Week #6 - Dep/Mar Project

Okay, so here we are, the official last week of our project! How's everyone doing so far? I hope it's been a wonderful experience for you as it has been for the two of us. Chris just gave me the latest and the airman replacing him should make it to their base sometime this coming week. All he needs to do after that is train him and finish up his own work. I'm super excited, but like the last principle stated, "just endure to the end of today." Each "day" I endure brings me one day closer to the day my family is all together again!

So just for fun - I learned this week that my lack of sincerity in this project, though I am still very involved has been due to my lack of sincere prayer. So that changed this week. Nothing miraculous occurred for those of you wondering. I just felt better, I felt more like enduring each day was no big deal. I kind of do that anyway, but after a while it just feels like surviving if you're doing without the Lord's help. I always feel so dumb for not seeking the Lord when I'm having a hard time. I don't know why I forget that he's there and ready to help me. I mean seriously, how many of us sit there slaving, starving, and surviving, when we could be having our burdens made light, fasting with purifying experiences, and enduring with the grace of Christ? I mean, really, how many of us do that? Well, I'm not exempt from "slothfulness and forgetfulness" every now and then, and I doubt any of you are either. So this week, I remembered that I needed to rely on the Lord even when I'm just doing what I'm doing. Enduring doesn't feel like enduring when you're being blessed with happy moments, accomplishing goals, and learning a great deal, does it?

Well that means the first part of my week I was surviving and the second part of my week I was enduring. Do I really have to go into the difference? I thought not.

Now, welcome to week #6!

Letter:

Hello again my husband!

So, we’re almost there! I know it’s been a long haul and you’re tired and probably very ready to come home. Just remember I’m very ready to have you here. I am so excited and I’m sure working like mad to finish all those projects I set for myself when you left. (I’m also sure that I’m stressing at having to mark off several for another time as my list grew to be quite large by the day you left!)

Anyway, so this is our last letter, our last week, our last study apart for a while. I really hope you’ve enjoyed this and that it’s been not only beneficial to your work and your spirituality (which you always say you want to be better), but that it’s also been fun and enlightening and challenging. Who doesn’t love a good challenge. I can’t wait to sit next to you and talk about this one.

So week 6 – The topic we’re going to study this week is “excellence.” I know it sounds like we should have done this at the beginning and I’m sure it would’ve been great there too, but as I thought about the other weeks and what might be happening for you this week I thought about our missions. You were so blessed to know exactly when you were coming home, while I was unpleasantly surprised. I often have thought how I might have spent the weeks before I came home if I’d known I was never going to see the people or the country as a missionary again. Well, you’re in luck. Just like your mission, you know that your deployment is almost up. I’m sure by now you know what you need to do to be ready to leave and what you still have left to accomplish. Well this week, we’re going to end on a super high note, as they say.

This week we are going to not only be grateful and magnify our faith, we are not only going to love like Christ and actively pray for miracles, we are not only going to be enduring with grace and strength, we are going to strive for all out excellence in all we do.

As I searched for an accompanying talk to go with this topic I ran into something unexpected. I ran into excellence as a principal, but not one on which whole talks are usually given. Honestly, I found talks about being excellent in something, about something, with something, but not just excellence as a topic itself. I wondered for a bit weather or not I should adjust my topic, until I realized that the talks were supportive material not the whole system of study. So I found a talk I believe focuses appropriately on what I felt we should do and I will leave the rest of the study to us. I know the spirit will guide us in this topic as he has with the rest and maybe he will lead us to what we need to know about excellence in our own areas of effort.

Good luck and know that I love you so much. I can’t wait to see you and the kids as always send loves with big slobbery kisses, icky noses, sticky fingers, and little goofy grins super big and happy. See you soon!

Note: with the addition of this week's article, one of our previous articles will have to be removed to make space. If anyone wants to read it, please let me know and I'll send you either the link or the talk itself.