Week 28: Arizona: The air is sizzling!! 🌶

 hello hello hello from Scottsdale!!

I don't think I fully understood what people meant when they said Arizona would be hot. like I'm from Florida so I know heat, so I didn't think it would be bad. anyways let's just say that if you haven't wandered around apartment complexes in 114⁰ weather, you haven't lived yet :)

My companion is Hna Horton!! She is the most adorable human being. She has only been a missionary for a few weeks and her spanish is simply wonderful, it is just great. We are over the Via Linda branch & Chaparral ward, our area is HUGE and covers north scottsdale, paradise valley, cave creek, fountain hills, and a bunch of other places i don't even know. It is full of wealthy people and fancy cars, which is fun and all, except none of them want to talk to us ;) the teaching pool here is pretty weak and finding new people to teach has been a struggle. it doesn't help that i kinda went into shock the first few days, with the culture shift, and then training, and then whitewashing, and so many other things. BUT all is well now, we are adjusting quite nicely. there is a LOT of work to be done here, so it will be a busy next couple of transfers. 

We had a woman bash us and say she didn't agree with our beliefs because we apparently don't believe we are saved by grace. Grace is one of my favorite attributes of Christ, so I decided to study it more in depth!

Grace: the free and unmerited favor or beneficence of  God.

There is nothing we can do to "earn" eternal life. Absolutely nothing. Even if we were to spend our entire lives trying to serve God with all our heart, might, mind, and strength, we would still be unprofitable servants, unworthy to be in His presence. That being said, all is not lost. Because Jesus Christ paid the price of all our sins and shortcomings, our Heavenly Father can extend His mercy towards us on conditions on repentence. So, if God expects us to repent, does this mean we are saved by our works and not by grace? No! God does not command us to repent so we can somehow repay Him, we will never be able to! We will always be indebted to Him! The reason he commands us to repent, make covenants, endure to the end, etc, is so that we can become more like Him! So we can become holier, refined, disciples of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for this Gospel, because not only does it teach me that I am saved through Jesus Christ, but it teaches me WHY He wanted to save me! What would the point be if we are were just all saved without any effort on our part? We would all just be chilling in heaven, in a state just like how we were before we came to this Earth. When we really interanlize and realize that the whole point of coming to this Earth was not just to return to our Heavenly Father but to become like Him , then it makes sense that our Heavenly Father wants us to do the things that will lead to ultimate perfection. And, for the record, achieving that perfection can only come from the grace of God, receiving the help to achieving that perfection can only come from the grace of God, and being forgiven of our imperfections when we mess up can only come from the grace of God. Oh, how I love my God, He is just so full of grace.

I hope your week is incredible. Your Heavenly Father adores you, don't forget. 

Love,

Hna Zayas