Letter #6 *~MTC~* February 22, 2011

Hi Family!!

I was really sad to learn last week that you had to put my beautiful puppy Cedar down. It was hard to hear, but I'm really glad you told me! She had a good life and will NEVER be forgotten! I want to include my tribute to her!!

Dearest Cedar!

You have been my best friend for basically my whole life! And a total part of the family! I will never forget that Christmas in first grade when I asked Santa for a dog and he responded that if it was alright with my parents ;) I could have you! Our lifelong friendship had only just begun that Christmas! I loved to frolic in the snow with you, play frisbee and ball, and run with you! You were the most patient and loving dog that a girl could ever want and I'm going to miss you terribly! Thank you for putting up with me as we learned, loved, ran, and laughed/barked together! Don't forget how I taught you to jump off the dock to go and fectch your frisbee from the lake, because we're going to play this game again in Heaven one day! I will always remember your smile, bark, sing, and playful growl! I can hear them now as I write this! I miss you Baby Sil! Those puppy dog eyes and your ability to jump around and make us all laugh will always be in my heart, and your face is forever remain in my eyes and in my heart! I love you puppy! Make sure and give little Avery a big lick and tail wag for us all!!
Love your forever friend!
Ariel

I hope that you are all doing ok! She had a good life, and I wish that we could have a little more time with her, but the time that we had was heaven sent and I will always be SO grateful for that!! I love my puppy!

Anyway... Sorry... I need to get back on track before I really start crying in the computer lab with all these missionaries!! Side note: Siostra Mann leaves for Poland next monday!!! The other week as I was watching a fireside given by Elder Holland, he mentioned something that I didn't quite understand. He said that as we teach the gospel we need to make it personal and our own, so that we are literally teaching "our" gospel, of course not to take away from the fact that it is the Lord's gospel, but that we need to make it personal! I understood the concept, but as I read the talk that you gave me from Elder McConkie mom, it made even more sense. Elder McConkie talked about how the words that he would speak that day would be his own. But the words he would speak would be from other prophets and general authorities, but they would be his own becasue h e had gained a personal witness fromt the Holy Ghost that they were true, so it was like they were his own words. I think that that is what Elder Holland meant. As we gain a testimony of teh doctrines of the Gospel, through the Holy Ghost, they will become personal and we will teach the gospel in our own words and "Preach MY Gospel" becasue we have made it personally ours. I hope that that makes sense, but it was really neat to learn these things. We need to make these things personal and know them for ourselves because we cannot teach our investigators past our own conversion!

The other day we were reading the introduction in the Book of Mormon. When we read the paragraph that says that "We invite all men everywhere to read teh Book of Mormon, to ponder in their heaerts the message it contains, and then to ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ if the book is true. THose who pursue this course and ask in faith will gain a testimony of its trugh and divinity by the power of the Holy Ghost." we talked about how this is inviting EVERYONE! Not only those who don't have a testimony or know that it's ture, but everyone! Those of us who already know it's true have such a great opportunity to continue to read, ponder, and pray about it's truthfulness and gain an even stronger witness of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is the proof that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. It is the "fruit" by which Matthew says that we can know if they are false or not! What a great blessing to be continually learning and growing and reading and pondering to gain more and more knowledge!

Just really quickly I was reading Helamon 5:6 today and thinking about the name that we covenant to take upon us when we are baptized! And in Mosiah 5:12 that we must retain this name in our hearts. I was thinking about how we need to literally look to that and remember that our actions need to reflect this name that we have taken upon us!! And as a missionary I feel SO blessed to have this name always over my heart, literally written and worn almost 24/7 on my nametag! I hope that my actions and the things that I do will reflect that I have taken the Lord's name upon me and that I do retain and remember it and have it written in my heart!! I love you all!! Keep in touch!

love,
cectpa Cunningham!!!