To All I Love,
"We are each sinners. Because we are born sinners. We do bad things, we must repent so we can be clean and enter in the kingdom of heaven. Because of my weaknesses I can't enter heaven, that is why I must obey God. When we sin the truth is not in us. We have to go to church and repent and when you are baptized you are new born, baby!!!! And you can enter heaven. We must obey him."
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| Water main break |
Family, it sounds like you had such a neat experience at the Tijuana Temple Open House! The Temple is such a special and sacred place!! I'm so happy for the people there, to have a Temple closer to them. It is such a sacred place, something that needs to be a part of our life on a regular basis. I'm sure it has been hard for them to make the journey to San Diego to attend the Temple. I'm so happy for them, they will be able to have more frequent access to the blessings that come from the Temple!! So happy that you and the ward got to make the trip down there, I'm sure it not only blessed you but it really benefited and blessed our ward family!
The Impact of HIS Birth:
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| Beautiful results from a water main break over night |
If the Savior was never born, what would life be like? If our sins were never paid for, what would we feel like? If the Savior didn't suffer in the Garden of Gethsemane how much pain would we actually experience? Imagine life without our Savior Jesus Christ?
Early yesterday, "A Savior is Born" was released worldwide. We watched it again yesterday. The spirit really testifies of the importance it is to have a Savior in our life. We see how his birth affects our individual lives. Do you personally know your Savior??
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| It's starting to SNOW! |
Yesterday evening we were walking across the square at about 9 P.M. and we were trying to figure out a good place we could go to contact people. Most of the time people just come to see the lights, which makes it a little harder to talk to people. Last night Sister Rodriguez and I decided to go to the far outstretched corners of Temple Square. As we were walking in between the Relief Society Building and Church Office Building, this young couple, about my age, stops us and really joyfully says, "Hi sisters! Where are you both from?" Half scared us to death because people are usually so mesmerized by the lights. Jeff proceeds to start talking to us about being a missionary as he just got home about 3 months ago. A little bit into the conversation it started to turn towards the Gospel and what it means to him. He paused and started to cry a bit and he says, "You know what sisters? It means everything to me. It is because of the Gospel that we have a Savior." We asked him what he learned from his mission. He replies, "I now have a personal relationship with my Savior and I recognize what he does for me in my life." It brought such a strong spirit as he bore a personal witness of the Savior's impact to him in his life. A couple of seconds later the four of us looked up and saw that it was snowing. Standing there with Jeff and Amy brought peace to my heart knowing that the Gospel, when it's applied to our lives, enables us to have that personal relationship with our Savior Jesus Christ. We proceeded to ask if he had seen "A Savior is Born" (remind you, it was just released that morning and it was about 9 P.M. when we talked to him). Jeff said "Oh I love the new videos! I have seen them both over and over again." In each of our lives, we must come to know who our Savior is at a personal level. It is a peaceful feeling and a feeling of hope when we know him and know what he did for us on a personal level. I invite you each to take the time to watch the two videos here: https://www.mormon.org/christmas and to give a gift to the Savior, a gift that will help you draw nearer to him on a personal level.
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www.mormon.org
Each Christmas season we celebrate the birth of our Savior—the Son of God, who can save us from sin and sadness. Remember Him, love Him, and follow Him. Visit ...
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Understanding Pure Truths:
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| A "perfect" snowflake on Sister Burke's back |
Out of all the miracles that have occurred over the course of my mission, and there have been a lot, one that rings dear to my heart is the sacred opportunity the Lord has given me to teach his children on a personal level in Liberia! I have never loved someone more than the Savior and my Father in Heaven so much before than I do them in the Kakata Branch! The devotion they have to the Gospel is pure and real.
Over the course of the past 10 months that I have had the opportunity to work with the Branch President there and the investigators. It has been a worry that those we teach won't clearly understand the things they are taught because of the language barrier. We have had to just trust in the spirit and trust that the Lord is taking care of things. That is one thing I can surely testify of! We must at all times trust in the Savior! 10 Months ago I would have never imagined we would be at this point and their testimonies, let alone, would be at this point.
On Sunday morning (so yesterday) we called Opi. This was one of the first real times we have taught him since his baptism last transfer. As we were talking to him we just asked him simple questions. Every time I think of him and the testimony this year old boy bore to us in a little city in the middle of Liberia brings peace to my heart and a strong witness to me that the Gospel is true. Opi, without hesitation was able to give us the most simplest, clearest and most powerful testimony of prophets and the Restoration to me. He knows it so well and he knows the importance of the Restoration. It's a witness to us that even in a remote town in the middle of Liberia the Spirit is able to bear witness of the truthfulness of these things to the people that live there.
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| Results of a water main busting in the night with water spraying all over the place. |
Haha my favorite person would have to be Wenneta!! She is the funniest person ever, well and Siannes too. I just love the two of them so much! Who knew it was even possible to truly love someone so much. Apparently, it is possible!
We just love to ask them questions. They are able to really testify to us of what they know to be true when we ask them questions, and also to check for understanding. When we talked with Wenneta yesterday we talked to her about repentance and this was one of her answers:
"We are each sinners. Because we are born sinners. We do bad things, we must repent so we can be clean and enter in the kingdom of heaven. Because of my weaknesses I can't enter heaven, that is why I must obey God. When we sin the truth is not in us. We have to go to church and repent and when you are baptized you are new born, baby!!!! And you can enter heaven. We must obey him."
It is the sweetest and most purest answer. When we teach them we type out everything they say and we say so we can really keep an accurate area book as to what is happening with their progress. This is what she said - word for word - as she made that comment. She really wants to be baptized. We are one, waiting for local missionaries to return and two, for her husband to come back so they can be legally married!
"Why do I have to go to Investigator Class if Jesus didn't have to go? Why can't I be baptized now just like him?"
What would you say if your investigator asked you this? We were talking to Jayedward this past week (one of our investigators in Kakata) and this is what he asked us. He is 21 years old and has been going to church for about 2 months now. For years the Branch President there has been asking him to come to church but he has always declined. And finally after some persistence on the branch president's part, he accepted to go to church. He mentioned to us that he knows this is the true church and he wants to be baptized now so he can be a full pledged member of the church. Because the local missionaries aren't there we can't have the baptism until more are ready. It broke my heart when he said, "What will happen if I die before I am baptized?" We were able to teach and testify of the importance of the Temple and why we have Temples for that very reason! He was grateful to know that he still can have an opportunity to be baptized.
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| More water main break "damage" |
One of my biggest dreams is to go and meet these individuals in person. Someday I hope a way is made possible for us to meet these individuals. Their desire is real and it's with intent. We invite them to each say the opening prayer and they always thank God for their many blessings, thank him for the missionaries calling them, plead with God that we may understand one another, ask him that they may know, by the spirit, what is being said and then they say and "we know that you will bless us with these things" and then they end the prayer. Because of the greatness of their faith, their prayers are answered. They have very broken English but it is almost never a problem for me to understand them and for them to understand us and to know what is being taught.
A Year Later:
Know that all is well! I try not to think that I go home soon. Many people ask me "So when do you go home?" It's weird when I have to say "soon". Being a part of this marvelous work is a blessing, while being hard at the same time. I cannot believe one year has gone by already and we are now in the Christmas season again. I remember standing under the big "Tree of Life" last year singing Christmas carols thinking to myself 'Wow. One year from now you will be almost in your last transfer'.... I couldn't imagine that it would actually come. Now one year later I stand under the same tree surrounded by different people with the same cause but thinking 'Wow. That year actually went by.' Now I wonder 'Well, will I even be here next year??' I don't think about this next year a whole lot though...
It Looks Magical:
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| And MORE SNOW!! |
The lights are a sight to see. The crowds have been about 50% less compared to last year. That is what security has told us. Mainly because it is so cold! Friday night, as we were singing at like 8 PM under the Tree of Life, the wind was bitterly cold, blowing in our face. We have had a dusting of Snow just about every morning for the past 3 days now. But we still get a good size crowd despite how cold it is. I sent pictures of the snow. It's not a lot. We are sitting at about 20-30 degrees as our high everyday right now. Yay for earmuffs, big marshmallow jackets, leggings, scarves and gloves!!
Well I better go!! Know that I love you, pray for you and hope you're each doing well. Have a great week this week!!!
Love ALWAYS!!
Sister Skaggs
P.S. I will be emailing earlier next week because we are now in the Christmas schedule which means we go to bed at 11:45 P.M.wake up at 7:45 A.M. and P-Day goes from 11:15 A.M.-7:15 P.M.
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| Someone's "bragging" about what a great phone she has - wait until she gets home and see's what a REAL cell phone looks like! |
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