Notice
Date: February
27, 2012
To: General
Authorities, Area Seventies, and Mission
Presidents
Subject: Adjusted
Missionary Email Policy
Missionaries are
to write to their families each week and are also authorized to communicate
by email with
friends, priesthood leaders, and new converts. Mission presidents should allow
sufficient time
on preparation day for missionaries to write emails and letters. While in the
mission field,
missionaries should receive authorization from the mission president before
entering into
communication, including via email, with converts and others of the opposite
gender within the mission boundaries (see Missionary Handbook, 36–37).
:) can you pass
the word on? :)
Oh I wanted to tell you - we had an experience with a
potential investigator family calling us and asking us for financial help that
was really crazy and intense..... it's hard to not be able to just give people
money, but it really strengthened my testimony of the order of the church and
how everyone has a stewardship and doing things in the Lord's way is really the
best... we were able to get in contact with the Bishop of the other ward
actually, who has stewardship over church welfare for transient people (they
live in a motel right now) and he taught us what we should do, and this family
(that we still haven't met face to face...) were able to get a ride to church,
stay for all 3 hours, meet with the Bishop's counselor, recieve copies of the
Book of Mormon, and now we have an appointment with them for next Wednesday! so
who knows how it's all going to shake out, it was really really stressful &
all the responsibility gave me a lot of anxiety haha, but it definitely
strengthened my testimony of the order of the Church and in doing things the
Lord's way :)
Being a missionary is like being a
spy because we drive around to all these houses and try to discover if they're
home and take notes and memorize addresses and write down everything that
happens with people and report back to the ward council and it's just really
fun and spy-like hahaha i love it :)
Yep we reset the trap and caught
another mouse.... ew. horrible. we reset it again and now we're hoping we
didn't catch a mommy and daddy mouse that have baby mice somewhere.... ew,
yuck. the people here say it happens a lot during the cold weather, little
critters get inside. ew, yuck!
yeah I've been noticing that theme
in other Book of Mormon scriptures I've been reading - the world is rocky and
shakey and we need to stand in holy places so that we will not be moved! hmm I
like that too, that the philosophies of man are shakey but true doctrine is
firm :)
This is the jacket story: http://www.lds.org/ensign/2002/06/singles-in-the-ward-family?lang=eng&query=stargazing+club+jacket
:)
Last conference was SO SO good, i
just can't wait for the upcoming one, it's going to blow us away I feel haha
The Atonement is.... incredible.
This story http://www.lds.org/ensign/2013/03/you-are-free?lang=eng
from this months Ensign is incredible... this part blew me away
"Years ago I presided in a
Church disciplinary council. The man whose sins were the subject of the council
sat before us and related something of his history. His sins were indeed
serious, but he had also been terribly sinned against. As we considered the
matter, my soul was troubled, and I asked to be excused to think and pray about
it alone before rejoining the council.
I was standing in front of a chair
in my office pleading with the Lord to help me understand how such evil could
have been perpetrated. I did not see but rather sensed an immense pit with a
covering over it. One corner of the covering was lifted slightly for just an
instant, and I perceived within the pit the depth and vastness of the evil that
exists in this world. It was greater than I could really comprehend. I was
overcome. I collapsed into the chair behind me. The experience seemed to take
my breath away. I cried silently, “How can we ever hope to overcome such evil?
How can we survive something so dark and overwhelming?”
In that moment there came to my mind
this phrase: “Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John
16:33). Seldom have I felt such peace juxtaposed with the reality of evil.
I felt a deeper appreciation for the intensity of the Savior’s suffering and
had a better, even frightening, appreciation for the depth of what He had to
overcome. I felt peace for the man who was before us for judgment, knowing he
had a Redeemer, whose grace was sufficient to cleanse him and also repair the
injustices he had suffered. I knew better that good will triumph because of Jesus Christ, whereas
without Him we would have no chance. I felt peace, and it was very sweet."
The depth and the breadth of the
Atonement are incomprehensible... and real. :)
fun to have Sisters in the stake!
Any more on the way? :)
It's starting to feel like spring
here too! it's been above freezing for the past few days haha :) lots of
melting snow/ice, rain, birds singing... it's fun :) still tons of snow though!!
xoxox
Sister Proffit :) :)
well, well, well... another week
down already!! crazy!!
Yesterday was a great Sabbath day...
we got to attend Ward Council at 7am! which was really 6am! which was really
early! haha but it was so so great, we watched segments from the Worldwide
Leadership Training... have you watched that yet? it's super good! There was a
great discussion in the Ward Council and the Spirit was very strong. We have a
great, amazing Bishop in this ward. He's pretty young & travels a lot for
work, but also does SO so much for this ward, AND he's funny & real :) He
and his wife have SIX DAUGHTERS 10 & under, the baby is only a few months
old. Such a great family; we're having dinner there tonight. Bishop was talking
in Ward Council about his struggles in prioritizing
God/family/employment/church, and he told a really touching story about having
one-on-one time with L****, the 6 year old, and how instead of going to
Chuck-e-cheese or something, they went to visit L R***, a elderly sister in the
ward who is returning to activity and has just found out that she has
congestive heart failure and probably only a few weeks left to live. On the
drive out there (she lives in New London... like a 20-30 minute drive from
Appleton), L**** colored a picture for her, and then they visited with Sister
R*** for a while, and on the drive back L said "Dad, that wasn't even
hard! that was fun!" (they have a club called the "hard things
club"... not sure the details but i'll use my spy skills to find out) ;)
It was really neat and a great example I think of this Bishop balancing and
uniting his duty to God, family, & the Church. It's a privilege to be able
to work so closely with such an amazing Bishop & Ward Council. We also went
and visited Sister R*** and her granddaughter A***** this week... it's neat to
be able to feel the peace in their home that comes because they know what comes
next... it doesn't feel fearful or stressful, just very very peaceful. We had a
very nice discussion about Alma 40:11-12 and what it means to be welcomed HOME.
:) :) I love that.
Sacrament meeting was great as well,
it was a Hmong missionary's homecoming! His mother spoke first, she bore her
testimony in Hmong and one of the Hmong elders translated, which was cool. Then
I spoke... I talked about a letter that Gramma Proffit had sent me that talked
about how when they were living in Japan Dad and Uncle Robert were kind of
obnoxious (imagine that..... ;) haha) and the Primary President came to their
house and told Gramma that her kids were out of control and that the whole ward
was concerned about how she was raising them etc etc - and Gramma wrote in the
letter that that was the closet she had ever come to never going back to
church. And when I read that it hit me so hard how grateful I am for the gospel
of Jesus Christ - I never knew how close I came to not having it! I never knew
how close I came to NOT having all these blessings in my life - being on a
mission, being endowed in the temple, having an eternal family, a knowledge of
the reality of God and Jesus Christ, the Book of Mormon... all of that was
almost not a part of my life. O.o. So I bore my testimony of how grateful I am
for the small decisions that have brought me here to Wisconsin, decisions by
Gramma to keep going to church, by Dad to gain a testimony of Jesus Christ
& His Atonement, to serve a mission, by Mom to grow up in righteousness and
love the Lord, for Mom & Dad to be sealed in the temple and honor the
covenants they made there, and on and on and on... all the "small and
simple" decisions that had led me to be right where I was - in a chapel of
the Lord's church, in Appleton Wisconsin, as a full-time missionary for the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at 9:15 which was really 8:15. :)
and I invited the congregation to think about the small decisions that had led
them to be there as well. And I just bore my testimony of my gratitude for the
gospel of Jesus Christ... and I might have almost cried...... and then I talked
about how sometimes the joy of the gospel fades, but we're not the only people
who have felt that way - last conference, Sister Dibb (President Monson's
daughter!) talked about how "At different times in our lives... we may
find that this vibrant enthusiasm has faded. Sometimes this happens when times
are challenging and we must practice patience. Sometimes it happens at the peak
of our prosperity and abundance. Whenever I have this feeling, I know I need to
refocus my efforts on increasing my gospel knowledge and living gospel
principles more fully in my life." and then I quoted parts of Elder
Ballard talk "Bee Anxiously Engaged" {I always call it that cause
it's about bees.... ha ha ha ;)} about how if we want to ingrain the love of
God more fully in our hearts, we need to pray daily to be able to recognize
opportunities to serve just one of God's precious children. and there's some
nice apostolic promises in that talk that I shared too :) It went really well,
which I was so grateful for because it was kind of a stressful week haha and I
didn't feel really particularly prepared or inspiried and I didn't want to
waste this opportunity to speak, and I'd been praying about what I could share
with the Appleton 1st ward and nothing was really coming and it was stressful,
but Saturday night I thought of Gramma's letter, and I'd already been thinking
of Elder Ballard's talk, and Sunday during Ward Council the Spirit was very
strong which helped me to know what to say... so I didn't have any notes
written down, I just brought my Book of Mormon & my conference Ensign to
the stand and bore my testimony. and I felt the Spirit, if no one else did
haha. So that was a really great tender mercy this week :) and of course people
did come up and say they appreciated what I said... which is always nice haha.
So thank you Gramma! & all my grandparents, and mom and dad, for the
choices you've made that have led me to be here now :) I'll never stop being
grateful for you <3
And then the returning missionary
spoke about the Atonement, which was lovely. He went to Minnesota on his
mission hahaha he said "when I opened my call, I thought the prophet had sent
me to the wrong mission!" (Minnesota is right next to Wisconsin... in case
you didn't know :) ) But he loved his mission and said how grateful he was to
have joined the church with his family. Hmong people really give up and
sacrifice a lot to become members of the church... they have a very strong
shaman tradition and a lot of them have never heard of Jesus Christ, and
there's a lot of pressure to preserve their heritage since there aren't very
many Hmong people and they've been through so much as a culture... lots of
pressure not to become Christian. and there are so few of them it's hard to
feel like you're a part of the ward. but they do, and they are, and it's
awesome :)
This ward is so amazing and I feel
so blessed to be able to work here and that I need to work extra super hard to
deserve them!! they're so excited to share the gospel and so willing to help us
in any way... the M*****'s even dropped off cookies at our house the other
night while we were out haha and their little kids (B, N, and J!) made us cards
that we hung on the fridge. So sweet :) We also had dinner with the Kings last
night and they are AMAZING - he's the Ward Mission Leader, he's like 30 and
she's maybe 27? they have the cutest little kids, K****** (5 almost 6) LOVES
Primary and Jesus and her testimony, and they just have such a gospel-sharing
home and a love for each other and the gospel. they're an amazing example to me
:) :)
In other news... we drove past
another Christian church and I read their little marquee or whatever --
"Jesus paid the price. You keep the change." :) I liked that :)
In other other news.... can I get
Alison Ayubi's address? and Jaci Cummings'? and Ren's emails? :) and if you're
ever looking for stuff to send me........ I LOVE reading the Ensign every
month; sometimes I wish I got the New Era too! (hint, hint... hahaha). also
music is always great :) the guidelines are in the missionary handbook... has
to be consistant with my sacred calling, invite the Spirit, help me focus on
the work, and direct my thoughts and feelings to the Savior. :) efy cds and
stuff like that are great, contemporary Christian music..... the Prince of
Egypt soundtrack?? haha anyways......... I just like music :) it's fun to
listen to while we exercise or get ready in the morning or whatever. and it can
be really powerful to invite the Spirit when we're having a frustrating day or
just need to feel of God's love a little more. and who DOESN'T need to feel
that? haha :)
Well that's pretty much it for this
week... the other day Sister R*** & I were singing and I thought to myself,
"is it more important for me to sing this right, or for us to sing it
together?" and that's pretty much been the theme of things haha. it's
working out pretty well :) thanks for your prayers -- please keep them coming!!
:)
alsooooooo I'm allowed to email
friends now! So you can give out my mission email address and people can email
me if they want :) which will be really nice...... however I also LOVE getting
mail and sometimes we plan lunch for around 2:30 so that we can be home and
stalk the mailman........ yes. we stalk the mailman haha we love mail!!! so...
all of the above are great haha :) i love mail! and email is also great and
easy and cheap :) :) so. all of the above. hooray! :)
hey I missed getting the Book of
Mormon sharing report this week! :) I'm still reading a page of the Book of
Mormon every day... I read it once, then read it again looking up all the
footnotes, then read it and mark it, then read it again. It's fun haha and I'm
getting a LOT out of it. I'm getting such a greater understanding than I ever
have before! especially of how the Book of Mormon connects, and ESPECIALLY of
how it goes hand-in-hand with the Bible :) it's awesome! :) i get a way better
understanding than before when I would just breeze right through it. This
morning I was reading Jacob 1:4-8 and it hit how Jacob and Nephi and all of
them knew what was going to happen to their descendants, and that's why they
knew how important writing the Book of Mormon was! they knew it was going to
play a KEY role in gathering scattered Israel & convincing everyone - Jew
& Gentile - that Jesus is the Christ!! 2 Ne 25:23, 26; 1 Ne 6:4; 2 Ne.
15:17; 2 Ne 26:12; 1 Ne. 13:35-36, 39-40; 1 Ne. 15:13-14, etc etc etc :) :)
it's awesome. :) So that's been fun...
What are you all learning from your
scripture study these days? The other day Sister R*** and I read the entire
book of Revelation during the "get-ready-for-bed" time... haha. It's
actually pretty great. lots of good stuff in there :)
So that's been the week! I hope to
hear from you all soon!! I miss you tons and love you so so much -- you're such
good examples to me and I'm so glad we're a family :) love you so so much!!!!!
I hope school's going well and all that :)
love, love, love
Sister Cece Proffit :) :)
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