Week 14

Things have been pretty slow when it comes to missionary work this week. We officially got put on quarantine by the church yesterday.

 General conference was amazing. I really liked the focus on the importance of the Book of Mormon and of Joseph Smith and when his prayer was answered. That this is the church that Jesus Christ established when he was on the earth and that it has been restored. That was probably the highlight of my week so far. 

Also the prophet of our church has invited everyone to fast this Friday. Even people who aren't of our faith are invited to join in this fast of not eating for 24 hours accompanied by a prayer for all of those who are being affected by the corona virus. 

This week I just want to say that I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for us in every part of our lives. Over the last couple years I've really seen this especially in the times that have been the hardest for me. In times like that I've realized that I've learned lessons that I couldn't have learned otherwise. 

The best way I can explain this is using my pole vault experiences, so be prepared for a lot of pole vault or sports analogies over the next 20 months, lol but back to the point . 

If I had never been challenged by going on bigger poles and running from farther back on the runway

-I would've never gotten injured, 

-I would've never had back the back problems that I did,

-I would've never fallen back into the box

-or had the gut wrenching fear of being rejected by a pole and falling from 15 feet in the air back to the ground.

BUT, If I never challenged myself

-I would've never broken the records that I did

-I would've never made it to state,

-I would've  been able to help push my teammates

-I would've never learned to push things that challenge my state of mind. 

If we look at Heavenly Father as our coach in life then we start to see that he's not giving us bigger poles and making us run faster to punish us. He wants us to be able to push ourselves and trust him  through the times when we think that the trial in front of us is too hard. He knows our limits and He knows what we can handle but we have to trust that He knows what He's doing. Especially in times like these Heavenly Father is giving us a big pole right now with this virus and if He's telling us to take it and jump then we know that He knows we can handle this.

That's all I have for this week.

Please water my plant mom,

Elder Ethan Amata 

1) sorry I don't have more pictures for this week but this is how we watched general conference because we weren't allowed to go to members houses to watch it. 

2) I made a mask out of a scarf and a shoelace so that we could go get groceries today