I am sorry I did not get this letter to you yesterday but my mission president changed P day to Tuesday this week because of the Easter Holiday and I was not told until the day before. Hopefully next time I will be able to tell you all ahead of time that I won't be on the computer. I am sure I miss it more than you miss my letters. It means so much to be me to be able to reach out and talk to everyone who I miss so much. Our P Day in Dunkwa is not spent as many missionaries spend their P Days. We don't have time to have a game of sports or explore - it takes us hours to do our laundry, we have to cut each others hair and keeping things even a little bit clean in our apartment takes hours. So, our time is limited and if we have time left, we all want to be on the computer getting letters from home. I have grown to love the people in Dunkwa but the way of life here is not easy and leave little spare time. I won't miss that part of being here when I go somewhere else.
This week I just wanted to talk about sacrifice, this has been something that has been on my mind a lot lately. Sacrifice is one of the most difficult and complex things in the Gospel but it is not designed to be so. Sacrifice shows God you are willing to follow His every command. When we sacrifice our ten percent, our time, our energy, or countless other things we only receive more in return. I know this sounds stupid and in all common sense it doesn't make sense and that it why it is so important to test this principle. Sacrifice is an ultimate show of faith. As we willingly give what we have to assist others and raise them up, we ourselves are raised to a higher standing before God and before ourselves. The Savior was willing to give His life, that was a great show of faith. He had faith and eventually knew, that this would save us from our sins if we turned to Him. He even had faith that there would be countless imperfect individuals that would turn to him seeking forgiveness. He had faith so that we would follow Him and He performed His ultimate act of service for us. Our task is to now build our own faith in His actions. Stand tall when sacrifice is asked of you because you are only being asked to open yourselves and your hearts and then to be open to receive blessings, nothing more.
I have seen many instances throughout my life where sacrifice has been required and I have seen the blessings that come. An ironic part about being human is that we can never seem to see the blessings given to us as easily as others are able to view them on our behalf. Keep your eyes open, if you blink you won't see it but God's hand is in your life at every moment. Now it is not easy and I have not figured it all out yet but I feel His presence often and I am grateful for that. Just remember that even the loved ones around you are blessings, a smile on someone's face, a moment shared with family - all of these types of things are blessings. I love you all and know that as we all continue to sustain the Chosen Prophet of God we can be led to be a greater and stronger people; one that will hold under the weight of the world. Start lifting yourselves up through your sacrifice of time and energy given to the Kingdom of God and you will see the weight is a lot lighter then it seemed.
I love you, I love your letters, I need your prayers and I pray for you as well.
Elder Edison
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