I don't know about you, but I am feeling 22. Minus about 10 days.

Thanks T-Swift for making my birthday that much more fun this year, by penning and singing a number 8 hit about being 22 years old. 

 

But is it sad that I am feeling a little old out here? It’s b/c I spend all my time with 18 year old boys. and 19 year olds. But still. 

 

So among this week’s frivolities we made it to the zoo and met a dog who eats her puppies. Creepy. 

 

I don’t know what is wrong with that mother...all I know is that the owner offered that information to us as we admired the pregnant female dog. 

 

"She is going to have puppies, but she gulps them right up when they are born. "

 

*cue my horror-stricken face*

In most unusual situations, you can hide your disgust, but this...this was too far. We tried to understand from the owner why the mother dog would do such a thing. The reason remains to be seen. 

 

In conjunction, but not really at all, this week I mustered enough courage to speak in Kriol to someone I met on the street. The conversation went a little like this, according to what I remember:

 

"good aftanoon! wha di go en?"--me

 

"'aight"--paul. 

 

"what?"--me. 

 

"aight"--paul. 

 

"oh! how you niame?"--me. 

 

"Paul."--Paul. 

 

"great! me name da Sista Hirschi!"--me. 

 

"oh. I am from Chicago."

 

"in that case I will immediately stop slaughtering the Kriol language."

 

Seriously. It took me 4 months to feel confident enough to speak to someone in Kriol. Wasted. 

 

Aside from that, this week was fun. We went to the zoo yesterday, and I had some potentially unrealistic expectations about the caliber of zoo we were attending, but it was fun. The spider monkeys put on a show.  In America, there are zoo guards at every corner armed and ready to shoot you dead in your tracks if you even drop your crackers near the animal cages. In Belize, we fed them EVERY snack we'd brought, so them came riiight up to us. As noted, the monkeys were especially entertaining. I took some pics.

 

This week was fast Sunday and I got pretty hungry, but I also learned that fasting has a real power. Because…we are teaching a beautiful new......................FAMILY!!! Ding! hola!! The dad is really sick and could die in the next few months--or he could live. As such, he is certainly very apprehensive about the next life. What will be there, if he will see his family again, how he can prepare them, etc etc. What a JOY to teach him the great plan of our God! I 4real seriously LUV the plan of salvation. Nothing gives me more pure, ecstasy-filled joy. 

 

But jokes aside, God is perfect. And so is his plan. And it is absolutely beautiful. Christ was chosen and prepared at the outset of the world, in the very beginning to save our souls. I know each of us are of infinite worth. Why? Because of a basic economic principle. The value of a good is measured by the price at which it is sold or traded. We were bought with an infinite price--the blood of the Only Begotten Son. That is part of the reason Christ's sacrifice is called the infinite atonement. 

 

I've also been chewing a lot on humility as of late. Oh how I wish I could relay to all of all the truths I find in the scriptures! They are so rich. As a literary accomplishment they are something to be marveled at--as the word of God I know they are something which produce faith unto miracles and salvation. But back to humility--I have been thinking about the idea of "this is the way I am and I cannot change". A common excuse we hear in our day. I find this extremely ironic. Not only because we can change, but because it’s not just the way we are. God gave us the weaknesses we have! It’s not us. It’s from a loving Father who desires to instruct and form us into something we cannot comprehend in this life. 

 

9 Believe in ^aGod; believe that he is, and that he ^bcreated all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all^cwisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not ^dcomprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.

 

 27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their^aweakness. I ^bgive unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my ^cgrace is sufficient for all men that ^dhumble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make ^eweak things become strong unto them.

 

In fact, to assert that there is no God is to claim that we, by our 5 senses, comprehend and understand everything. And that what we cannot know cannot be. 

 

But ultimately, it is a matter of faith. Every man, woman, and child will be backed up to the wall of faith, because I cannot physically prove what I teach or testify to be true. We have to choose what we are going to have faith in…man’s ability to understand everything or God.  Then, after we choose faith in God, we can have a witness of the truth, and our faith becomes a sure knowledge. 

 

Some weeks are hard. Some are easy. But I know that Christ is the Holy Messiah--the redeemer of our souls and the author of our salvation-- that God is His and our Father and that the gospel and church of Jesus Christ is on the Earth in its absolute fullness. I declare these things to be true--but I do not know these things by or of myself. These are truths of a spiritual nature and I have learned them by the power of the Holy Ghost--a witness which cannot be denied. 

 

Oh how the gospel blesses lives! 

Oh how I love it. 

And how I wish everyone would drink from the wells of living water. 

Read the Book of Mormon. 

I wish I could write a fuller, comprehensive essay on the above topics and include some ethos, pathos, and logos. But for now, I am outta time.

 

Everyone. I love this work. It is hard. But it is true. 

Hang in there. Chin up. I love you all, even though the sun is setting on my youth. 

 

Have a superb week. 

Sister Hirschi!!!