Pollen Vortex + Spiritual Edification 4/28/14

I must say, spring time in Georgia is quite a glorious slight to see but NOT to smell. HELLO allergy mania! The air is literally a thick yellow of pure POLLEN. The sidewalks, cars, everything is yellow. The ground looks as though we had a yellow chalk war. One night after a lot of walking, I jumped into the shower and the water off of me/my hair actually ran yellow!! Claritin aint got any hold on these allergies! Wow, this was a long rant but when the pollen count is five hundred thousand gazillion, it’s worth a rant!

 I <3 GA

Emi and Kellen are married! Yay!! I’m so thankful and proud to be a Miyahara.  I was thinking about you all Saturday! Happiest of wishes to my newly hitched cousins! Family trumps all. I am ever grateful for the strength and support I feel from my family-immediate and extended! Y’all are the best.

This past week was wonderful…for both the people we are working with as well as for me. I finished the New Testament and the Book of Mormon again and WOW! I want to share with you not only my belief but my absolute knowledge that the word of God (ancient scripture + modern day revelation) is the greatest tangible evidence that God, our Heavenly Father loves us. 1 John 4 and Moroni 7 prove that. GOD IS LOVE. I know that these two witnesses of the divinity of our Savior changes lives. Together it allows the doctrine to be unmistaken. Don’t be intimidated to read the scriptures, read and let that spirit they bring shape you to desire to become better, more like our Savior. It’s so happy!

Doctrine and Covenant 90: 24 outlines the equation perfectly…if we search diligently the scriptures and truth, praying always and believing that goodness will come through the mercy and merits of the Savior, then are we promised that everything will work out for our good! As we walk uprightly with faith and make/ keep covenants or promises with God the outcome is guaranteed joy + direction + peace. My desires to follow God’s will has allowed for some pretty significant soul-stretching opportunities.

Keep lovin like you’ve never loved before!

Three cheers for life and the Gospel!

XOXOXO,

Sister Avery Miyahara

P.S. WE GOT ARRESTED THIS WEEK! HAND CUFFED, BELLY ON THE GROUND, M-16 (FOUR OF THEM) POINTED AT US. Mom, remind me to tell you the story on Mother’s day :) Don’t worry one sec about it though, it’s just the greatest missionary story and we're totally fiiiine. Endless laughs over it! Cant wait to tell you!!

Discovering Truth and Loving Every Minute of It. 4/21/14

HELLO! Who else is suffering from a sugar high/hang over/whatever you wanna call your body hating it’s self for what you put into it. On a total non-spiritual meaning of Easter note…I consumed far too much candy this past weekend. To my family, my sweet friends, and to the Acworth ward who aided in this overdose, thank you for making me fat….and happy!  I know it’s out of love : )

Now, for this week’s lessons learned. In essence of Easter weekend, I came to a newfound understanding of the ‘whys’ behind Christ’s agonizing sufferings, His crucifixion and ultimately the reality of the risen Lord.  We all will go through moments of our very own “Garden of Gethsemane.”  Life will bring us all to points where we hear ourselves crying out to our Father to “take this cup from me.” Even Jesus Christ had a moment of wanting to throw in the towel. But He didn’t give up; so therefore, we must not succumb to the limits we put on our own ability to endure.  Endurance is everything. When we decide to endure, we decide to trust God. We move forward with hope, believing the future will be better than the past or the present.

If you are going through a moment in the Garden, reach to the Savior who knows all and will ease all pain, regret, weakness, sickness or sin.  If you’re blessed not be in the Garden, help and lift those who may be. The story of Christ, the Good Sheppard leaving the ninety-nine to seek out, find and rescue the one has changed my mission and my life. When we decide to endure and help others endure too, oh how great shall be our joy.

There were some pretty awesome moments this week. DeAndre got baptized! Nikki got her temple recommend. Trish and mike AND terry come to church and loved every second of it. Members donated church clothes for our investigators to feel beautiful on Easter Sunday. God literally led two random people dressed in white shirts and ties to our church on Easter Sunday and they’re progressing and wanting to be baptized alongside their HUGE family. The Camacho's are seriously rad! My exchange with Sister Jones in the Mars Hill ward was nothing short of miraculous. It was sunny and happy and the ward spoiled us half to death with Easter goodies! Prepared people were found as we trusted, obeyed and prayed. Cartersville Zone Training rocked and President and Sister Harding preached on families and it was the coolest! The Chase family is God sent for Sister Iverson and me. The lists of “happys” are endless....

But yes, maybe I will forever remember this Easter weekend to have been a weekend spent in the Garden. Maybe it wasn’t for me, but for a friend. And just maybe, that decision I willfully made to leave the ninety nine and save or suffer with the one through their Garden has eternally impacted who I am and has made me stronger than I ever could have thought was possible. It is all worth it.

You can be someone’s savior in their moments in their Garden. It’s what the Savior would do and what He has already done.

BECAUSE OF HIM.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S3TI4bYerU WATCH IT

love your little fighter girl,

sis miyahara

**Spring Cleaning**

What is it about the spring time that makes us want to be outside, love life, clean up and frolic in the flower fields? I think it’s the sun! I love the Georgian sun. My companion compared me to a solar panel haha she said I need the sunshine to function…I agreed. This week was full of some of the best “spring cleaning.” Why? Because it was spiritual spring cleaning - repentance.

Someone told me if you break down the root meaning of the word repent, “re” means again and “pent” means embrace. Repentance literally means to re-embrace the Savior. How cool is that? Repentance is beautiful! Not scary, but joyful! We like to teach this like so…imagine this, you’re covered in mud and you see a beautiful white mansion, everything is white inside, everything it pure and bright and clean. There are happy people, families inside all in clean white attire. But you are dirty. Would you feel comfortable going inside that pearly mansion? How do you think the owner would feel if you came in filthy dirty? Now what if Jesus Christ was there, offering you a warm clean shower and nice white clothes He had already laid out for you? You’d take up the offer, huh? We can all repent, be washed clean, feel worthy in the glory of God. We can change. We can be fully healed, cleaned and transformed. Believe all these glorious truths. They will set you free!

Our sweet Nicole had the ultimate spring cleaning. Just four weeks ago we met this woman who has changed my life and many others and will continue to bless my life with her friendship through the eternities. You know those scriptures saying that the Lord will gather His elect? Nicole is elect, she is a chosen daughter prepared to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We were privileged to be her missionaries but surely we had no real part in her conversion. Her heart was softened and she accepted so loyally. The ordinance and spirit of her baptism was something remarkable. She was literally born again; she walks with a “newness of life.” I'm honored to know the lady. I'm thankful God knows us. It's my testimony that we succeed when we try.

May we all this Easter season do a little spiritual spring cleaning.

All my love,

Sister Avery Miyahara

Conference + Pneumonia + Miracles + Love for the Epistles of Paul

As a missionary, General Conference weekend is as highly anticipated as Christmas morning or the last day of school before summer! Ha! Yaa, so what if I’m a goofy missionary who has been looking forward to this past weekend sense the last semi-annual conference in October! And the best part is…you can never be disappointed with general conference. We have twelve apostles! A prophet and counselors who hold the same apostolic keys! They address the world in every language! Their messages are heard from igloos to huts, they’re sounded in the four corners of the earth! Tell me…who wouldn’t be curious to see what was spoken of?! Tell me…who else claims to have such organized, inspired quorums of the seventy and of the twelve apostles?! We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church. How cool is that? It’s not only cool but TRUE! So totally completely true. Don’t believe me?... you watch and pray for this confirmation of truth yourself.

 https://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2014/04?cid=HPSU040614654&lang=eng

Okay, I gotta slow down. I got really excited there. This week was different than the rest. To be totally clear, my poor companion has pneumonia and has been out like a dog since WEDNESDAY. It was spring break this past week so finding members to go on splits were impossible. I spent a lot of time making calls, planning, be crafty for our investigators and their baptismal calendars, cleaning, reading, writing, doing calf raises unconsciously, and so forth. Ya bored? Me too. But I’ve learned a very important lesson. God takes care of us. His grace is sufficient. All our most important lessons were made. Our investigators continued to progress. Trish watched conference at the church and told us “tears were falling down my face! I felt it from the tip of my head to the tip of my toes that these were the mouthpieces of God.” Nicole was elated! She said she was touched by the tender feelings of the spirit the entire conference confirming her question whether it was the true church or not. We arranged her baptismal program for this weekend over the phone and I could hear the change of her heart in her voice alone. How grateful I am that God’s words very cease. He continues to talk to us today through modern day prophets and apostles!

On another note, April fool’s day fell on district meeting and Sister Iverson and I syringed mayonnaise into some crème filled doughnuts.   The elders literally ate it all before saying “that tasted funny…it’s kinda salty…intresting…”  HA! Jokes on them. Sorry, elders gotta watch yo self! Oh ya and I read all the epistles of Paul this past week. Is it too inappropriate to say that I’d love my future husband to be like Paul? His faith, sincerity and loving reproof is fantastic! Yay for the atonement and leaving behind our past “dung” and devoting our future to Christ!

Shout of the Acworth ward for providing us food and love this week! Shout out to my fam bam for sending us the cutest/ yummiest Easter package with goodies galore that were all consumed while being constrained to our home.

My prayers never ending for the people I love herein Georgia and all the people I love at home. I hope you feel my love and know of my sure testimony that there is peace and joy and clarity in the light of Christ’s mercy and grace! Never forget how much you mean to Him, our Father.

Peace and Blessings to all y’all ;)

Sister Avery Miyahara

So much love from our ward members

Georgia Atlanta Mission with Elder Quentin L. Cook

April Fools Joke for the Elders

Happy + Hard Moments 3/31/14

Wowzers…this week! Where to even begin? How about someone else’s words (always better than my own)??

Joseph B. Worthlin said, “The simple secret is this: put your trust in the Lord, do your best, then leave the rest to Him.” (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2008/10/come-what-may-and-love-it?lang=eng) READ THIS TALK. CLICK ON THE LINK AND READ IT!

The doctrine of Christ is faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost AND ENDURING TO THE END. Geez la freaking weez, has the last step hit me hard this week! I’ve learned that the greatest triumphs come after tribulation. Charity numero uno. Nelly said it best today, “charity is completely unselfish. It is putting someone else before you and being what they need even when it is hard, painful or completely inconvenient. It is willing to take the blow, to learn the healer's art. It is willing to go through affliction so that someone else can be happy. It is knocking doors because you love the person behind the door not because you have to.”

Here are some happy and hard moments in my life and the lives of those I love

::Sister Carlin (lady we live with) now has her temple recommend!! She is going back to the house of the Lord and I could not be more thrilled and thankful for her. Her mom passed away this week so please keep her family in your prayers.

:: We had the most incredible lesson with our investigator, Ricardo at the Camacho’s home. He is 28, single and I see my dad through him. I felt inspired to share about my dad’s conversion and bore testimony to him that I know that because of my dad’s faith, generations and generations will be blessed. Dad, because of you, I stand in the homes of strangers bearing absolute witness that this is the true church of Jesus Christ on the earth today. I cant put into words my gratitude for my parents. I want Ricardo to be like my dad. I want him to accept these glorious truths and bless his future family like my father blesses mine. As I testified, tears fell down his face and he knew it was the spirit of the Lord.

:: Trish has come alive in Christ these past two weeks. She is moving forward with total faith. Although her humble circumstances are unlike anything I would have imagine existed in the United Sates, she stands in her plans to be baptized and be led more fully by the Lord. We had a lesson with her in the church this week and it was a couple hours I’ll never forget. God is good to the meek and lowly of heart.

:: Sister Watts was transferred. I’ll miss her, a lot…

:: HAPPY MOMENT, I have the most wonderful new companion who will teach me oh so much! Sister Iverson and I are polar opposites but we are rejoicing in our differences and enjoying the blessings that are coming our way as we work diligently here in Acworth!

:: We are out of miles and walked 15 miles one day and 10 the next. No one answered their door. It was rainy and windy. So Sister Iverson and I talked and talked and bonded and grew in our companionship unity. God wanted us to walk and talk. Recreational therapy, baby! Excited to update y’all and say that my choice of major at BYU is still solid and exactly what I want to do.

:: The General Women’s Conference on Saturday changed my life. Watch or read this one too!! (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2014/04?cid=HPTH032714628&lang=eng)

Faith, hope and charity. The three most desired words for happiness! I know that as we trust in the Lord and humbly do our best to love one another, we can get through anything. I’ve chosen to trust and there are times when that is really, really hard. But we are looking forward and not back! ßThat is mine and sister Iverson’s motto this transfer! : )

1 peter 1:7 the trials of our faith are more precious that gold!

James 1:3 the trying of your faith workth patience

2 Nephi 31:20 perfect brightness of hope + love of God/everyone + feasting upon scripture + enduring to the end = Eternal Life.

Birds sing after the storm, why shouldn’t we?

All my love,

Sister Avery Miyahara