KOALAS

Miracle of miracles, I saw 2 koalas on Saturday just running down the road. We stopped to look at the first one, then another car reversed into us trying to see the koala. Then we were occupied getting all his information, and lost sight of it. But we got to see another one running down this main road! We got out to see how close we could get, and it had started climbing a tree. But it was going up and down, and we had a staring contest. Honestly I was so happy, we were about 3 feet away from it, and I didn't get any closer cause I've been told they're really vicious. But it just looked so cute, like a little stuffed teddy bear. My first thought was Build-A-Bear :) So that was pretty exciting.

I wanted to share with you all my vision, or goal for what I want to become while I am here in Australia. My vision for my mission is "Persevere in faith to become an instrument in God's hands." I read a quote from Elder Wirthlin (an apostle of Jesus Christ - see Luke 6:13. The same thing happens in our day :) ) that talked about perseverance being a positive characteristic, and one that required our action. Not idly, passively waiting, but exercising our hope and faith to make miracles happen no matter what. It really inspired me to apply that while I'm here, to not ever give up, but give 110% in whatever the circumstances may be. I am giving all of my time to God for these 18 months, so really it is His time I'm on. To see myself as a tool that God can use to accomplish His purpose here, and giving up all of my wants to align my will with His.

1 John 4:18 - There is no fear in love; for perfect love casteth out fear. A great scripture for missionary work, which can also be applied in every single person's life. God loves us, and so we have no reason to fear. We can trust that He will take care of us. We will all have trials and challenges in life, but God never gives us more than we can handle. As we grow and come to love Him even more, we can be fearless in facing the future, because we know who is really in charge. God will always be on our side, and wants us to be the happiest we can be.

Have a wonderful week!