With Love, From Motra

Hello, this week, my Beautiful Lovelies.

So. This week. Was flippin awesome. (I get punched everytime I say flip. Why. Why must we recreate the BTY.? Dang Mormons...)

My birthday was GLORIOUS. I got so many packages I didn't know what to do with myself.

I must tell you a story.

On Saturday, I got my package slips at 2:45. We ran all the way to the Post office, which, apparently, closes at 2. LAME. I was distraught. I just really wanted that love that I was hoping for all week from you people. We came back to class and I tried to think about what I was supposed to be thinking about. I didn't. So, M. Curtis and I decided to go fight my cause! We ran to the front desk, where Koreans were weeping and calling home. (?). We waited patiently for our turn in line. Finally, it came! The front desk woman was suspicious of us... I could tell... But I was bold. I stated my case and asked if there was someone I could talk to in order to get my packages. It was my birthday, I have to be a little high maintenance at least one day of the year, right? (wrong, justification is of the devil). So She said, "let me check." and shuffled around for a bit. Then she said, No, There's nothing. And I said, Please. And she said Okay. So she handed us over to a nice Police Officer (really he was a mall cop) and he took us to get my packages! There were three!! I couldn't believe it. TENDER MERCIES. Jk. But seriously, I was so happy just to hear from you and to see the handwriting of you, Nat and Kate. Oh and everyone:) We did so many awesome things that day, I can't remember anymore. So yes. My birthday was marvelous. Thank you so much!!

Mom! I'm totally getting your letters! I LOVE THEM. I neeeed them. They are yummy to my soul:)

I got the apples yesterday, and cried and laughed because you're so weird, por te dua!!!

also, My dear dear roommate buddy, Motra Wait just loves you because of all the weird stuff you sent. So . I told her all about your life and why you're the greatest woman who ever lived and why you inspire me and the world and.. so... I hope you cry. Because we did.

Cfare tjeter?

Sermon Time? Okay.

This week I asked myself a few questions.

Why am I here? Why were we born at this time? Who am I supposed to become?

Here are a few answers I got from various talks and speeches:

I am here because I chose to be, but also because I chose those things that was wanted of me to be here. God always has a plan. I'm not sure if I really believed that before, but based on the amount of goal-setting and progress-analyzing we do around here, I have a strong feelling that God is very much the same way. We're always stretching ourselves- mentally, spiritually, physically, in order to retain knowledge. We're here because we chose to be able to choose more. We're here in life because of the meaning we put on to the feelings we received via experiences, challenges, relationships with others, and possibly what we learned from childhood.

Why were we born at this time? I honestly don't know. I don't know. But mostly, it doesn't matter, because there are great people and great circumstances in any generation. But this is ours, and we must make it great.

Who am I supposed to become?

I guess we could put a goal to that one, too. Who do you want to become? For me, I always looked at people like Martin Luther King Jr., Eli Wiesel, Oprah Winfrey, Morrie Schwartz, and Joseph Smith. Even people like Jane Eyre, Jean Val-Jean... Characters in books and movies who emulated a great understanding of human frailty and human capability. You know who encompasses all of that? Christ does. There must be a long-term goal coupled with short ones in order to become what we want. I found everything I wanted to be in His example. He is empathy, understanding, patience, and wisdom. I have never been more certain of anything than my desire to follow that which I know to be right and true. And my mind and my heart tell me that it is this.

I really like the Psalm of David (23) and it says "My cup runneth over." I always thought it through the lines of gratitude and thanksgiving. I loved it. But this past week, I made an analogy of it. As usual.

Heavenly Father is like a cup, holding all the eternal waters of love.

He wants to give us all that He has.

We are cups, too. But the bounds of our cup need to be stretched in order to hold more. We are ever-striving to meet those conditions Christ has set up for us (Faith, Repentence, Baptism, Being worthy for the Holy Ghost to reside with us, and Enduring to the end.)

We are perfected when our cups overflow. When we are grateful, we have the capability to taste our divine destiny of God-like perfection, whose cup overfloweth. We develop the skills of being stretched in order to be filled with an un-ending love from God the more we act and actually stretch. like my companion and I say, "it sucks," But it's the hardest, best thing we will ever do.

It's funny how the only thing that is unconditional is the Love of God. We grow not because we need growth, but because we're worth growth.

My companion and I are trusting each other more and more each day. She is helping me to learn how to listen to people more and understand where they're coming from. I'm so grateful I have her in this experience and I'm grateful for the friends who are still with me as "brothers (and sisters.) in the Lord." (I said that to Cade Mooney in my letter to him. He reminded me of that scripture about Alma and the Sons of Mosiah meeting once again.)

We will have lows where we forget our worth and quit. But LOWS don't mean QUITS. Lows are where we gain our footing again learn to rely on our foundation- Jesus Christ. Take the low and make it the reality check.

I'm happy. I'm exhausted. But I'm learning where I need to improve in order to become a great.

I have realized that empathy is a lot like gymanstics- if you don't use it, you will get rusty and lose your ability to understand. I think I got a little rusty. But, the more I'm humbled, the more I can see where to start, where to go, and who to turn to.
I love this work. It's work. I love this Gospel. I love my God. He loves you. More than we'll comprehend with our little cups of knowledge.

I do love you a lot, Fam. More every single day.

Me dashuri,

Motra Kokol.