May 23, 2016- "My Testimony" - Well Done Thou Good And Faithful Servant

Dear Friends and Family,

This will be my last e-mail to you all! At least as a missionary. So I wanted to share a few of my thoughts with you.

This was the best choice I ever made! I am so grateful to Heavenly Father for helping me see that I needed to trust Him, that I needed to come on a mission. I am so grateful that he brought me to this point.

When I was young I thought missions were simply something that the prophet had told young men to do and that it would bring them back as men. I thought that it was all about having crazy experiences and funny stories, but I began to realize that the Gospel of Jesus Christ in its fullness is restored, that I could fully partake of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and that people didn't know about it. It never occured to me so deeply that people didn't have the happiness that I had. Then I knew why people really served a mission. It's not about the scenery, the crazy/ funny experiences, although those are a highlight, it's about the Restored Gospel. It's about helping others, forgetting about yourself and putting all your effort into the salvation of another persons soul. And when I say salvation I mean the salvation of now as well as eternity. "Adam feel that men might be; and men are that they might have joy" (2 Nephi 2:25) We are meant to be happy in this life! That doesn't mean all of our trials and difficulties go away, it means that we rely on the Atonement of Christ. We have faith that he can help us through our trials, that he has felt every little bit that we have felt and that He will help us. I haven't always made the best choices and I have definitely messed up, but I can change that, I don't have to feel the pain of that because of Jesus Christ. He lives. He suffered for us but more importantly, He lived for us. We will one day, in the flesh, meet our God and through Christ we can enter into His presence and live in Happiness for eternity.

The Spirit of God is a testifier. He has testified these things to me and I know them to be true. I know God loves us and wants to help us. But we have to choose to have Him in our lives.

All my days these past 18 months I have spent inviting. Inviting others to come unto Christ and I invite anyone who is struggling, or anyone who wants to know if God is really there; to ask. Pray in faith that you will receive and answer and be willing to act on it. Know that if you truly want to know if God loves you, you have to be willing to do all you can to come closer to Him. And I know that when you do this, your life will change for the better. 

This Gospel has changed my life. This mission in the lands of Scotland and Ireland have changed my life not because of where I am but because of what I am sharing. CHrist is the head of this church and there is truly a prophet and apostles on the earth today. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and I add my witness to those of the ancient prophets:

"My God hath been my support; he hath lead me through mine afflictions in the wilderness; and he hath preserved me upon the waters of the great deep.

He hath filled me with his love..." (2 Nephi 4:20-21)

"Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;

For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him.

And he that risen again from the dead, that he might bring all men onto him, on conditions of repentance.

And how great is His joy in the soul that repenteth!" 

(Doctrine and Covenants 18:10-13)

I know that we don't have to be perfect in this life, we just have to keep trying.

In His name, Jesus Christ, Amen.

-Sister McBride