6 month mark, 1 year left!

Yes yes yes, all the rumors are true, i HAVE been on my mission for 6 MONTHS now. Sometimes I'm excited that i have made it this far and learned so much already. And sometimes I just want to cry thinking that i have only learned so much already and i have SO MUCH MORE to learn!! And thinking that 1/3 of my mission is gone is just the saddest thing in the world...

So yesterday morning me and Sister Pitcher decided to be good girls and complete our personal study before running to the church to check transfer letters. During our study we get a text from the Elders saying "woah....." and then a text from the STL's saying "Well that's a twist...." So of course we are freaking out the whole time and not even focusing. We get to the church and turns out they were just messing with us.... Me and Sister Pitcher are both staying in Fredericton. WOOHOO!!! What they were talking about in the text is all the changes they are making to the leadership. Since we have sooo many new missionaries. And all the leaders are going home, they are putting all the current leaders (zone leaders, district leaders) with new or less experienced missionaries to help train all the new missionaries. So now we only have 1 zone leader instead of 2. But then we also have 3 STLs instead of 2... its all confusing. Im not in leadership (thank goodness) so i don't really have to worry about it right now. 

I have been having some awesome personal studies this week. I have been focusing a ton on building confidence, and self-esteem. I talked about it a bit in my last email but its really interesting when you really look at it. Low confidence in yourself is the root of so many issues and is often what leads to disobedience. So how do you combat it? I was studying and studying and then realized "wow... im so dumb. (obviously a great example of self confidence) I have been studying this for 3 days.... but the church has men called of God who have probably already thought about this. Where would their findings be? In a place that is easy access to the main focus group for this issue. The Young Women." So what do the young women recite every sunday? The key characteristics needed to have love for our Heavenly Father, those around us, and ultimately ourselves. Faith, divine nature, individual worth, knowledge, choice and accountability, good works, integrity and virtue. As i have been studying these characteristics i have thought about the countless times i recited this theme without have a real understanding of what i was saying. And they all interconnect with each other. You need to have faith in God and His teachings to understand what your divine nature is, and once you understand that you will gain more individual worth... and so on. 

This is where it comes down to faith. Just the other day, Sister Pitcher asked me where i found my faith, how i got it. And the only thing that i could think of is "well, it just makes sense." and i stand by that! Why not choose faith? What else is there to choose? Doubt? fear? loneliness? no thankyou... I would rather put all my trust, love, and time into a God who loves me, who has a plan for me, who cares for my well-being, and who is consistent and will never let me down, then in a world that is shaky and forever changing. 

So this is my plea to all that I meet, including anyone who reads my emails. Choose faith! It is the only option that makes sense!! 

Thanks for letting me rant to all of you! I hope at least some of you chose to accept my Book of Mormon challenge! I love and miss all you! 

hope ya'll are enjoying the nice weather i keep hearing about. This week was actually so beautiful!! We had awesome weather!!!! 

Love, 

Sister Lambert :) 

In honor of my 6 months, im gonna flash it back to the mtc, where i was still with sister Pitcher haha and i was actually tanned and warm...and cute and not pale and tired of snow...and being cold. 

Ello me duckies, March 2

Ello' me duckies.

Sounds like everyone is doing well at home, with baby blessings and weddings and all that fun stuff that makes me freak out for when i have to go home... But i am glad everyone is doing well! 

So just a funny little example of how much snow we have here... Me and Sister Pitcher are teaching this girl, and we were talking about having our next lesson at the church and she says "Oh yeah its the church with the park behind it right?" And we are like "uhh no there isnt a park..." and we get into this 5 minute debate about this park that she thinks is behind our church. And she is saying that she has been there before for blood drives and stuff so she knows there is one. 

We go to the church today and are looking around for this park, and then i look at this 20ft snow bank that has been there all winter and just think ".....no way" i climb it and lo' and behold there has been a park literally 15 ft from our church THIS WHOLE TIME but its buried under 8 ft snow and then hidden by a 20 ft snow bank! Ive been here since december and Sister Pitcher January so we dont know what this place even looks like without snow! It was pretty funny though... 

We have had a great week! The work here in Fredericton is increasing like crazy! we got 4 new investigators this week that are building up our teaching pool, and the Elders are finding even more success! We are all really excited for the work here! We have transfer letters on sunday and i really really really dont want to leave so we will see what happens. 

Something i have recognized is a common theme with a lot of people we teach and is the root of a lot of problems within the church as well. This problem is self-worth and struggles with low self esteem. So i have been focusing on it a lot in my personal study this last week and wanted to share at least a little bit of what ive learned with you! 

When i think about the worth of souls the first scripture that pops into my mind is D&C 18:10 "Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God" And i would always read this and just skim past because i am always told that God loves me. But this time i looked up the definition of 'great' in the dictionary. Great means remarkable and outstanding. So each soul is remarkable. But how often to we think of ourselves as remarkable? Not as often as we should!! To deny ourselves that title is to deny what God is telling us. To think less of ourselves could in a way be considered a form of disobedience. We are denying what we have been told, and we are then denying ourselves our true potential. 

We are each remarkable and outstanding. God teaches it to us. Christ had a full understanding of the worth of our souls. It is because of His understanding that He so willingly died for us and created the atonement. Because He fully understood what our potential was and knew that we need a little help. 

When my mind wandered to the Atonement i then got to thinking more about Christ. When He was a child, he had the veil put before him just like the rest of us. Christ had to find His potential. He had to learn who He was and what He was capable of. We in turn must follow Christ's example and find our for ourselves what it is that our potential is. What makes us remarkable. 

As you are obedient to God's commandments, and follow His council (including remembering the worth of your soul) you will be able to build a closer relationship with Him as you work towards the potential and the blessings that are yours to receive. 

I love you all, i promise im not buried under snow. Their

snow removal systems here are top shelf. The only scary thing is that almost every stop sign here is buried under the snow haha luckily nothing bad has happened yet! 

Love,

Sister Lambert :)