Sister Syd: Canada Week 63: Receive with JOY!

Hello my wonderful friends and family! I hope all of you are well and are loving the extra gratitude being spread worldwide! Hopefully it helps bring a smile to your face here and there. We are so lucky to have an inspired prophet of God!

Another week has passed here in the beautiful, snowy, white North. I loved the message of hope and gratitude from our beloved prophet, President Nelson. We were blessed to teach some member lessons, and a couple lessons with cute friends. We loved helping with more outdoor service, hanging out with dogs, and warming up with hot chocolate! We also found joy in tiny ketchup bottles, fun lights around town, and a wonderful Zone Conference. I also hit my 15 month mark as God's little missionary!

I have just a few thoughts to share this week. Have you ever been guilty of saying "once this happens...then I'll be happy?" Playing this game and placing our happiness in everything but reality is not fun. By doing this, we may find ourselves wishing for happiness in a future sense, but the thing is, our future won't change if we don't change our NOW. We can say "once Covid is over then I'll be happy," or "once I finish school and get on with life, then I'll be happy." I could go on and on. I am sometimes guilty of this attitude. It's easy to get wrapped up in everything that feels off or wrong, and then Satan can step in and fill our minds with even more negativity. We need to learn how to find the happy NOW, and receive things with JOY! I loved that President Nelson said to try expressing gratitude for our trials and hardships. We go through tough times because God sees that we are ready to grow and He has something He wants us to learn. Trials can be HARD, but I can say with full confidence that God's tender mercies can be found throughout them. He will NEVER leave us no matter how quiet He seems. After all, the teacher is always quiet during the test. He is still there. Last week I wrote about accentuating the positive. As hard as it is, we need to try and find the good among our strife, heartache, and confusion. We need to CHOOSE to look for the good. If we want to see the good we will. If we want to see the bad we will. We will usually find what we are looking for.

I want to share part of a quote from Corrie Ten Boom that has touched my heart. It says, "Never be afraid to trust an UNKNOWN future to a KNOWN God." The future is always unknown - ever more so right now. No one knows when this pandemic will be over, but we can find peace knowing that God knows and that He has a plan.

I love this gospel and the overwhelming feelings of peace, joy, comfort and happiness that it accentuates in my life. Choose happy now. Look for the good. May we choose to receive all things with Joy!

I love and miss you all! Thank you for the support and prayers - they are felt! <3

Love, Sister Merrill