Sister Syd: Canada Week 69: CHOOSE God. CHOOSE Good.

Hello hello!!! Another week has come and gone, but this one brought in a WHOLE NEW YEAR! I hope everyone had a wonderful time ringing in the new year. It's always exciting to recommit to changing ourselves for the better!

Our week was long, but still full of adventure and fun! We were able to have some super awesome member lessons. It was nice to get to know a few more of the members here in my new area. I think they are all so amazing. One of the members gave us some fun tie dye sweats that are so soft and I love them! We enjoyed a lot of walks this week because the weather has been so spectacular! 🤩 We were also able to walk our mission president's dog again so that was fun. We decided to heart attack a couple of our sweet member's doors this and they TOTALLY caught us - both times! What are the odds?! It was hilarious! The rest of the week consisted of virtual exchanges, New Years celebrations, interviews with President Cowley, and IN PERSON CHURCH! It was so nice to be able to partake in the sacrament again because it has been way too long. We were also blessed to have IN PERSON interviews with President Cowley and that was such a tender mercy from God. I have really missed being able to interact with people, especially our mission president and his wife. It was so spirit-filled and wonderful! I am SO grateful that God puts the right people in our lives when He knows we need them! ♡

I have had so many thoughts running around in my mind all week. Most of these thoughts have revolved around the idea of knowing about the gospel vs. living the gospel. Being a part of the Lord's restored church here on Earth is more than just having a knowledge of things, especially today! It is more about what we do with that knowledge, and how genuine we are in sharing what we know with others. Is Christ in our daily countenance? Do we portray Him and our Heavenly Parents at all times, or only sometimes? Do we truly show gratitude for the Book of Mormon? Are we grateful for Heavenly Father's presence and the answers He gives to our prayers? Or do we merely acknowledge it and go about our lives? What I think it all boils down to is actually quite simple. Love God, love people and be a good human. One of our members recently made a statement that has stuck with me all week. He said, "We choose everyday to believe in God." This is SO TRUE! We can't decide one day that we just believe and know God is real and then do nothing with it - because we know! Satan also loves to sneak in subtlety - get to us little by little - and then one thing snowballs into the next, and all of a sudden where is our faith now? How strong is our faith? Has it been weakened by Satan's subtleties? It is so important to choose to believe and have faith each day. Greater faith is needed now more than ever. We must continually exercise our faith muscles or they will weaken. I have seen this in my own life. I have felt my faith strengthened when I choose God and choose to believe, and I have felt the opposite when I have chosen to give in to Satan's negative thinking patterns. Satan has the power to tell us that we aren't enough for God, that we aren't perfect for God. He can tell us that we are too far gone to return to God. We cannot let Satan have that power in our lives! One of my favorite quotes by Brad Wilcox says, "Satan doesn't win when he can get us to cross the line, but when he convinces us that there is no way back." We have the greatest power - the power of choice. We don't have to give into Satan's ways - we can CHOOSE God! We can CHOOSE good! We know who wins the battle so whose team are we going to be on when it is finished? God is always rooting for us. God cheers us on even when we are angry, or lazy, or feel we aren't enough because we are ALWAYS enough for Him. Elder Uchtdorf said it best, "There is no threshold of perfection you must attain in order to qualify for God's grace." God loves all of us regardless of anything we could possibly tell ourselves. You are enough because you KNOW God! You are enough because you WANT God. You are enough because you BELIEVE in God. That's enough - and after that His grace will make up for everything else.

I am so grateful for my knowledge of my Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother. I am grateful for all that they do for me. I am also grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ and all that He is and does for me. I can't express gratitude enough for God's grace. I KNOW He loves me and each and every one of you! Hang on, stay strong, keep going! You are do amazing things!

I love and miss you all! Always remember to smile! :)

Love, Sister Merrill