This week...

Hi!  This week has been kind of a slow one.  I got sick, go figure... if there's anything going around, I'll catch it.  What's cool about a mission is that there is something new to learn all the time.  That's why they are hard, because in one way or another, you are being stretched and pulled, but the result is growth.  This week I have been learning how to better solve my own problems through scriptures and direct communication with the Master.  Reading the Scriptures connects us with heaven.  And sometimes we pray for answers and feel as though they haven't come, when really we haven't turned to the scriptures! There is great power in them, and I am feeling that more and learning more every single minute.  I am comforted by the truth that God will ultimately judge us by what we have become, and not by what we were.  

Katie is still progressing, and (she had light in her countenance from the start) you can see the light in her grow brighter and brighter as she reads and asks questions and makes and keeps commitments.  She's amazing.  I can't wait for her to be baptized, because I know what a blessing that will be in her life.  March 16th is the day! 

I read again the talk Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence by elder Holland.  It's probably my favorite ever, and it constantly helps me.  Especially this. He says "Don't give up when the pressure mounts, face your doubts, master your fears... cast not away therefore your confidence."  We need to just trust Him, the one who knows us personally and loves us individually.  He knows our hopes, our dreams, our struggles... our successes and our adversities. There is peace in the gospel for every soul. 

I am constantly grateful to be a part of this work.  We continue to pray hard, to study hard, and to work hard during this little bit of time allotted to us to be missionaries.  Thanks for all your prayers and your letters - they mean more than you know! 

Love,
Sister Skousen