Intermission

What a week in the work of the Lord. Scroll to the end for some news…

☆Friday night, I had fluids coming out of my ears, so we went to urgent care on Saturday morning. Not even 24 hours without being in a Doctor's office. Nice! I have an ear infection in both ears, but I'm so thankful that I was able to be seen quickly so that I could go back to work! 

☆Sister Rassy and I wanted to make cinnamon-sugar apples, and it went really well until I forgot about them and next thing you know we had to open the windows and take the burning fruit outside. There were still some good pieces, tho! Turned out to be apple "crisps"…

 ☆On Sunday, it was 104⁰. We had only hot water in the car, and an extra hot chocolate pack (I carry one for emergencies like these) so I made some hot chocolate! Haha I had to wait for it to cool a little. It was so hot. 

☆one of the Hermanas I minister to has grandparents living in Ocean City, New Jersey, just a couple of blocks away from MY grandparents house!!! We went bonkers when we made that connection.

☆I had an exchange with Hermana Guifarro. She knows very little English, and so for a lot of the day I pulled out of my brain everything I learned in HS spanish. We had so many miracles, I learned so much from her, and I got to teach English class! What a day! 

Well, this has definitely been the hardest email I've had to write on my mission. After too many doctors appointments, talks with my mission President, and prayer I've decided that it's best for my health to take a pause on my missionary service. 

Some of you already know, but I have a condition with my body that makes me unable to function at times. I had felt pretty good for a couple months, and was healthy enough to go on my mission, but around my 3 months the pain started to come back. It was manageable until around month 7, and now I've realized that I can't push through the pain anymore. I had a stubborn companion (thank goodness) who wanted the best for me and had me start to get help. 

I'll be having surgery to hopefully fix the problem, and be back out as soon as the Lord will let me! I'll call in an "intermission" haha get it? 

Anyways, this is for sure the hardest decision I've ever had to make. But I have done A LOT of contemplating, and this is what I've come to. 

1. Proverbs 3:5-6 (some of you may have seen my Facebook post, ohh it's all clicking now)

 "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."

I will be the first to say that I don't know the reason for all of this. But God does, and that's good enough for me. And I know that He will direct me to be where I need to be.

 

2. I've been thinking about what's in my control. Right now it seems like not a lot, and that is true. But there's something that I can control, and that's whether or not I choose to keep the covenants that I've made with God. I can do that, and I will. And if I keep my covenants and hold them close, God will provide me with everything I need and more. I think that's pretty fair.

3. I will say, I've had a couple of pity parties. Why me? I just want to serve the Lord with everything that I have. Why is this so hard for me when I'm just trying my best? There're missionaries who I know don't work as hard as me, and they're perfectly healthy! 

And then I finished my pity parties because: why should I ever expect things to be easy and "picture perfect" when the man I represent NEVER had it easy? If I'm called to be a follower of Christ, I'm called in the brightest and highest, darkest and lowest, even until death. If my life, my service, my health was always perfect, I wouldn't know who my Savior was because I wouldn't need to. I know Him BECAUSE of my imperfections, afflictions, and trials. And even though this hurts in every way, I wouldn't have it any other way because I know who's carrying me through it. 

I've been focusing a lot on my lifelong journey of becoming a disciple of Christ. That's what it's all about, right? My time to put the tag back on will come, but in the meantime, I've got some work to do as a "normal person". I've absolutely loved my mission, it's been the biggest blessing of my life. I've learned so much, loved so strong, and worked so hard. My invitation for y'all is to get to know Christ, and make the choice now to follow Him, wherever He may lead you. I know if you do, you will be blessed with what you need, and more. 

Future/current missionaries: don't waste a second. Serve Him with all of your heart, might, mind and strength. Most importantly, find joy in the work. Missionary work is about joy. You've got this! 

I just wanted to thank you all so much for supporting me through all of this. Family, friends, roommates, companions, and friends I've met on the mission, I love you all! I'm pretty open and honest about all of this, so if any of you have questions or would like to talk, please reach out! Let me know how I can serve you, and be there for all of you!

Remember God loves you! 

Until we meet again,

Sister Jenni<3