The Atonement

8-20-12

Wow, thank you all for being instruments in God´s hands.  Dad, Mom, and Ali- you seemed to all feel or know that I needed help.  I am realizing more and more exactly what are my greatest challenges and I am facing them at this time and your words have helped me start to conquer.  Mom, thank you for the faca you gave with lots of love in your letter.  I needed to hear it.  You asked me if I could accept my best efforts.  And sincerely, I realized that I couldn´t.  But this week through scripture study and prayer I have been able to start accepting.  Even my mission president wrote me and told me that I need to be kinder and gentler on myself.  Heavenly Father always uses other people to help us when we need it.  This is why we always need to be in tune with the spirit.  My huge challenge that I am facing right now- and that I have realized I have had my whole life, but never really pin-pointed is that I expect perfection out of myself.  And that just ain´t gonna happen anytime soon.  And then when I am not perfect, I beat myself up mentally and drag myself down thinking I am a horrible, stupid person that never changes, etc.  Yes, I know this is bad.  But that is why there is repentance.  I am always taking myself down because I feel like when I do that I am getting what I deserve before I can repent.  But Jesus Christ already suffered for me.  I don´t need to- as long as I repent and change my heart and habits and thoughts and actions.  I can´t run faster than I am able.  I can only do my best with the knowledge and abilities I have now.  But I can have the help of the only perfect person- Jesus Christ.  His grace is perfect.  I try my best and then place the rest in His hands, having complete trust in Him.  Jesus Christ died for us because we are not perfect.  Heavenly Father didn´t send us here to be perfect, He sent us here to learn and grow from our mistakes.  When I am beating myself up, I am not using what the Savior is offering and that makes Him so sad.  I know that my Savior loves me.  I know that through Him my sins can be as white as snow.  I can change to be better- not perfect, but better.  He is always there to lift me up.  I know that He lives.  I know that the Atonement is perfect.  I am eternally grateful for it.  I cannot express how grateful I am for the Atonement, or how much love I have for my Savior, Jesus Christ.  Thank you family for sending your love.  I can feel it.  

I literally feel like P-day was yesterday.  Time is FLYING.  And I don´t want it to!!!  I will have 7 months on the mission this week- I feel like I just arrived in Portugal last week!  I am learning so much- the refiners fire is amazing.  I am so grateful for this privilege I have to be here.  I LOVE my mission.  I LOVE being a missionary.  I love that I can feel the Savior´s love for everyone I talk to.  I love the spirit I feel that tells me to talk to a specific person or to knock a specific door.  I love that I can receive personal revelation to better myself and to know how I can help specific people come unto Christ better.  I am so grateful for the members of the church and their amazing examples of faith.  We have been struggling to work better with the ward, and I was getting super frustrated.  But then I got a letter from my great friend Irmã Barlow and she reminded me to be grateful that we even have mission leader in the ward.  And that part of our role here is to help train the members to work with the missionaries better and to be better missionaries themselves.  We have been giving lots of ideas etc etc but we really need to SHOW  the members and train them.  This is a very new ward.  I am so grateful to see them grow and learn.  I have been able to help members prepare for talks and lessons and it is so great!  I am so grateful for my lifetime experience in the church and the knowledge that I am able to share with others- about how a ward can better function, etc.  Preach my gospel is incredible.  It has everything we need to know.  If every missionary was a pmg missionary and every ward a pmg ward- WOW!!!!!

HELENA WAS BAPTIZED!!!!  She is 70 years old and SO cute!!! haha.  She has been taught for a couple of transfers and we were just blessed to see her baptism.  She was what we call a ´dry member´- pretty much a member but not baptized yet.  She has been coming to church forever!!!  Me and Irmã Campos da Silva marked her for baptism last transfer but she was sick and she was marked before that too.  This time, me and Irmã Suzarte just decided to tell her she was being baptized this Sunday and she said ´okay, but I want to use my own white clothes.´  Another testimony that really, we don´t do anything- it is ALL the Lord.  We just need to be worthy and have faith.  Her baptism was SOOO happy.  I got to peek into Heaven.  The American cookies were a hit- as always. =)  haha.

Pray for Alexandre, Arlete, João, Alice and Fabio, Maria Duarte, Maria Santos, Rosimere, Cátia, and Maria Grassiete- she is marked for baptism this Saturday but hasn´t stopped smoking yet.  Please pray extra hard for her!

I love you all with my entire soul!!!  seriously though.  PLEASE remember that you are loved by me and especially our Savior Jesus Christ.  LOVE YOU LOVE YOU LOVE YOU LOVE YOU!!!!

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!

Irmã Tingey