Well hello!!!

Mum, thank you for the package and the fact that it contains music!! I haven't received it yet, but Wednesday is district meeting, so I should then... I am dying to see it. I love mail. I really do. My companion is so jealous of the letters i get from you guys- so keep up the good work!! They always make me cry and bring soooo much joy into my heart. I actually had time to read Mum's letter today before writing back- how incredible!! ha I am sooooo proud of my family!!! wow Liz- what a go getter!! I hope I can be more like you someday. I show off some hip hop i learned Davin style sometimes ;) haha I am so glad I have these incredible examples of sisters so I can be an amazing mum too!! haha and Heather!! jeez-scouts isn't usually a coveted calling, but you take it on and go for it. You can tell when some one loves God and His children by the amount of work they put in serving and making others happy. Matt is just ballin' it and continue puhlease!! I got Grandma's letter and the money- sooooo sweet. I cried, man I feel like I cry once a day... I don't-but the days get smashed together and it seems like it occasionally. While at a less active members house the other day, she asked to see our house. So I looked at it from a 2005/6 perspective- kinda crazy. Ya I may or may not have shown her music in me by AOL my last year... ya I'm a sinner.... haha but she enjoyed it. 'oh the dancing, it's wonderful, really it is!' Ha we didn't do too much in that one, and she is very dramatic about things so she might have just been being nice, but it was good to show her and reminisce for two seconds.
I have been thinking about this fireside and all the members want to do more happy clappy tunes like-oh happy day-and at first I was sooooo opposed to it, but then one of them made me think. I thought about Light and the LEC concerts and the EOI and I thought I could mix them!! kinda obviously the more 'spiritual songs' and slower, praise worthy songs, but different than my usual-we're gonna try it. I am going to see if i can get permission to visit our website and get some music if there is any that fits for me if that's ok with you pa? I wish sooooo badly we could get LEC out here to perform for these people, they would love it!!! oh well, maybe someday in the future.

This week has been slow, really slow. No one that we invited to church came-but we visited them that night and it was good. Commitments in the small things show how committed we can be to the big things. We do things not because of duty, but because of love. Yesterday in RS we talked about doing vs. being and how you be and do simultaneously but doing and being is different. It takes more work. The lesson was on the talk in the last GC 'What manner of men ought ye to be?' Look it up and you'll see that God loves His children and does not condemn them for anything, He only asks us to BE like Him and as we BEcome like Him we will DO His will- because our will and His will be wrapped up and intertwined. This week I have thought a lot about that. My motivation has been slacking this week. I thought about home and other silly stuff WAY too much. Stinkin' devil!! haha Our ward mission leader said that if we work hard this week (this was last week) we would see a miracle... ya i feel like I slacked on that and for a second I thought it was all my fault until I realized sometimes the miracles are not what happens outside, but what happens inside. I was able to fully use the Atonement of Jesus Christ in my life to ask Him to help me, to plead to him for help and to repent of what I needed fixed. The miracle is a witness that God lives and is converting me along with many others whom I am privileged to teach. I am grateful for the gift of forgiveness, for the atonement and that the knowledge of it allows us to know that we are not alone, that we may falter or think of things we shouldn't, but that because of Jesus Christ and His atonement it is ok, I can go to Him and then have it all made right. That God does love me and does care about who I am and where I am going. Today I am someone, and tomorrow I can become more of who I have the potential to be. Life is a gift and not just because it is always happy and joyful, but because we are given the opportunities to search for that joy. Because we are able to grow and become like our maker, and because in the end, after we are prepared and ready through the refiner's fire of life, we will be more beautiful in heart and mind than ever thought imaginable. I am grateful for the opportunity I am given to learn how to love. Truly love. May we all take that opportunity into our lives and practice the golden rule. We are all brothers and sisters in God's family, but more importantly we are ALL GOD'S CHILDREN. Remember the divinity of a person before you go to say something about them or to them that could be unkind and torturous. We don't realize the power of a human's words on another human. It is everything. I am working on this, and it is a struggle sometimes, but I am learning and becoming more of the person I want to be around by doing so. Someone tell Sister Larson thank you for that little book she gave me-best thing ever. I know this Gospel is true and that Jesus Christ died for us, and now lives that we too might live again. 2 Nephi 10:23-25 really struck me today. Read the whole chapter to get it more and think about what Jacob is saying. I am soooo grateful for my Lord, Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ and I will praise His name forever.

I love you with all my heart and then some,

Love you!!

SISTER FILICHIA