Sister Jazmyn Card: She thinks my tractor's... Pretty?

Hey y'all!

I hope you liked my "missionary editing" of that song. Ha. I'm hilarious. What a week it's been. Oh my word. We have been so crazy busy, it's insane. First of all, let me tell you all how much I love Alabama. I have never felt so country as I do now. I'm saying y'all, I'm eating fried foods, and now, I can say that I've worked hard on a farm and driven a tractor. Yes, you heard that right. Jazmyn Card. Working on a farm AND driving a tractor. Can't get much better than that. The entire time we were there, I kept saying, "my family is going to die when they find out what I was doing this week." Y'all should be so proud of me. I'm very proud of myself, that's for sure.

So here's the story. We met this lady at Walmart a few weeks back, and she was wearing a Tennessee Volunteers hat. That's like so against all Alabama culture, and with Sister Jensen being from Nashville, we HAD to go talk to her. Her name was Jen, and turns out, she lived in Nashville, AND her aunt and cousins were all Mormon. What are the odds? She told us all about her Angora farm that she has and how she would love for us to come out there one day and help out. President Hanks has been asking us to focus a lot on service, as well. So of course, we took her up on that. We called her up last week and asked what we could do to help her. She told us that she was having a bunch of girl scouts come up that weekend, so she needed us to come over on Thursday to help her get ready for them, and then Saturday to actually help with the 30 little girls. We called the APs and asked them if we could do it, and they said of course. So we headed up there, ready to work.

We spent Thursday scooping up rabbit poop and cleaning out chicken coops and feeding goats and sheep. Yes, I can't believe it either. I could not believe what I was doing, but it was a blast. I was so proud of myself. Jen kept laughing, saying I was this city girl finally getting some country in me. It's good for me, I guess. It really was so much fun though. Then, on Saturday, we took Alisha Nielsen up with us and helped those girl scouts feed the animals and learn about Angora farms. I didn't know much about them at all, but they are pretty cool actually. Now I'm like an Angora expert. Haha. I'm learning all sorts of new things on the mission.

Also, Elder Kopishke of the Seventy came and saw us this week. How cool was my week? Way too cool, that's for sure. It was the most amazing thing ever. I learned so much from him. I am so grateful that we have the leaders of the church. I know that these men are called of God. He started out talking about having a question in mind during our meeting and letting the Spirit be the teacher and answering our questions. He was so right. My questions were answered in so many different ways. The biggest thing I think that I learned, well that I was consistently reminded of, is how much my mission isn't about me. I need to completely forget myself and focus on the needs of the people here. I used to try to balance my study time focusing on what I need and then what my investigators need, but that's not how it is. I need to be putting 100% of that focus on my investigators. My time here is devoted to them and to the Lord. Jesus said, "Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on." (Matthew 6:25) What a huge lesson that is. How many times do we find ourselves only concerned for what we are doing? I know I do. Far too often. He also says, "He that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." (Matthew 10:39) As long as I'm doing everything in my power to forget myself and serve these people and serve the Lord, I will come back and be the person that I need to be. Ironic how that works, eh? (Thanks for the thought Taylor). But yeah, it was an amazing lesson to learn. I've seen such a difference as I've started to apply those principles in my life just this past week.

Life is good. No, life is great. Every day seems to get better and better, yet shorter and shorter. I swear, my days seem only a few hours long. We have far too much to do and so little time to do it. Yet, I know Heavenly Father is there, helping us out, accomplishing miracles. I love seeing His hand in every single experience that I have. Sister Jensen and I were talking about that the other day. I want y'all to think about this: When was the last time you felt the Spirit? Because I feel it all the time. And it's not because I'm a missionary and He's letting me feel the Spirit more. It's because I'm looking for it in my life. When you're aware that Heavenly Father is there, you will see Him in the little things. A sunny day (or in my case, a rainy day is the real blessing), a sweet note you get in the mail, a pretty thought you have, reading beautiful words that just seem to get you, a scripture, or simply your relationships with the people around you. Heavenly Father is always there, no matter what. "Whatsoever is good cometh from God." (Alma 5:40)

I love you all so much. I am so grateful for this gospel and for the opportunity that I have to share it with the world. I found myself very emotional all week because of how much I love this church. There are things that just seemed to click for me, like how much my Heavenly Father loves me, the need for our Savior Jesus Christ, the importance of the Sacrament, the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ, and the perfection and precision of the Plan of Salvation. These things are true. I know they are. I am so grateful that I get to be here, having the greatest experience of my life. I would never change this for the world. I love being a missionary. I love this church. I love my Savior. I love my Heavenly Father.

I hope you have a great week this week. Go out and serve someone this week. Matthew 25:40.

Sister Card

xoxo

PS - Go to mormonchannel.org and watch the Mormon message "Mountains to Climb." Bring tissues.