I didn't study anything new this week, so I don't have very much to say. So I'll briefly touch on something I know a lot of people, including myself, struggle with. That is comparing ourselves to others.
It's a very natural thing to compare ourselves with others, that's how we operate and determine what is better is through comparison. But it shouldn't be that way when it comes to ourselves. There will always be someone better than you at something, but you'll always be better than them at something too. We tend to either look at someone's strengths and realize that we don't have that particular strength which puts us down and feeling worthless, or we look at their weaknesses and compare them to our strengths which makes us prideful jerks. Either way it's bad. In a sprinting race there's only one direction we should look and that's straight ahead, never look to your sides to see how you are doing, it makes you slower. The same applies, we should always be looking up towards Heavenly Father and not to our sides comparing how far along or how strong we are. It'll only hold us back. J. Devn Cornish said in general conference, "If we must compare, then compare to your old self and see how far you've come."
One reason we have been given weaknesses so that we could learn to rely on him, he also gives us certain strengths so that we could help him as his stewards. In order to realize our strengths we have to open up and allow Heavenly Father to show them to us. If we are closed off, we aren't going to see what we're good at or what we need help with. We must realize that we will have some strengths but not get prideful, and some weaknesses but not beat ourselves up.
2 Nephi 3:13
13 And out of weakness he shall be made strong...
Ether 12:27
27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.
Be compassionate on yourself, you are the way you are for a reason. Someone is always looking up to you in some way, even if you think you're full of weakness, there's strengths naturally woven into everyone. The Lord can also make our weaknesses become strong.
Alma 26:12
12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.
We all have weaknesses, we all have strengths. Stop comparing your weakness to others' strengths or your strengths to others' weaknesses. Look toward Heavenly Father and try to be like him, not like the other dude who has been blessed with a particular strength that you don't have. Not even she/he is as good as good as Heavenly Father, so why try to be like them when what we are trying to achieve is becoming like him?
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Sorry, being the seasoned missionary I am, my emails are getting much shorter because I don't have time and my days are getting repetitious. So I don't want to bore anyone with the same ol' stories. I'll make it short and simple.
Tuesday:
My bike bearings fell into a million pieces, so I'm curious how tomorrow will turn out.
Wednesday:
We got rides all day and Im borrowing a bike. The cost to repair it is pretty gross so the other elders in the ward and my companion are all helping me pay for it, they didn't even think twice about it. They're awesome and such a blessing!
Thursday:
I totally taught myself to sew and sewed myself a button on my pants today! All by myself.
Friday:
I taught myself how to sew a hole together in my pants. We also ran into someone who started talking deep doctrine he found in the Bible which lined up well with what we believe. He also said there should be three heavens. Finally someone sees that. He was a free mason and ranked pretty high. Turns out he was a former investigator who we tried calling yesterday. He wants to meet with us again, it's going to be a fun ride of deep doctrine.
Saturday:
We went to help someone move at 7:00 this morning and got back home at 1:30. We changed back into missionary attire and got a call from Lisette (our investigator who is progressing well) asking if we could come help move. So we changed back and biked on over to help until 7:30. Then we biked elsewhere. I'm aching.
Sunday:
Well I'm finally at the point where I can comfortably teach an adult class on the spot with no time to prepare. Never thought I'd get there, but I did it. Other than that not too much different from your average Sunday. I'm also done with my 12 week training. I'm a real missionary now.
Transfer calls were today, and I am staying another transfer with Elder May here in Roswell, yay!
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