Sister Jennifer Skaggs: Our Savior Jesus Christ

From 12/18/15

To All I Love,

It's cold AND beautiful!

Wow!! It is amazing how fast time really goes by. It seems as if just yesterday I said goodbye to many of my close friends as they each left for their missions. Who knew that those 18 months to 2 years would go by so fast. It is crazy to think that about 4 of them came home from their missions this past week. Good luck to those that came home and the new mission that the Lord has in store for each of you! Love you!

The Atonement Will Carry You:

How to start this, I have no idea? It has been an extremely tiring week. More than likely, one of the most tiring weeks of my mission. But I pray that the spirit will be able to take its course with writing this email. The above phrase is what I have clearly been able to come to know and recognize this past week. The atonement can and will carry each of us.

Me and my MTC comp

Due to the lack of sleep and how busy we have been this past week it has caused us as a mission to be extremely tired. Probably the most tired I have been my entire mission, even more than General Conference weekend. During our Christmas schedule our wake up and go to bed times change in order to meet the demands of the guests here on Temple Square. Which means when we have early morning meetings we will lose out on about an hour of sleep because we still have to have the meetings early enough so we can get to all of our assignments by 9 A.M. to open Temple Square. It has been special to see how the atonement has carried the mission this past week. Due to how busy we were, the events and meetings, lack of sleep, and sickness that is going around, it has been neat to see the sisters still diligently working to fulfill their responsibilities. It seems as if about 25% of the mission as of now is sick with some sort of cold including President and Sister Poulsen.

7 AM walk to our meeting!

Due to the meetings and mission business I have been extremely tired but I have loved how, with the Lord's help, he will give me that extra boost. How dreary I am doesn't go away but I somehow still have that strength to do and to be. He gives me the effort, energy and strength to be diligent. On Wednesday morning I had a 5:30 A.M. wake up call in order to get Sister Rodriguez to trax on time since she went outbound. From then on we had non stop, back to back assignments causing us to miss just about every meal (however, I think we got a little bit of lunch really fast before we went to EF Desk) until we could go to bed at 11:45 P.M. Despite how crazy it was, when we were out taking tours at our assignments I would find myself being dreary but got to witness how the Savior was carrying me and lifting me up so I could have just that little bit of extra strength to do his work.

Beautiful view at 7 AM

It reminds me of what he suffered. In life, as we come unto him and seek to follow in his example, that means we are going to have to walk some of the path he walked. Of course, we won't and will not walk HIS path but we will experience a bit of what he experienced. As he went through the course of his life he suffered physical pain greater than what any human flesh will ever experience, spiritual pain that caused extraneous grief and pain, mental and emotional agony that we cannot comprehend. To have your fellow friends turn their back, the Son of God to be born in a stable, to be spit upon, hung on a cross, to bleed from every pour, to be verbally abused all because he was following the will of his Father. If we want to come unto Christ we will need to remember that we will have to experience a glimpse of what he

"I love to see the temple..."

suffered. This complete physical exhaustion I know doesn't even come close to what he experienced but it allows me to recognize all that my big brother, my Savior Jesus Christ suffered for me to allow me the opportunity of returning to live in my Father in Heavens presence. When we seek his will, because he knows what we are suffering, he will carry us. He won't remove the burden but will ease the burdens which have been placed upon our backs. It shows the love that he has for each of us and forces us to think more closely at what we can do in order to show to him the love we have for him.

This week we had several special guests come to speak to the mission and they mentioned some points that I wish to share with you.

How Firm is your Faith?

Lights on Temple Square

For Relief Society, yesterday morning, we had the privilege as a mission to hear from Michael Wilcox a well known Mormon lecturer. To begin to express to you all that I learned would take a while. The spirit stopped each of us and caused us to analyze our faith. Do we really have that much faith? It was a wake up call for me in the moment. I would like to bring you on this journey. This is a modern analogy, by the way.

"During General Conference the prophet stands and testifies to each of us that in 5 years time the second coming of our Savior Jesus Christ would come. The Prophet begins to prophesy of those key signs that will come just moments before his second coming....that there will be a day and a night and a day as if there was no night. And then a new star would appear.

*Pause* Do you have faith that those signs will occur?

Temple Square area

Well over those 5 years, you get married, you get a job have several kids - none of the signs happen. Your next door neighbor is a part of a non believing christian group who says if the Savior doesnt' come by this day then he will kill your family.

*Pause* Do you have the faith that those signs will occur? What if your family was going to be killed?

Every night you and your 2 kids, after dinner, sit on the porch and stare at the sky hoping and praying that the sign would be given that night. However, another day passes and it still doesn't happen. Then you and your husband are watching the nightly news and read that the Prophet has vanished, just left.

*Pause* Would you still have the faith? Even if the Prophet left?

Many of your friends, very faithful members begin to say "well the sign is past. It is past the time that the prophet said it would happen." They begin to lose that hope - "well these things really aren't going to happen. The Prophet is gone, the time is probably past, I do not want my family killed for believing in something that isn't happening."

*Pause* If your faithful member friends were losing hope, would you still have the faith?

Me and Sister Brito

Then one day you and your family are on the porch steadfastly watching and looking for that day and that night and that day that would be as if it were one day. Your next door neighbor comes out and says "Well you know I'm going to kill you, you might as well just protect your family and give up. It isn't going to happen it has already passed and the day we have given you until is almost up. Do you really want your family to be killed over some prophesy that clearly isn't going to happen?"

*Pause* If "time was running out" would you still have the faith?

Then, unannounced to you, the prophets son goes and prays - pleads with the Lord for help because of the wickedness of his people and while this is going one the Lord says:

"Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfill all that which I caused to be spoke by the mouth of my holy prophets.

Behold, I come unto my own, to fulfill all things which I have made known unto the children of men from the foundation of the world...And behold, the time is at hand, this night shall the sign be given"

You don't know this has just taken place but would you have the faith though, still, that the Lord will fulfill his promises spoke of by the mouth of his holy prophets? Even if the prophet left, your faithful member friend lost the faith, would you still have that faith?

Sister Sanchez and Skaggs

Now your probably wondering, "this is just a fake, really great story"... Actually, it is a true story that did happen to the Lord's children. I invite you to read Helaman 14, 15 & 16 and 3 Nephi 1 to see what happens to the people when the sign is given. I invite you to ponder over what you are doing to make sure your faith is deeply rooted in your Savior Jesus Christ. We are in the last days. It is time to make sure our faith has been deeply rooted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It starts with our Savior. If we love him, if we know him and if we come unto him, we will never lose our faith in him.

To Develop That Faith:

Sister Skaggs and Duabe

This morning Elder Lynn G. Robbins, of the Presidency of the 70, came to speak to the mission and he shared with us how we can BE like the Savior or DO like the Savior. We BE like the Savior as we learn of him and seek to be and do like him. It's simple. There are 9 things that we can implement into our lives that will enable us to BE like the Savior:

Charity/Love

Virtue

Faith

Hope

Diligence

Knowledge

Obedience

Patience

Humility.

Just like what Elder Robbins invited us to do, I invite you to pick one that will enable you to emulate the greatest individual that ever walked the face of this earth, our Savior Jesus Christ. I invite you to pick one a week. You will see how your faith in him will begin to deepen as you will emulate the example he has set for us. Emulating our Savior Jesus Christ is the greatest gift we could ever give to him.

"Baby, it's cold out side..."

Know that I know that our Savior lives. I love him and hope and pray that I will be all that he expects me to be, and I know that it comes as we learn of him, listen to him, and follow him. As we come unto him we will have our faith deeply rooted in him, we will begin to emulate him and we will stand firm, even in the storms of the last days that lead up to his return to rule and reign once again on this earth. I have a testimony that Joseph Smith was called of God. It was through him that this eternal plan of happiness, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, was restored on earth today for us. I hope you know I love you. I love my Father in Heaven and my Savior Jesus Christ. It is my hope and prayer that we will seek each day of our life to emulate his example. Especially during this Christmas Season with Christmas being just one week away. Give him the gift of emulating him, the only begotten of the Father.

I love you and feel blessed to have each of you in my life!

Love ALWAYS!

Sister Skaggs

P.S. I don't know when I will be emailing again. My p-day will more than likely be on Thursday next week because of Christmas being on Friday.