Elder Dustin Carr

Changing

I have seen some change in myself - it's probably more prevalent from others' points of view - and I am happy with it.  I have become more serious in many ways, and sometimes it bugs me to think that I might be losing my humorous side, but really, I think I'm just going through a different phase of change where my humor is turning from light-mindedness to light-heartedness  (something President Wilkey has taught us so much about).  I am grateful for change - it's the only way we grow!  Change requires leaving your comfort zone, but that is the only way that the Comforter can enter in to lift and shape you into who our Heavenly Father wants us to be.  I think my favorite thing about change is how it fits so well into His Plan - if we didn't need to change, we wouldn't be here! but we didn't have a body as God does, so that needed to change; we aren't perfect like Christ, so that also needs to change until we come become like him; and the whole point of the Atonement was so that we could repent, or CHANGE - that through his sacrifice we can break free from the chains that bind us to being a "natural man", we can be refined and tested to become someone who reflects His countenance.
 
I love all of the things I am learning on my mission too, and I have changed the way I write my journal now too; instead of just keeping a record of the things I did, I am recording all the significant things I learn, the miracles I witness, and now, the changes I notice in myself.  I know that the things I am learning, and the work I am doing now, are a beautiful part of the great plan my Heavenly Father has for me - to someday become someone like Him, worthy to live with Him, and in whom He can see His own countenance.
 
With love, Elder Dustin Carr