October 22, 2015
Hello my lovely ladies!:)
I just wanted to start by saying I am so grateful for all of you. I may not have known all of you super personally but your light has had an influence on me no matter how many times we talked. There isn't a day that goes by here on my mission that I don't think about how grateful I am for the young woman's program and especially the people involved and how they have influenced me and helped me to gain my testimony and to become the person that I am.
I just wanted to start by saying I am so grateful for all of you. I may not have known all of you super personally but your light has had an influence on me no matter how many times we talked. There isn't a day that goes by here on my mission that I don't think about how grateful I am for the young woman's program and especially the people involved and how they have influenced me and helped me to gain my testimony and to become the person that I am.
This past week I have felt so strongly that I needed to write
this letter. I'm not exactly sure what to say or why I need to write this but I
hope the spirit will be with you as you read it and you will be touched by the
message that comes from the spirit.
I hope you know that you are all so loved and so important. Being in young women's with all of you I felt like you were all my little girls, you still are!:) I wanted the best for you, I wanted you to know you could always talk to me and I wanted you to know that this is truly the gospel of Jesus Christ. I didn't realize until later that all of those desires came because they were exactly the desires that our Heavenly Father had for you:) he wants you to know that he loves you, that you can talk to him and that this is the true gospel!!
I want to bear my witness to all of you that this gospel is more than just a belief, it's more than just a faith, it's who we are. I didn't realize what this meant. Before I thought it was just church, but it's about becoming. I remember when I was a young beehive and I looked up to the laurels so much, I thought they were incredible! And they were:) but now that I was one of those laurels and now have passed even that, I felt really inadequate to be looked up to that way. Some of you girls may have experienced that:) I sometimes felt a lot of pressure to be perfect because I knew others were looking up to me,
but here on the mission I learned something. We don't have to be perfect; we just need to show progress.
We are not perfect, I am not even close, I make frequent, dumb mistakes and make messes of things, but I'm doing my best. I may struggle but I know that though goals, good desires and the atonement of Jesus Christ I have become a better person. I hope to be an example not because of the things I have done, but because of the person the atonement is making me. I am the person that I am because of this church! I know we all want to be better, and it's a big task that can sometimes feel like looking down into the Grand Canyon with someone expecting you to jump over the whole thing, an impossible task. But I know that though the atonement of Jesus Christ, when we really trust him and let him change our hearts, we can make it.
I hope you can feel the love and urgency that comes from my message, the Lord’s message to you. The world is not easy to live in; it's the hardest it's ever been. But I know the lord will help you! He can help us more if we are obedient. Make sure you're going to the temple; spend time in the scriptures and PRAY. Use the atonement to not only repent but to become a better person every day. And most of all take care of your fellow young woman! These girls sitting around you really need you, and you need them:)
The missionary in me needs to leave you with a commitment:) I can't ask you personally but I want to all invite you to choose something in your life to do better. Take the invitation given in Elder Lawrence's talk in conference and pray to know what that one thing that will be good for you to fix. The spirit will direct you and I know you will be blessed!
I just hope you all know that I love you so so much! I'm not sure why I felt such a strong need to write this letter, but I hope it is what you needed to hear. Keep working hard, and know what you're doing is good enough:)
Love, your big sister, Courtney
I hope you know that you are all so loved and so important. Being in young women's with all of you I felt like you were all my little girls, you still are!:) I wanted the best for you, I wanted you to know you could always talk to me and I wanted you to know that this is truly the gospel of Jesus Christ. I didn't realize until later that all of those desires came because they were exactly the desires that our Heavenly Father had for you:) he wants you to know that he loves you, that you can talk to him and that this is the true gospel!!
I want to bear my witness to all of you that this gospel is more than just a belief, it's more than just a faith, it's who we are. I didn't realize what this meant. Before I thought it was just church, but it's about becoming. I remember when I was a young beehive and I looked up to the laurels so much, I thought they were incredible! And they were:) but now that I was one of those laurels and now have passed even that, I felt really inadequate to be looked up to that way. Some of you girls may have experienced that:) I sometimes felt a lot of pressure to be perfect because I knew others were looking up to me,
but here on the mission I learned something. We don't have to be perfect; we just need to show progress.
We are not perfect, I am not even close, I make frequent, dumb mistakes and make messes of things, but I'm doing my best. I may struggle but I know that though goals, good desires and the atonement of Jesus Christ I have become a better person. I hope to be an example not because of the things I have done, but because of the person the atonement is making me. I am the person that I am because of this church! I know we all want to be better, and it's a big task that can sometimes feel like looking down into the Grand Canyon with someone expecting you to jump over the whole thing, an impossible task. But I know that though the atonement of Jesus Christ, when we really trust him and let him change our hearts, we can make it.
I hope you can feel the love and urgency that comes from my message, the Lord’s message to you. The world is not easy to live in; it's the hardest it's ever been. But I know the lord will help you! He can help us more if we are obedient. Make sure you're going to the temple; spend time in the scriptures and PRAY. Use the atonement to not only repent but to become a better person every day. And most of all take care of your fellow young woman! These girls sitting around you really need you, and you need them:)
The missionary in me needs to leave you with a commitment:) I can't ask you personally but I want to all invite you to choose something in your life to do better. Take the invitation given in Elder Lawrence's talk in conference and pray to know what that one thing that will be good for you to fix. The spirit will direct you and I know you will be blessed!
I just hope you all know that I love you so so much! I'm not sure why I felt such a strong need to write this letter, but I hope it is what you needed to hear. Keep working hard, and know what you're doing is good enough:)
Love, your big sister, Courtney
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