Learning from the Scriptures

Girl Scout Cookies from a member

 Hello everyone! This past week has been good! Some days were better than others but since I don't have a ton of time I wanted to share a couple scriptures that have been on my mind lately. I have been really working on the Christ like attribute of charity and let me just say, it is really hard to obtain. But anyways, this is the scripture that I was referring to, it is found in Matthew 5, verses 43 to 48. It goes, 

"43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.

44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?

47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?

48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."

Japanese Comedy Skit: Rakugo

This example of love the Savior teaches us is one of my favorites in the scriptures. Loving people we like is easy, it's not a challenge. But the real test is loving those people that are hard to love, that we may not like so much. This is something I still struggle with a lot and have been trying to improve upon my whole mission. Luckily, I have been given opportunities to test my charity recently and even though it has been really difficulty I am thankful for the opportunity to learn and grow. I know the Lord loves us and he really wants to help us become perfect just as He says in the last verse. 

Since this is such a short email I will recap some of the events that happened this last week. 

• We had a leadership conference up in Fukuoka so we flew up and attended that and was able to meet with other mission leaders and learn a lot from them and the Mission President.
• We had Valentine's Day and got tons of chocolate from the members! 
• My Zone Leader companion and I are planning for a training we have to give tomorrow, we are really excited for it! 
• We watched a devotional from Elder Holland last night and it was everything I needed to hear and more. The main theme was relying on the Savior through hardships and always increasing our faith in him.

Even though the mission is difficult in so many different ways the things I am learning and the precious experiences I have been able to have all been worth it. This mission really is building such a sure foundation for the rest of my life and I'm so happy I decided to put Heavenly Father and His Gospel first and serve Him. There are so many blessings to be had as we forget about ourselves and serve others. I love you guys and I'm sorry this is so short! Maybe I'll get good at writing emails someday ;) but for now, see you all next week! 

Love, 

Elder Sherrill