All you need is a Mustard Seed: Consecration Requires Dedication

Hello to the people I love!

I know I always ask this, but how is everyone doing? How is home? I just want to know, so email me because I care about you all ... EVERY person reading this.

This week was amazing, to say the least. Shevyn got baptized on Thursday. It was soooooo special. She had been waiting for this day for a while, and it finally came. She was so prepared and excited for it and as soon as she came out of the water, she shouted, "Hallelujah." I started laughing. She is the sweetest person ever and always has a big smile on her face. It was an awesome moment to be a part of. She deserves the world and she has just taken the necessary step to changing or life.

Saturday was a hard day for me. I wasn't really feeling high spirited about proselyting that day and I really just felt low because I had gotten discouraged. I remember praying in the morning as I jogged. I specifically asked Heavenly Father to help me proceed through my day with lifted spirits. It's hard not to cry because the mission makes you FULLY rely on the Lord in all things. As soon as studies were over, my day got trememdously better. We saw a less- active that loves us so much and she made me feel so good. Then we saw another less-active family and they let us help them wrap Christmas presents and the husband always makes me laugh SO MUCH. I was changed in that moment, I felt so good. Then we had dinner with the "Jollys" at the Burger Barn and as we were walking out, another LDS family greeted us and thanked us for being missionaries! It was so great. THEN, we had a member meet us at the church to talk to us. She helped me feel so loved because she had felt prompted to talk to us. It was so amazing how everything played out exactly how I needed it to. Heavenly Father ALWAYS answers our prayers, but it's up to us to open our eyes and see the answers. I definitely did that day and I KNOW without a doubt in my mind that Heavenly Father had that day planned out because I needed it and because I asked Him in faith to help me.

On Wednesday, we had Zone Conference, and it was SO GOOD. They are always so good. I love conferences because all the missionaries get together and you get to see old companions and old friends. It is so awesome. At this Zone Conference, we talked about consecration. The main thing that stuck out to me was the difference between sacrificing something and being completely consecrated. It was a lesson that I really needed to learn. A lot of the times we go on missions because we feel we need to or we feel like we have to impress people by doing so, but that is NOT it at all. We come on the mission to FULLY devote ourselves to our Heavenly Father. My mission call distinctly states that we devote our time, energy, talents, everything to the Lord are we leave behind all other personal affairs. Yeah, it's hard, but salvation isn't cheap. The Atonement wasn't easy for the Savior Jesus Christ so why would the mission be easy for us? One thing that I liked that was said was that our Heavenly Father doesn't need missionaries to do this work, He can EASILY do it on his own, I mean come on, He is omnipotent, but He ALLOWS us to participate so we can grow. Our mission president told us that he doesn't care about numbers. He doesn't care about how many people are baptized. What he does care about is that our missions are saving us first. We are to be our biggest converts. I feel it. Every ounce of that sentence, I feel it. I am striving to be a more consecrated missionary. These past two months out in the field have changed me, and not a change that I will forget tomorrow, but a drastic change. One that isn't achieved from completing a driving course in a day, or taking a test. It's a gradual change that has occurred in me but it has happened because I have let it happen. I came out on this mission NOT to be the Cassidy I was before I left, and I feel my Heavenly Father molding me into exactly what He wants me to become. I know I have a while left on the mission, but I know that if we ALLOW the Savior to change us, He will.

I love my mission and this Gospel so much. I can bear my witness that I know it is true.

Love you all,

Sister Sanchez