him. He told us about one that struck me in particular, he told us about being in a coma after breaking his back, he heard God’s voice at one point that said “if you go to the right, your suffering will end, and you will come be with me, if you go to the left, you will be in pain, but you will overcome it and continue living.” I know that the Lord has saved Joe for this time, and if he really is looking for the truth, he will find it. I know that meeting him was no coincidence, and I pray that he really does read the book we gave him. (I gave him my book of mormon that I was marking up, and wrote my testimony about eternal families and Christ) It was our first real missionary experience as a missionary, and it was fantastic. 
We get back to the MTC around 10:00 and are just exhausted. But of course we don’t go to sleep quickly because of course we have to tell everyone! It was a very good experience, a long day, but a great memory.
Tuesday, I learned that the Book of Mormon prompts us with the Spirit always. It is a great way to bring the Spirit quickly, and if we act on it quickly it will make our lives so much easier. I also learned that I am so grateful for my 3rd Great Grandfather’s sacrifice as he came to the Americas for the Church. He literally gave up everything, his home, his garden, his family, and his wife and children (they passed away on the boat), and he almost gave up his own life. It was tragic, but he struggled through, and I wouldn’t be where I am if it weren’t for his faithfulness. As it was pioneer day yesterday, I invite you to research your ancestry, looking up there amazing stories about how they trekked across to get you where you are today. Or if not that, stories that help you understand who you are and how your family came to where it is today. It is fascinating to think that the one I talked about is just merely one story of the many ancestors that trekked across the planes to get to the land in the West. How much they struggled, is inspiring for me to deal with my much smaller trials.

Come, come, ye Saints, no toil nor labor fear;
But with joy wend your way.
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day.
'Tis better far for us to strive
Our useless cares from us to drive;
Do this, and joy your hearts will swell--
All is well! All is well!

Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard?
'Tis not so; all is right.
Why should we think to earn a great reward
If we now shun the fight?
Gird up your loins; fresh courage take.
Our God will never us forsake;
And soon we'll have this tale to tell--
All is well! All is well!

I am so grateful for the sacrifice of my ancestors and the sacrifice of my Savior. I am so grateful for the work that I am doing, and the opportunities I get to spread joy and help others come closer to Christ.

Jeg elsker jer!

Ældste Salisbury

(for the picture of me, I look dead and tired and sick, but trust me, I am enjoying it all!)