Humility.

This week, I got a new companion and I absolutely love her! Hna
Coronado is from Peru, but now lives in Utah. This week would have
been a lot harder I think had it not been for her. I have been so
blessed as she has taught me so much. We have worked hard this week to
find new investigators and have seen miracles as we have found more
people to teach. We have four new people  with dates set to be
baptized, and we had a reactivation in our ward! So many amazing
things are happening in this area!

A few weeks back, President Mortensen gave us the challenge to focus
each month on a Christlike attribute from Preach My Gospel. Last
month, I decided to focus on humility. I studied it and tried my best
to live it, but it was hard. I felt like nothing was really changing
and that my actions throughout the day didn't really reflect it. Well
this past week, Heavenly Father decided to put me to the test. The
past 7 days were full of a lot of prayers as I was reminded that I
cannot do this on my own.
The hardest part about being a missionary isn't getting doors slammed
in your face or rejection, it is feeling inadequate. In an email that
my mission president sent in response to the church's recent statement
regarding same-sex marriage, he said some of the wisest words that I
will never forget and that really helped me out.

"The Adversary would like nothing more than to rob us of hope; to tell
us we aren't good enough, aren't smart enough, will never measure up,
that we have some limitation that can never be overcome, etc. If we
don't believe it initially, he will try to use great numbers of people
to tell us the same thing so that we feel compelled to believe.
Unfortunately, we see that he succeeds more often than not in the
world leaving people filled with sadness and despair. He cannot and
must not succeed with us. He will not succeed if we remember to feed
hope. Our hope comes through our understanding of the Plan of
Salvation and the central role of the Atonement of Jesus Christ that
makes it all possible."

Through Jesus Christ we can overcome any weakness, we can have hope in
time of trials and difficulties, and we can receive the strength
needed to push forward. Satan wants nothing more than us to forget
that. For this reason, we must keeping feeding our flame everyday
through doing the small and simple things like family and person
prayer and scripture study, going to church and the temple, paying
tithing, keeping the commandments, etc.  All things can be overcome
through Jesus Christ, as we place our faith in Him.

I am so grateful for the gospel and the hope and happiness that it
brings! The church is true!

Love,
Hermana Rupp