Pictures & A Requested Post by Bret.

Hey! Bret here, Elder Mortimer's sister.

Another week with not much time to write, but he's still happy with where he is. He ended a string of quick emails to me with the following:

"I have to email the president again... I know I suck at the weekly emails but I'd rather email you guys. Can you write a quick something for me and I'll give you quick highlights?

...I love you too. Just post the pictures I'll write next week you can write if you want I would like that actually i love you bert."

So, here I am (without the quick highlights, because I believe he forgot about that actually..).

And of course I feel inadequate. After emailing him and hearing about the work he’s doing, and seeing these photos of the place he’s doing it in – how could I not feel that way?

So often that word rings true when I think of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Inadequate.

Writing, I feel a bit more confident, because I have time to reflect upon each piece and to pray about the wording in order to appropriately convey the message and touch more hearts.

But speaking – I stutter, I slur, my mind goes so fast the thoughts run together and I’m afraid I don’t make much sense.

And when I get the prompting to speak up to someone, I often doubt I’m the best one for the job.

So often I imagine this scene: I ask God, “Are you sure you want me? Are you sure you don’t want So-and-So to say it? She knows so much more... she’s more eloquent.. But I’ll do it if you want me to. I promise I will. But there are better-suited souls that can do this much better than I can.”

But lately, every thought similar to the one above are shut down by a booming thought that enters my mind.

“Yes, I trust you. I trust YOU with this.”

OF COURSE there are people better-suited to express the deep beauties of the gospel and the scriptural references and every other thing I believe to be important that I feel I lack!

But God trusts me to share what I know, because what I know about the gospel has changed my life.

It has changed my eternity.

And if it has done that for me, it will do so for someone else.

And most of all, if God trusts me to share the gospel, I trust that He’ll help me find the words.

I know that Elder Mortimer, who is still brand new to Portuguese but nevertheless faithfully trying to do the very same thing I’m trying to do in my native tongue, can testify of that as well.

1 Nephi 3:7

“And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.”

I know God puts dandelions in my path because I love to kick them. I encounter old people who love to chat because He knows they make my day that much better. He provides me with solitude when I need to realize something I’m just not getting in the quick day-to-day pace. He gave me a family that is everything I needed.

I know that my Heavenly Father knows me – what I struggle with, what makes me happy, and everything in between. And the way He shows me He knows me also shows me He loves me.

The trials I face also prove His love, because they are perfectly tailored to challenge me in ways that require me to turn to Him.

Because that’s all He really wants – for us to turn to Him. So that we can return to Him – our Heavenly Father.

I want that more than anything. And I want you there, too.

I’m grateful for the opportunity to share my happiness and hope I get from the gospel on my brother’s blog today, and I hope I get to do it through spoken word soon. Because I know He’ll give me a hand.

-Bret, Elder Mortimer’s Sista.