Monday, May 11, 2015

Just Another Day in Paradise!!

WoW!! Family, 

I just want to start by saying that it was oh-so-good to see your beautiful faces... you guys are amazing!! :) I am so very over-the-moon grateful! (I feel like mom saying that! Ha!! :D)  I am also really glad that you have now gotten to hear all of the "me setting a jewel shop on fire" story, so now you can tell everyone how that went and Mom can be at ease! ;)


We have power now, which is a fantastic thing.... but we haven't had hot water since this all began, so, yeah we still dont have any of that.  We ARE working on it though, and this week, if all goes well, we should have hot water too!! :) :) :)  (hoping that means no more gripe or sickness por culpa of the ice water)

I know I mentioned on SKYPE and in last week's update about our house flooding and about how all of my books got ruined.... just completely r-u-i-n-e-d, to the  point of not being able to save some.  That was a really hard thing for me to accept... my personal study journals and my scriptures in particular... have become my best friends and being without them really hurt... it was heartbreaking to see my personal study journals just blank,  completely empty because the ink literally washed away, it was devastating to see the pages of my scriptures falling out because they no longer stick to the bindings...  I worked so hard on those scriptures and I worked so hard to be diligent in all of my personal studies and recorded all of my thoughts, my learning moments, and personal revelation that I received. It's all gone, and I really feel the loss.


But this week, I was given some special insight that gave me such peace. This week we traveled to the Temple to visit the Distribution Center to buy all my books again (Book of Mormon, Bible, Preach My Gospel, etc), we got home and we opened all those new books up and at first it was so intimidating... so many pages needing to be reread and remarked.... but just as quickly that meed (fear) faded and I got the biggest wave of excitement and eagerness to read!  I felt the confirmation of the Spirit that these last 12 weeks have been growing weeks... experience after experience after experience.... but all of them were for my benefit -- IF I sought out the Lord and looked for those doors that He was opeing for me. I felt that all these experiences have prepared me to read and study with a new set of eyes, if you will... A new perspective.  And now the Lord was telling me, "Hey, try it again, one more time. And if you let me, I will show it all to you a little differently - and you will learn even more and I will expand and illuminate your mind and heart with my words and wonders".

And I know that this promise I felt is the same promise extended to each and every one of us if we take the time to read the scriptures and diligently look for guidance of our Heavenly Father.  He is opening doors and is ready to illuminate our minds so we can grow and have a special, personal revelation every time we open up the scriptures. 

I also just wanted to share with you guys how special this book, The Book of Mormon, is to me... it is everything to me! :) I now have experience and I can testify that I know what it is like to have The Book of Mormon with you as your constant companion  - and I also know now, what it's like to be without it... and that difference is enormous!!  I know this book is insipred, I know that the words written on those precious pages are pure and raw revelation received from prophets of God, that those words were preserved, protected, fought for, and that it is sealed by the very lives of those who fought to keep it AND the lives of those who translated the plates so that we could have access to this fountain of perfect help, knowledge, releif and guidance or whatever we need that fountain to be. That book may seem like just a book, but it is so much more and I invite you all to experiment just how special those words can be. Through humble prayer, diligent study, and appropriate reflection... we all can grow and learn about all our Heavenly Father has in store.

I love you all!
Keep on keeping on!!!

Until next Monday! :)
Hna Lauren Fardos




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