U.H.a.t.d.: Mission Week 17 - Service Week in the Belgium/Netherlands Mission

Hoi iedereen!

Scripture of the Week

3 Nephi 20:8 - "And he said unto them: He that eateth this bread eateth of my body to his soul; and he that drinketh of this wine drinketh of my blood to his soul; and his soul shall never hunger nor thirst, but shall be filled."

This week was service week in the Belgium/Netherlands mission. President Bunnell asked us to try our best to get a service project every day of the week. That's harder than it sounds. Unless that sounds difficult to you in the first place, than it's not harder than it sounds. Anyway, we had three pretty good opportunities to serve this week and the other days we were just serving by looking good and sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ and fighting for the souls of men. No big deal.

On Monday we got to help our bishop, Bishop Winters, and his family with their garden. On Wednesday we painted the room of Zuster Ng's mom. She is such a sweet soul. I don't think she quite understood why we moved all of her furniture into the center of her room or why we were attempting to paint her room with tiny rollers. She may have cussed at us a few times and said some other nasty things but at the end she warmed up to me a little bit and gave me a nice smile. On Friday we helped Audrey clean up her back patio and garden. Lots of very large garden spiders here in the Netherlands. It was a lot of fun. No moldy cushions or rotten bird food or mice or anything.

This past week I've been reading through a talk by Elder Boyd K. Packer. It was the last talk that he gave in general conference. It's called The Plan of Happiness and I definitely recommend it. My favorite part is where Elder Packer says, "Our physical bodies, when harmed, are able to repair themselves, sometimes with the help of a physician. If the damage is extensive, however, often a scar will remain as a reminder of the injury. With our spiritual bodies it is another matter. Our spirits are damaged when we make mistakes and commit sins. But unlike the case of our mortal bodies, when the repentance process is complete, no scars remain because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. The promise is: 'Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same if forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more' (D&C 58:42)."

There's not really much I can add to that except for my testimony of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and of God's love for us. I know that what Elder Packer said is true. We can become clean through the Atonement. I'm definitely not perfect and I've made a lot of mistakes in my life. Because of the Atonement, I can repent and become clean every day. Everybody strays off the straight and narrow path at some point in their life. Everybody gets lost. But after we acknowledge what we have done and come humbled before God, we can repent and no scars will remain. Again quoting Boyd K. Packer, "...the Atonement which can wash clean every stain no matter how difficult or how long or how many times repeated. The Atonement can put you free again to move forward, cleanly and worthily, to pursue that path that you have chosen in life."

I love you all and everybody have a great week!

Tot ziens!

Elder Wright