Wag your Tail and Walk By Faith
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| Every holiday should be celebrated. Especially St. Patricks Day. |
Sad news first: on Monday night our family dog, Sherpa, passed away.
I believe we can learn something from everyone that comes into our lives; even if it's from an 11 year old dog from Australia. So this email will be a little combination of my week and things I've learned from Sherpa (hope you all don't mind going down memory lane with me :) )!
Blind? Deaf? Still Wag Your Tail.
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| Sherpa came to the Bronx with me hehe |
Towards the end of his life Sherpa was deaf, blind, had cancer, had skin and ear infections, had Cushion's disease, had bad hips, got a toe amputated, was overweight, and the list goes on. But despite all this he still wagged his tail and lived life to the fullest.
Language. I only speak English and some Hawaiian. So when I went on an exchange with Sister Tsifanay and all of our lessons were in French I was in an adventure. I did my best to try and follow along and would add in my input here and there. But for the most part I would just smile and nodd my head (which is what I usually do when I attempt to speak to Chinese or Spanish speakers lol)!
Weather. Yes its cold and yes I think my toes are going to fall off sometimes. But hey. I'm living in NYC. I'm serving the Lord. Life couldn't be better.
Despite circumstances that come our way we can ALWAYS choose to be happy. We can not control everything that happens in our lives and I mean who would want to anyways?! The human mind is very powerful and we can choose to be happy in this lifetime. We can wag our tails and lift our head up even, wait take that back...ESPECIALLY when unexpected circumstances come our way.
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| We eat a lot of pizza in New York. This pizza was fancier. We were too lazy to carry our leftovers, so we each finished our entire pizzas. No regrets. |
Prioritize your Life, Prioritize Food
Sherpa knew the word "treat" just as well as he knew his own name. He'd rush to the kitchen faster than we could pick up the food that dropped. I swear, his stomach was an endless pit.
I, too, sometimes feel like my stomach is an endless pit. Sister Combe and I ate dinner then went to teach a Nigerian family. After of which we were given these massive plates of Nigerian fried rice. Which of course I ate it all! It was so good and different kind of spicy than I was used to!
I've been eating a lot of Jamaican food as well and basically any and all food that is placed in front of me. We got a jar of pasta salad from an investigator and Sister Combe didn't want it. I ate it all.
In a crazy world like ours we need to prioritize what is most important. We need to nourish our souls both physically and spiritually; FEAST upon the words of Christ for in them we find peace, happiness, and strength.
Spiritual Thought:
5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Sherpa couldn't see at the end of his life but that never stopped him from exploring around the house and outside as my mother guided him in the right direction. Many times in life we can't see what's ahead of us but we walk by faith. We walk by faith and listen to the still small voice of the Holy Ghost to guide our every step. We place our trust in someone who can see. In our Father above.
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| Three of our new investigators! They're from Nigeria!! |
Randoms:
- An investigator's husband gave us a Qur'an and taught us about Muslim faith. We have a Qur'an on our dinner table.
- My roommates' investigator told them they could no longer come over for dinner because one of my roommates said her favorite animal is a monkey. Apparently this investigator doesnt believe monkeys are from God. Lol. People are funny.
- Had a wonderful conversation on the subway with a woman from the Philippines. We talked about food, especially halohalo!
Me ke aloha,
Sister Ellis
Believe Believe Believe
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| *Disclaimer: This pic is not from New York* Thanks for the memories Sherpa Boy :) |