Faith over Fear

Hello everyone!


since i am typing quickly i will forgo proper capitalization and stuff so please forgive me.


this week was significant in that i discovered a lot of things about myself and how i can improve my life. in our short show youth of zion i play caroline rollins who along with her sister saved the revelations included in the church's doctrine and covenants from being destroyed by a mob when they were young girls. someone asks caroline in the play "and you weren't afraid?" and she responds "yes we were, but we knew heavenly father would protect us." that struck me deeply this week as i also have studied about nephi following the spirit in the book of mormon, not knowing beforehand what he should do as he obeyed what the lord would have him do. i thought about how i often let fear take control of my life and i often don't do things if i can't plan out what the result will be. i realized that that's the difference between who i was and who i've become - i've stopped taking risks for fear of failure. but sometimes we have to do something scary in order to make our lives better. i realized that having faith or courage doesn't necessarily mean that you do something without the presence of fear - fear is there but you choose to do something or believe something despite it. so even though i am terrified of failure - i have to trust god and myself and let myself fail sometimes in order to take the chances that could potentially change my life for the better.


elder macdonald knows that i struggle with confidence and has been teaching me that confidence is a spiritual gift and that i can ask heavenly father for help to develop this spiritual gift. i am already noticing a difference as i pray and rely on my father in heaven and push myself daily.


the coolest thing that happened this week is that we were invited to a campfire after Trail of Hope on Friday that was hosted by some native american descendants that were dressed in traditional attire and facepaint. their ancestors lived across the mississippi river when the saints came to nauvoo in the 1840s and when they heard that there was a prophet among the saints - Joseph Smith - they were determined to meet him. they crossed the mississippi and refused to get off the riverboat because if Joseph Smith was a real prophet he would know that they were there. well sure enough joseph smith came and met them and treated them like people and not savages. he told them about the gospel and book of mormon and they danced for days afterward to celebrate that there was a prophet on the earth again. they were touched to see that their people were remembered through the book of mormon - that the story of their ancestors was being told and that the lord fulfilled his promise to their people! it was amazing to me to hear this side of the story - not from the traditional church restoration perspective but from the lamanites themselves. it just testified to me of the eternal truthfulness and connectedness (is that a word?) of the gospel!


the man that hosted the campfire is a descendant of Tecumseh whom he said had visions of and taught his people about Christ and had visions of nauvoo too. he drew pictures of a building that looks like the nauvoo temple! That's crazy cool!!


i love love love this mission and the people i am meeting and serving with daily!!!


sister greenwood