Monday, April 7th, 2014

I am doing very well and the work is moving along. We have had a ton of snow in the past couple of days, which was good since we needed to wash the car. One thing that missions, adversity and General Conference all have in common is that they help us to truly understand and remember what matters most. I believe the sentiment President Monson expressed applies that if something is taking us away from those things, it does not matter what those things are. They are not what are most important. May we all develop the character that Christ has. May we turn out and love each other. May we be grateful and of good cheer. May we strive after goodness and bring others its light.

Conference was wonderful and inspiring. I really loved so many of the talks. Elder Scott gave a wonderful talk about teaching through loving example. There was such a wonderful theme of focusing on what really matters, which is so key. That will largely determine our happiness. What truly matters does not fade and will not be corrupted. Love and kindness should always be our course. The love of Christ and the fact that He is always reaching out to us all was a wonderful and repeated theme. I know God is always there for us as is His son who has taken upon Himself all of our pains, weaknesses and infirmities.

There is a whole chapter of Preach My Gospel dedicated to helping us as missionaries, representatives of Jesus Christ, develop the attributes that He has. It teaches us that we cannot develop them alone. These attributes are gifts from God that will be given us as we use our agency righteously, seek them and pray for help and strength. This is of course one of the most important roles of the enabling power of Christ’s atonement. I have felt a particular need and urgency to work to develop these attributes. I have a long ways to go, but my study, prayer and action in order to develop them has helped me make a lot of progress. I am so grateful for the many wonderful examples of people in my life I have had to follow in my pursuit of these attributes. One thing that has given me such faith and hope is the knowledge that Heavenly Father and Christ truly do possess these attributes. They are perfectly patient, charitable, merciful hopeful and faithful in all things, the least of which not being our individual happiness and development. God is with us, so none can prevail against us. The Norwegian word of the week is kostelig, which means precious.


Love,
Elder Ankenman