A Precious Gift

Hello from beautiful, sunny England!

It's a bit weird saying that because of all the rain that we have had the past few months, but the last week-ish has been so beautiful here! There have been several times when we have gone out without coats on because the weather is so nice! So, I will start by answering the questions that you have. I already told you about the weather, so on to General Conference. Yes, we do get to watch General Conference but we usually only get to watch 3 sessions of it because of the timing. It makes it a bit harder because you guys are having a session at 1pm, and that session for us is at 10pm. So, we just have to wait for the Ensign to come out and read up some more. Sister Laineenkare has been trying to teach me some Finnish (that is her native language), but it is a hard one to learn. But her English is great! She doesn't always know how to pronounce some words or what some things mean, but they have to start learning English in school when they are seven, so she sounds proper American when she speaks English (seriously, everyone always thinks she's from the States, lol). Yes, I did have a good chat with President Millar about things. I won't be needing a sling or anything as my shoulder is doing much better now. (not lying) I followed his advice directly and I am doing much better with it. So no worries.

Congrats to Adam about the basketball game and the piglets! That is so exciting! Have fun! The Time Out sounds like it was a lot of fun. I look forward to being able to go in the future, and I'll have to listen to that new CD when I get back. Now, Sam, I'm sorry that you have been rejected so much about prom. The great thing is that you still have next year, but don't give up hope now! Chin up kid! I get my offers to people rejected every day! Maybe this is a way that the Lord is preparing you for your mission. lol. :) That's great that you guys are going out teaching with the missionaries! They really appreciate it! Trust me, you guys have no idea how much we appreciate when members come on teaches with us! Keep up the good work!

So, this week has been so good! We really feel like this has been a good week for us! We still have our four investigators with baptismal dates and two of those came to church yesterday! We had a total of three people at church that we are teaching, and as a district we had a total of six at church. It has been a really good week for that! We are so happy and excited when people get to come to church and feel the Spirit that is there! I love the opportunity that I have every week to go there, to feel the Spirit and partake of the Sacrament. We too have had a main topic for this month be the Atonement in our classes and such. I have actually been studying a lot about this topic, and as you said, "this precious gift". We meet people every day who ask us questions about sins and how could God forgive people of certain sins. We tell them that no matter how great or how small the sin may be, we all make mistakes-every single one of us. Missionaries are here to help others know how we can all be cleansed from our mistakes. Only through Jesus Christ can that happen. He came to the Earth and suffered incomprehensible amounts of pain on our behalf so that we can have the opportunity to return to live with Heavenly Father again. When we make mistakes we have to face the consequences for them. That is justice. However, when the Saviour, performed the Atonement, He satisfied the demands of justice. In Mosiah 15:9, it says, "Having ascended into heaven, having the bowels of mercy; being filled with compassion towards the children of men; standing betwixt them and justice; having broken the bands of death, taken upon himself their iniquity and their transgressions, having redeemed them, and satisfied the demands of justice." Because of what He did, Jesus Christ gives us the opportunity to receive mercy from them (Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ), and they can forgive us of our sins. We can only be forgiven if we accept Jesus Christ and what He has done for us, repent, obey the commandments, and live the gospel of Jesus Christ (which is: having faith in Him, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end). But mercy cannot rob justice (see Alma 42: 22-25), so we have to do our part by doing the things previously mentioned. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ want to forgive us of our sins, and we can be forgiven. There are big sins and little sins, and Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ can forgive whomever they want (see D&C 64:10). We cannot get to the celestial kingdom alone. Only through the merits of Jesus Christ can we get there. Repentance is a process, and it isn't easy, but it is possible, and it is worth it in the end.

That was my sermon for this week. :) I hope that you guys have another good week, or that things go better for those who haven't had such a good week. Stay strong, and press on! (hey, that was almost like 'Keep Calm and Carry On' haha!) Anyway, have a great week guys! Love you!!!

Love,
Sister Connery