"Smile! Jesus is coming" {Sis. Prolo}

I think the MTC branch I go to feels so much like what heaven could be because there are lots of good people from different countries in one place and purpose. Met missionaries coming from Samoa, Fiji, the Marshall Islands, Pohnpei +. Did TRC to help missionaries learning Spanish teach an investigator. Sang "Nearer My God to Thee" with the MTC choir and our director told us the context of the lyrics (Genesis 28:11-19). 

When Jacob hears Esau wants to kill him, he wanders into the desert and sleeps on a rock.

"Though like the wanderer the sun gone down, darkness be over me, my rest a stone." 

Hard things, or the crosses in our lives, can become good and bring us closer to God.

 "Nearer, my God, e'en though it be a cross that raiseth me... There let the way appear, steps unto heav'n... Angels to beckon me, nearer, my God to thee... Bethel I'll raise." 

Bethel, meaning House of God, is the name Jacob gave to the location where angels appeared, he received his endowments (steps to higher covenants), and the veil parted to God. 

During the devotional, Elder Richard G. Scott's story was told of 2 sister missionaries who entered a house where men grabbed them and locked them in a room. Kneeling, they prayed for God to save them. When they opened their eyes, they were in a alley on the other side of the wall. We have the power of angels to minister to us. Also got to teach Paola and a Chilean family with the hermanas.

Oh, and when you don't understand an aspect of the gospel or a commandment, just know it's from a Being far greater and superior in wisdom. Don't go complicating it. Live it, love it, try new things, and make every second point to Jesus. 

Keep it simple, mate :)

Love, Hermana Jerman