FYI: This blog is being taken care of by Sister Martin's mom Sharon Martin - sharon-martin@telus.net. She is posting emails and pictures that I am sending to her each week.

Monday 14 July 2014

Are you surviving or thriving?!

Another quiet week! Which means that instead of goofy jokes, I will blow your mind with some spiritual insights of my week! This has been a time of deep spiritual growth for me! I am so grateful for the things I have been learning from the members here, and from the studies of the scriptures!

Where the word POSH really came from:
Ok....so this is not spiritual at all! But really interesting! 

So a church member asked us if we knew what posh meant! ....No idea! But now I can say I have been educated!!!

Back in the day, it was not fashionable to have tanned skin! It showed that you were poor/working class people and therefore laboured outside everyday in the hot sun. So rich people stayed away from the sun as much a possible so they could sport their porcelain complexions! 

Because of this, every time rich people traveled on ships, they would stay on the port side during the outward journey and the starboard side when coming home. (All to avoid being on the side of the ship where the sun would shine most).

Port Out, Starboard Home

P-O-S-H! 

MIND BLOWN!!! 

There is your random English history lesson of the day! 
You. Are. Welcome!

Side Note: We had a baptism!!
Friday was a beautiful sunny day and what was even more beautiful than the sun was being able to return to Wigan and witness the baptism of one of the  investigators we taught there! 

Are You Surviving or Thriving?
This has been my favourite quote of the week!!!

What a question we can ask ourselves! Are we comfortable where we are or are we really pushing to progress! Do we treat every moment of our lives as an opportunity to learn?! Do we find ourselves IN our comfort zones more than OUT of them?! Are we changing? Or does time continually fly and we find ourselves the same person we were a year ago?!

This life is all about progression! Life is meant to be a bit uncomfortable sometimes! I am learning this! It is hard to be uncomfortable, but it is even harder to deal with the regrets of opportunities that were lost due to fear! There is a reason that we often say that our faith needs to outweigh our fears! Faith is ACTING on our beliefs so if our faith is strong enough, all of the above questions can be answered with confidence and conviction!

Where does thriving start?! With the basics as always! Do you learn something new when you study the scriptures or read a church talk!? Do you feel the Holy Ghost buzzing in you as you dive into the words of God?! Or are you half-asleep, drooling on your pillow as you read the same verse of scripture 12 times over at midnight because you "have to" read your scriptures every day?

Are you surviving or thriving?

Are you excited for your callings because of the new ideas and revelations you have received to help you magnify them?! Do you experience that satisfactory exhaustion at the end of most days, knowing that you did all you could to serve?! Or do you drag yourself from one moment of the desperate bare minimum to another, still feeling tired, but in this circumstance feeling no long-term satisfaction and having barely made a dent in the wall of self-change! 

Are you surviving or thriving?

D&C 136: 31-33
31 My people must be tried in all things, that they may be prepared to receive the glory that I have for them, even the glory of Zion; and he that will not bear chastisement is not worthy of my kingdom.
 32 Let him that is ignorant learn wisdom by humbling himself and calling upon the Lord his God, that his eyes may be opened that he may see, and his ears opened that he may hear;
 33 For my Spirit is sent forth into the world to enlighten the humble and contrite, and to the condemnation of the ungodly.
Lets be humble! Lets look deep in the mirror and really ask ourselves if there is more we can do. The bare minimum is not enough for those who really want to change themselves and change others! The bare minimum will not be enough to secure the highest blessings of heaven! Those blessings from from those who consecrate themselves! Those who really do change and can say that they have become like Christ! Where in the scriptures do you find accounts of Christ performing the occasionally miracle between one of his twenty coffee breaks?! You don't! Simple as that! Pick something to work on this week! Change! Serve someone besides yourself this week!

THRIVE! Don't just survive!!!!!

D&C 128:22!
 22 Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad. Let the earth break forth into singing. Let the dead speak forth anthems of eternal praise to the King Immanuel, who hath ordained, before the world was, that which would enable us to redeem them out of their prison; for the prisoners shall go free.

I love you all! Go forward! Not Backward!

I hope the time goes quickly for you and slowly for me!
Xoxoxo Sister Martin 

President and Sister Preston at the end of their mission.

Sister Fix-It


Back at the Missionary Training Center

Shopping...

The "Haunted House"



Escaping the Haunted House...
The beautiful countryside


r

Stealing the AP's car



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