Hello again, its me.

This week has once again gone by in a couple minutes. I vaguely remember eating a couple meals and I guess I must have slept at one point too, but it doesn't really feel like it. hahaha. Luckily we have some great people to keep my spirits up, plus being down never helps anyone anyway. 

This week for numbers wasn't the greatest week. We did get 10 referrals though which was a big improvement! We are doing our best to talk to everyone and help them see just how much their Father in Heaven loves them. This entire mission is motivated by the love of our Savior and it is an incredible blessing to be able to feel that for all the people around me. I am hoping to have an even better week this coming week and I know God will help me and Sister Bearnson. (It is the last week of the transfer! Weird right?)

Just to start off I learned something very new and interesting to me this week. I was talking to a member of our ward early last week and I learned something new about a certain insect that lives here in Texas. There is this bug here that stays high in the trees that makes this very loud noise. At first it always sorta scared me when it would make noises, but lately it has been more easy to ignore.  Anyway these bugs are called Secadas. (Might be spelled wrong, sorry I don't have google.) These bugs incubate underground for 17 years!! and then live for about a week or so above ground. I was completely baffled by that news! These very loud and obnoxious things only get to live for a week! 

As I was biking about this past week it seems like there are a ton of new secadas all around and so as they screamed at me while I rode past I made a couple of observations. Sorry if these observations seem silly to you, but it made sense in my close to heat stroke mind. :)

Observation One: You never know what people are going through around you.

 

Before I learned about the pathetic plight of a young secadas life I will admit the things really annoyed me. They make these very loud noises that fill up all the empty space around you. As I thought about these bugs and the fact that they only have so long to live I thought about all the other people in my life that sometimes I judge way to soon. 

Often we feel like we understand exactly what is going on in others lives. We think that we know exactly how we would behave if we were in someone elses shoes and we judge the way others act. As silly as it might sound I gained a new respect for Secadas this week. Those annoying things only live for a week! So in a way I can see how they would feel the need to live life to the fullest no matter how much it might annoy the people passing by. People are even more complicated than secadas as crazy as that might sound. haha People have so many things that can affect them every day and I for one need to be more understanding of how others deal with the trials they face. Everyone has hard things, some people just handle it differently than you would. Everyone makes mistakes, some peoples mistakes are just more visible than others. It happens. 

Observation Two: There is always something harder that you could be going through, so be thankful.

Secadas are quite disgusting looking. I don't know if you have ever seen one, but they are not the most glamorous bug (if there is such a thing). I will admit at times when I felt quite disgusting myself this week I would think about those bugs and think, "Well at least you don't look like one of those things." haha Even though we have been told not to compare ourselves to others sometimes it can be done it an uplifting way. If you can think of yourself and your trials and think, "Well it could always be worse, I might as well deal with it and move on." Then you will be a lot happier with the things you have been given. If it helps you can just think, "At least I am not a disgusting bug that only lives for a week." It helps me, it can help you too. Whatever your tactic, choose to be happy and not be down on yourself. God has given you so much to be grateful for and just to help you out the first thing on your list could be. 1. I was created in the image of God. We have the blessing of being created in the manner of the most wonderful being in the entire universe! He loves us a lot and he wants us to be grateful for the blessings He has already given us. So smile and show off your beautiful self. :)

Observation Three: Prepare now for your future.

I know I already mentioned it, but these bugs live underground doing absolutely nothing for 17 years besides grow. That is all they do! As I was thinking about that I realized that sometimes we do that too. How often to we look forward to a certain event in our lives that we feel will make everything else in our life better, but all we do to get to that point is wait? This life on earth is a time to prepare to meet God. There is nothing I want more than to make it back to see my Father in Heaven, but I want to be sure that when I get there I have something to say to my 17+ years I have been "growing" on the earth. I want that glorious day to be glorious for many reasons. 1. I want to remember the face of my Savior. 2. I want to have Him be proud of what I did while I was on the earth. and 3. I want to be proud of what I did! I want to feel like I did the best preparation that I could do while I had the blessing of being on the earth. I want to have helped everyone that I could, and gotten as close to my Savior as I possibly could. 

So even though these little bugs really don't have that much of an impact on the world as a whole, they made me think about a couple things this week. And you might say that I was thinking a little too hard about an insignificant bug, but who knows maybe God wanted me to learn that lesson and this was the only way it was going to stick. I testify that God knows you as well. He knows how you learn and how He can help you understand. No matter how small you may feel your Father in Heaven loves you with an infinite love. He wants more than anything to help guide you through this life so that you can live with Him again someday. Turn to Him! Pray to Him and let Him help you to become what He knows you can be. 

I love all of you. Have a great week!!

-Sister Earl

PS  Keep doing the wonderful things you are doing and let me know what exciting things are going on in your life! I would love to know. 

Email me at mckayla.earl@myldsmail.net