The Skog Blog: The one 8/7/2018

Hey friends,

There's not a whole lot of time this week, so I'm sorry to those of you I did get a chance to respond to, I'll get to it eventually maybe. To those of you who actually get through this whole email, thanks for taking the time haha. Sorry it's so long.

This week was a bit crazy! I was hardly ever here in my area of Stuttgart, but i was blessed to spend some time in other areas of oir zone and mission. We tausched with the Waiblingen Sisters (Sister Dautel and Billings), I was blessed to work with Sister Billings in Waiblingen! She is a killer missionary. She's had a rough go but she is so strong and determined to serve the Lord. She works really hard and tries her best. I really love when young missionaries just open their mouths and try to talk even when it doesn't come out right. She is so much braver than I ever was, and it's inspiring and humbling. I just love Sister Billings!

We also Tausched with the Tübingen Sisters (Sisters Miller, Spratt, and Fullwood). Sister Spratt and I worked together in Tübingen. Sister Spratt is awesome! We had a good time finding together and learning from each other. She is so bold! She just went up to a lady and asked if she knew what the 10 commandments were! (She didn't. So we had to roll with the punches on that one, it was a great teaching opportunity haha. Gotta love it.)

We had zone conference in Augsburg this week... our train had some issues and we were approximately an hour late.. and then our train home had some issues and we got home 2 hours later than planned. Lol. We laughed quite a bit. We love DB.

We have some really wonderful missionaries here in Stuttgart. And by some I mean all of them are seriously awesome and I feel so blessed to serve with them. I just love them all. And my mission. I love being able to serve a mission. It is honestly such a blessing in my life and I am so grateful. I also am so blessed to work with Sister Peterson, I love her so much and I'm sad that we have so little time together, I'm learning so much from her! She's a little powerhouse. We will be receiving a new companion tomorrow and we will be in a trio for a week. A couple months ago I told President Brown that a trio is my worst nightmare, and in the last two months of my mission he has blessed me with with two, and I've come to realize they aren't actually that bad.

We met with Hannah this week, I had to say goodbye because she's going on a month long trip and so I won't see her again, but we've promised to stay in touch. She's seriously like family.

I love her so much! We also talked to her about baptism and... she's planning on getting baptized in October! We are so excited and she is so happy!

“The tree that never had to fight

For sun and sky and air and light,

But stood out in the open plain

And always got its share of rain,

Never became a forest king

But lived and died a scrubby thing.

The man who never had to toil to live,

Who never had to win his share

Of sun and sky and light and air,

Never became a manly man

But lived and died as he began.

Good timber does not grow at ease,

The stronger wind, the stronger trees.

The further sky, the greater length,

The more the storm, the more the strength.

By sun and cold, in rain and snow,

in trees and men good timbers grow.

Where thickest lies the forest growth

We find the patriarchs of both.

And they hold council with the stars

Whose broken branches show the scars

Of many winds and much of strife.

This is the common law of life.”

—Author unknown

I think I may have shared this before, earlier on in my mission, but the longer I am out the more I have come to see the truthfulness behind it. I don't think there is really anyone who wants trials or who wants to be tested, but I also believe that anyone who looks back on their trials and tests will see that they grew from the experience, that is shaped them in one way or another, that they are simply stronger. We can't escape trials and adversity, we can't change them, but we can change is who we become because of them. We can come out stronger, taller, better decision makers. We can learn in these situations to rely and trust in Christ and His Atonement, we can come out of trials and adversity more like our Savior. We choose to let our trials make us great, by choosing the Savior.

My mission hasn't been easy, not at all. There were days where I would have gotten on a plan and not looked back had there been one near by, there were days I didn't want to wake up at 6:30, there were days I struggled with companions, there were days I asked why it was so hard. But on those days I rembered why I am here, and who I came for. I allowed those challenges to help me understand my Savior, to rely on Him, and to truly trust Him. I've learned to trust God even when His will isn't what I would originally think. He knows best, and He knows what I need more than I do. I would not have learned these things though, without the storms, without the hardship, without the trials. But now that I know these things, now that I know my Savior, I don't want to get on a plane. I don't want to come home, I want to keep testifying to His children that He is there. That He knows them and that He loves them, regardless of what they've done. I love this work, and I have been blessed to serve. Don't get me wrong, it's not over yet, and I don't want it to be...

Thank you for those of you who have supported me, written me, prayed for me, I love you all and I am so grateful for you. Have a fantastic week