"take it to the grove." ["llevarlo a la arboleda."]

Today, I was going over some of my notes from about a month ago.
They were from the first time that we met our new mission family.
Sister McKee talked to us about, well really, how we can be happier missionaries.
She talked to us about a lot of things, but one still stands out to me--"take it to the grove."

What does that even mean, right?
Well, there's a lot of things that we can do to be happy. But I've come to find that the times that I'm most happy is when I'm working on becoming the person that my Father in Heaven wants me to be--doing what he wants me to do. And sometimes it's rather difficult to know who exactly He wants me to be; and try as I might, sometimes, I just have absolutely no idea what He needs me to do next.
This is when we "take it to the grove."
The Sacred Grove.

Joseph Smith prayed to our Heavenly Father and he got an answer. So we can do the same thing. We can pray. And we can each take our problems, our challenges, our sorrows, our questions, our joys, our excitements, our every righteous thought, to the Lord. And we too can receive an answer.

We can't do everything in our lives alone. But we "can do all things though Christ which strengtheneth" us. [Philippians 4:13]
Through Christ and His atonement, and with the love and help of our Heavenly Father to guide us, we can do all things.
If we remember to pray.

________________________________________________________________________________

Hoy, estaba revisando algunas de mis notas de un mes atras.
Ellos son de la preimera vez que conocimos a nuestro nuevo presidente de la mision y su familia.
Hermana McKee nos hablo a cerca de como podemos ser misioneros mas felices.
Ella nos hablo a cerca de muchas cosas, pero una cosa todavia esta pegando me--"llevarlo a la arboleda."

Que significa eso?
Pues, hay tantas cosas que  podemos hacer para ser felices. Pero he llegado a saber que los tiempos que estoy la mas feliz es cuando estoy trabajando en llegando a ser la persona que mi Padre Celestial quiere que sea--haciendo lo que El quiere que yo lo haga. Y a veces es dificil para saber exactamente quien El quiere que sea; y por mucho que yo podria, a veces, no tengo la menor idea que El necesita que haga.
Esto es cuando "lo llevamos a la arboleda."
La Arboleda Sagrada.

Jose Smith oro a nuestro Padre Celestial y el recibio una respuesta. Podemos hacer lo mismo. Cada uno de nosotros podemos orar. Y podemos llevar nuestras problemas, nuestros desafios, nuestras preguntas, nuestras alegrias, nuestro entusiasmo, cada uno de nuestros pensamientos justos, al Senor. Y podemos recibir una respuesta tambien.

No podemos hacer todo solos. Pero "todo lo que en Cristo que [nos] fortalece." [Filipenses 4:13] 
Por medio de Cristo y Su expiacion, y con el amor y la auyda de Dios par guiarnos, podemos hacer todad cosas.
Si recordamos a orar.

sweet hour of prayer.

Sweet hour of prayer! Sweet hour of prayer!
That calls me from a world of care and bids me at my Father’s throne, make all my wants and wishes known.
In seasons of distress and grief, my soul has often found relief and oft escaped the tempter’s snare by thy return, sweet hour of prayer!
And oft escaped the tempter’s snare by thy return, sweet hour of prayer!

Sweet hour of prayer! Sweet hour of prayer!
Thy wings shall my petition bear to him whose truth and faithfulness engage the waiting soul to bless.
And since he bids me seek his face, believe his word, and trust his grace, I’ll cast on him my ev’ry care and wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!
I’ll cast on him my ev’ry care and wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!

[Sweet hour of Prayer--Hymns #142]

I love this song.

Also, I love prayer.

Because prayer is a huge blessing from our Heavenly Father.

Through prayer we can:

feel the love of God.

feel the Holy Ghost.

receive guidance for our lives.

know that God exists and that He hears us.

feel peace and calmness.

"know the truth of all things."

[Moroni 10:5 (3-5)]

receive answers to our questions.

strengthen our relationships.

know that we're not alone.

receive blessings from keeping the commandments.

There are so many blessings of prayer.

prayer of faith.

"O Lord, my heart is exceedingly sorrowful; wilt thou comfort my soul in Christ. O Lord, wilt thou grant unto me that I may have strength, that I may suffer with patience these afflictions which shall come upon me...
"And the Lord provided for them that they should hunger not, neither should they thirst; yea, and he also gave them strength, that they should suffer no manner of afflictions, save it were swallowed up in the joy of Christ. Now this was according to the prayer of Alma; and this because he prayed in faith."

[Alma 31:31,38]

Prayer and faith. I'm not sure that there's a much better combination.
The scriptures are evidence over and over again that prayers are answered according to the faithfulness that we have in God and His ability to answer them.

I know that God listens to us and I know that He answers every prayer that we say. Sometimes, it's not in the way that we hope, but God always answers. He is waiting for our prayers because He is our loving Heavenly Father. He wants to help us. He wants to bless us. He wants us to be happy.

Trust in the Lord.

I've been thinking a lot the last few days about the amount of trust that our Heavenly Father has in each of us. And I've come to the conclusion [and this is just based on things I've witnessed] that it's a massive amount.

As we anticipated our transfer calls on Saturday I found myself worried and trying to guess what would happen. And when we finally got the call, I was pretty instantly overwhelmed. I honestly didn't think that I would be able to take over the area after only being in the mission for six weeks. I still don't know very many people here and I was legitimately afraid that if the area was left in my hands, it would just crumble.
My fear only got worse when I heard that I was going to be the only one of four of us missionaries in our branch to be staying.

As I knelt in prayer that night, I asked my Heavely Father for His counsel; for anything that could help me feel more peace about the next six weeks to come.

My answer was not one that I expected, but it was one that brought immense peace.
I, almost instantly, received an answer that everything was going to be okay. That I didn't need to fear. That my Heavenly Father was telling me that He has full confidence in me, so I should too. My life, especially as a missionary, is completely in His hands, and I know that He will lead me to where He needs me to be.

5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths.

[Proverbs 3:5-6]

Elder Dallin H. Oaks, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, said it this way:

"Faith in the Lord is trust in the Lord. We cannot have true faith in the Lord without also having complete trust in the Lord’s will and in the Lord’s timing. As a result, no matter how strong our faith is, it cannot produce a result contrary to the will of Him in whom we have faith. Remember this when your prayers do not seem to be answered in the way or at the time you desire. The exercise of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is always subject to the order of heaven, to the goodness and will and wisdom and timing of the Lord. When we have that kind of faith and trust in the Lord, we have true security and serenity in our lives."

The Atonement and Faith [April 2008 Liahona]

I know that as we put our trust in the Lord and align our will and desires with His, we will be able to do all things that we are asked to do. They will be hard. And we may struggle. But with our struggles, we grow stronger. We learn. We progress. We gain more trust from and in our Heavenly Father and the plan He has for each of us.

pray your guts out.

Can I share a little secret about the fantastic language of espanol?

it's hard.

Today I was being sort of lame and not wanting to study because spanish is rather frustrating.
Then the zone leaders came over to drop off my bike and we were talking about how yeah, spanish is hard, and yeah, I'm not going to know everything right now, or understand everything [or sometimes anything...].

Their words of advice? 

-When you don't know what else to say, bear testimony.

 It brings the Spirit and then He can say what I can't.

-Don't worry about saying things wrong.

It doesn't matter if I say 'fish' instead of 'sin'.

-And most importantly--first, foremost, last, and in between--

"Pray your guts out."

[Trust me. I am.

We all should be.]



because our Heavenly Father loves us and He wants to have to unique, special relationship with us that we can develop and strengthen through prayer.