Sister Kane's letter 09_23_13

Gem from the Brno conference:

Sister McConkie gave a great talk.

Siblings have a huge influence in who we become. Our spouses arrive

relatively late in life, our parents leave us, but our siblings are

partners for life. Why has God given me the 2 brothers that I have?

Specifically. What am I supposed to learn from them? What are they

supposed to learn from me?

And, in this context, what does it mean that Jesus Christ is our Brother?

Families are divinely organized. Think about it. Of all the people on

earth, your family has a few very select spirits, carefully arranged

together for the benefit and learning of everyone in the group. Now,

I'm not perfect. I have FOR SURE had some "tiffs" with my siblings,

and I can testify of how much humility it takes to utter the simple

yet ever so meaningful words "i'm sorry". But if I have learned

ANYTHING this transfer; it is that there are no mistakes in families

because there are no mistakes with God and he has blessed me with my

divine family. :)

What has your family taught you? Would you be who you are today if it

weren't for their influence?

Do they know that?

This week we had the amazing opportunity to go to a Conference in Brno

for all the members in the Czech and Slovak republics. It was SOOO

beautiful to see all the Young Men and Women sing and to see families

that are part of the church here. The conference was probably the size

of my BYU ward, which means the membership is still very small here,

but it was a beautiful sight to see :) AH! The work is going forward

in the beautiful countries of Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Lord

labors here!

It was fun to try and get to know the members from all around the

country. Many of them have AMAZING conversion stories. While I didn't

understand hardly ANY of the Czech that was spoken... I'm starting to

understand Slovak somewhat more. Still brutal at times, but the Lord

has blessed Sister Baird and I sooo much with the gift of tongues.

(insert story here: Saturday night we taught the dad/catholic family

again. I will always remember this experience. I have never felt sooo

much peace and comfort speaking a language as difficult as slovak as I

did this night. As we taught this man about the Book of Mormon and

Joseph Smith, he raised many concerns. I.e. Dates not matching up,

polygamy, things he had read on the internet, the "abominable church"

in 13 & 14 Nephi, etc. Things that realistically, with my level of

slovak, I shouldn't have been able to understand. But the Holy Ghost

helped me to know exactly what he was saying. Sister Baird and I

testified and testified of the Book of Mormon, of Joseph Smith, of the

restored church :) I cannot explain the feeling that comes when you

testify of truth to one of God's children needing to hear it. There is

no greater feeling!!! I walked out of that lesson thanking God for the

gift of tongues and understanding. For the first time in my mission, I

felt like I could communicate to some one the testimony of my heart in

their OWN language :) All because of the Spirit. I have noticed on my

mission that when the spirit is present in lessons, and contacts, I

can rattle off slovak like I used to rattle off French :), but the

second the spirit subsides or withdraws my slovak becomes...

jibberish. People don't understand me as well, and vice versa. It's

really amazing to see how the Spirit works through languages. Also, I

now struggle with praying in English. Fun fact.)

anyway - back to where I was.

After this conference we had one with all the missionaries and our

mission Prezident. Gosh, Prez. McConkie is the coolest mission

prezident. We had such a great training on the power of teaching. The

trick to great teaching? Simplicity.

I want to be a teacher all of my life, and in the church :) I get that

wonderful privilege.

I think of Christ and His life. What was his profession? Teacher &

friend. Perhaps those are the two greatest callings we can have :)

This morning I was thinking a lot about the savior and the different

roles he played during his earthly ministry.

Sometimes Christ was the Master teacher, other times the humble

servant. Sometimes he said "follow me" and other times he followed

(matt 9:19). Sometimes he gave the comfort "my peace give I unto

you...not as the world giveth give I unto you" while other times he

himself asked for the comfort "remove this cup from me"

The one role, however, that he never gave up was the role of "son of

God, Savior of mankind" He knew EXACTLY who he was. And though at

times his calling here on earth was manifest in different ways, he

never forgot His divine identity.

How can we do that? How can we remember that each and every one of us

is a divine child of God? How can we treasure our role as did our

Brother, Jesus Christ?

On my mission, in every transfer, my role my change slightly.

Sometimes I may lead, other times I may follow. Sometimes I may teach

and other times be taught. Sometimes I'll be the harvester and

sometimes I'll find joy in sowing seeds :)

Whatever my calling may be, I know that I will maintain a vision for

growth. Trust in my calling and trust in His mission. To GATHER the

sheep :)

I loved reading in matthew the other day when Christ talks about

sending the apostles out to be "as wise as serpents but as harmless as

doves" then he calls them to go out as "sheep to preach among wolves"

How fascinating is that! The Lamb calls the sheep to go and gather the sheep.

Why does he tell "sheep" to go out among the wolves, and not

"shepherds"? Isn't it odd that Christ tells sheep to gather sheep?

Food for thought :)

Imagine the miracles that can happen when God's way becomes our way.

What is God's way? (John 14:6)

LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH

LOVE SESTRA KANE