Buna Ziua everyone!
I didn't think it was possible, but I love the MTC soooooooo much more than
I did last week. It just keeps getting better and better. I love having pday on
Wednesdays because that's when all the new missionaries come! We always take at
least a half an hour to just sit and watch all the families say goodbye to their
new missionaries. It's just a wonderful experience to watch. It just reminds me
of how far I've come in just three weeks of being here. Wow! I've been here
three weeks! It's so hard to believe!
So, I'm going to spend most of my time writing about our Plan of Salvation
lesson we had this week in class. It was seriously the best lesson I have ever
had on the Plan of Salvation. Our teacher, Fratele Sandberg, gave his view on
what the Plan of Salvation meant to him. I'm going to try my best to write what
he said, but just know he said it so much better than I probably will. So here
it goes...
He started out asking us why God allows us to experience pain, affliction,
sarrows, etc when we came to this earth. We gave the answer that it was because
that's the only way we could feel joy. He said that was right, but then asked
why Heavenly Father just didn't give us easy trials to go through. Why do we
have to go through so much in order to feel joy. Well, he wasn't sure...
He said that after studying the subject for a very long time, that's all he
could come up with, but then he told this story...
Before we came to this life we lived with a Heavenly Father and Mother. We
spent eternity with them, learing and growing and gaining as much knowledge as
we could in the state we were in. But then came a day where our Heavenly Father
gathered all of His children together. He must have said something like
this:
"Hello my wonderful children! I have gathered you together today because I have heard some of you talk about how you have progressed as far as you can and how you have a desire to become more like me. I have gathered you together today to present to you a plan. This plan will allow you to go down to this world I have created and receive bodies, like mine. Here you will learn and grow. you will come to know of joy and love."
Oh what excitement we must have felt when we heard this! A place where we
could progress! A place where we could become more like our Heavenly Father! But
then He continued...
"However, this journey will not be easy. You will experience pain and
affliction. You will experience death of close loved ones. You will go through
sickness, sorrow, and many other afflictions you can't even imagine. You will
also experience sin."
At this, many probably became very unsure of this plan. although we
probably couldn't fully understand what our Father was describing, we knew it
didn't sound good. But He continued again...
"But I have provided a way for you to overcome these pains. My beloved son,
your elder brother, has said that He would take upon Him all the sorrows and
pains of the world so that you can be supported. Through this atonement you will
be able to repent of your sins and if you use it fully, you will be able to
return to Me and live in my presence forever."
Now this is exactly what we needed. To hear that we weren't alone in our
journey. To learn that it was possible to return to our Father who we loved so
much.
But then another spoke.
I have another plan," he said," I will provide a way where none will fail to return. A plan where we will all return. I will do this and the glory shall be mine."
What sorrow our Father must have felt when one of His children went against
Him. However, He knew this would happen. Our Father banished him from His
presence. He would never be able to return.
But there were still more who didn't agree with the plan. They chose to
follow the other, the plan that went against our loving Heavenly Father's. As
they turned from our Father and were banished, we all realized that 1/3 of our
brothers and sisters had left. 1/3 of our Father's dear children, who He had
spent eternity with, turned from Him and from their heavenly mother. What pain
and sorrow He must have felt as they turned away from Him as if to say," We
don't believe in you, we don't trust you, we never want to see your face
again."
And then we came to earth. The 2/3's who chose to follow that plan. we
experience pains, sorrows, sickness, and all other afflictions. And what brings
us most sorrow is sin. We don't only feel sorrow for our sin, but our Father
feels sorrow when our choices don't line up with His commandments.
But like He promised, He provided a way for us to be freed of that sorrow
and guilt. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ. He atoned for our sins and felt every
pain and sorrow we have felt. Through His atonement we can experience the
joy our Father promised us. Through Him we can also be able to achieve eternal
life after this one.
But still, there were and are many of our Father's children
who haven't followed His commandments. They have sinned and haven't used the
Atonement or accepted the covenants He has given them to come closer to Him, to
progress, to learn of His love and His mercy. And because of this, our Father
morns, He feels sorrow and pain and hurt. Even though He is God, He still hurts,
He still sorrows because of the disobedience of His children.
So why then did He present this plan? Why did He allow His children to have
agency, to make their own choices, if He knew that would mean losing many of
them? Well, this is what I understood...
Our Heavenly Father loves us!
He gave us a plan because we wanted to progress. We wanted to become like Him. He loves us so much that He was willing to allow many to fall away just so that we could have this opportunity to come to this life, receive a body, learn, and then return to Him. He loves us so much that He sent His Only Begotten Son to atone for our sins so that it would be possible for us to be forgive and to overcome death. It's impossible for us to comprehend even a small piece of our Heavenly Father's love. But the love we can feel is absolutely amazing!
So then I thought, if we are trying to become like our Heavenly Father, what does that mean we are really supposed to experience on this earth? Yes, "Adam fell that man might be, and man are that they might have joy," but joy is not our purpose on this earth. What really are we supposed to learn?
Well, we are supposed to love! We are supposed to learn tol love as our
Father loves. We are supposed to learn to love so much that we learn to
sacrifice anything for the people we love. We are supposed to learn how to have
charity, which is the pure love of Christ.
That's why it's important that we use the atonement. When we use the
atonement, the gift our Father and our Elder Brother have given us, we feel a
greater amount of His love and we gain a desire to share that love with all our
brothers and sisters on the earth. We share so that they can feel that love, so
they can learn to have charity.
In Moroni 7:48 it reads:
"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy
of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all
who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of
God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we
shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even
as he is pure. Amen."
When we learn how to love as He loves, we become more like Him. That when
we may appear we shall be like Him because we have obtained that love that He
has for all of us. I know this is true. I know that we cannot comprehend all of
His love. I know that because He loves us what is important to us becomes
important to Him. Shouldn't we strive to be the same? "Without charity, ye are
nothing."
I'm sorry I didn't write much about my week, but I just really wanted to
share this with everyone. I've been pondering it all week. I hope that I can
have even just a tiny amount of charity, that I will be able to share that love
with the people in Romania. I hope that all who read this will receive the
desire to try to have more charity for everyone around them. I hope everyone is
doing well! Thanks for all of the letters! I love them! I love you all! Bofta!
Te iubeste!
Love,
Sora Merrill
