What is happiness? How can people be happy when there is a revolution outside their door!
I'll tell you how. You build a blanket fort.
THAT'S WHAT ME AND SISTER NIELSEN DID.
Our lives have been a little different since the whole revolution outbreak. We have spent a few days in the house on lockdown taking all the precautions necessary to stay safe and living missionaries. So don't worry. Be happy :)
I have been thinking a lot about "happiness" actually for a really long time...
I was asked to give the thought in district meeting about how through small and simple means I have found happiness in my life.
find... or enjoy... reap happiness ..... ???????????????/
first and lasting impression that I had was.. ATTITUDE.
I think of the happiest people I have ever known and they are the most grateful. It is completely irrelevant the status of their surrounding lives. It is honing in on what really matters.
It matters not what income they maintain.
How many children they have.
How much education.
How good of a cook their mom was.
If they have never been to a concentration camp,
Whether they have a sweet scoot scoot.
If they can afford to have a big bowl of Greek yogart every morning.
OR if they live off BEANS
for a truly grateful person is inevitably a happy one. A life filled with gratitude is a life filled with contentment and satisfaction.
"gratitude enables appreciation"
"A grateful person is rich in contentment; an ungrateful person suffers in poverty and endless discontentment"
I am so grateful to have come from a family where I could be grateful for the little things. That I learned to treasure the little moments life has to offer. That is why I am happy! Eating cotton candy to indulge the little child in me (MOM you have got it all figured out!) laughing over the dumbest things. Soaking in the sunset. Letting every moment be "a moment"
I want my family to know how much I love them. I don't even know who actually reads this... but I have seriously grown such a great appreciation for the so imperfect (sometimes hostile) family I come from. We're not your dream come true 'little house on the prairie' number but I have always known that I am loved. That I have a family that no matter how ignorant and contemptious we are towards one another that SOMEONE has ALWAYS got my back. I have got the sweetest sister that ever lived. I have brothers that I know would do anything for me. Would die for me.
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends"
John 15:13
Obviously this scripture is about Christ. This is not even where I intended this letter to go... but here it is. I am grateful for brothers who can hold a candle to Jesus Christ. I know that they would die for me... like he did. I am so grateful for my savior. I have been reading Jesus the Christ and it just makes everything so real. That all of this Gospel business just seems to come together for me as I seek and study! I am grateful for my brain and the ability to learn
I am grateful to be here. To have a chance to go into the homes of families and really see what makes all the difference. That those little primary answers (reading your scriptures, saying your prayers) surely have a lot more significance than I ever realized. I have never loved reading the scriptures more in my life. It is incredible to me the capacities that are opened when you really try to do these things for the right reason!
No super miracles this week. Nothing real fancy to talk about EXCEPT we built a fort in our living room. A big one. It then became our sanctuary from the revolution outside and for the best scripture studies I have ever had! I cannot describe to you HOW HAPPY THIS FORT MADE ME.
This is happiness I am telling you.
"Happy people don't have the best of everything; they make the best of everything they have."
"gratitude fosters happiness making it easier to cope with stress and trauma."
I truly believe with a positive perspective all that is just unfair, ridiculous, painful, GROSS. These things can all be made right with a positive perspective. There is almost always someone who has it worse than you do, and very likely that they have found ways to be happier.
Isn't it strange that those who have often suffered greatly are the ones that come out noticeably strong and happy?
Denny Hancock is my new idol. Mormon Messages are our guilty pleasure.
http://mormon.org/denny
WATCH THIS
I am grateful for all of your prayers. I know that I am safe, You should know it too!
Sister Powell I'll tell you how. You build a blanket fort.
THAT'S WHAT ME AND SISTER NIELSEN DID.
Our lives have been a little different since the whole revolution outbreak. We have spent a few days in the house on lockdown taking all the precautions necessary to stay safe and living missionaries. So don't worry. Be happy :)
I have been thinking a lot about "happiness" actually for a really long time...
I was asked to give the thought in district meeting about how through small and simple means I have found happiness in my life.
find... or enjoy... reap happiness ..... ???????????????/
first and lasting impression that I had was.. ATTITUDE.
I think of the happiest people I have ever known and they are the most grateful. It is completely irrelevant the status of their surrounding lives. It is honing in on what really matters.
It matters not what income they maintain.
How many children they have.
How much education.
How good of a cook their mom was.
If they have never been to a concentration camp,
Whether they have a sweet scoot scoot.
If they can afford to have a big bowl of Greek yogart every morning.
OR if they live off BEANS
for a truly grateful person is inevitably a happy one. A life filled with gratitude is a life filled with contentment and satisfaction.
"gratitude enables appreciation"
"A grateful person is rich in contentment; an ungrateful person suffers in poverty and endless discontentment"
I am so grateful to have come from a family where I could be grateful for the little things. That I learned to treasure the little moments life has to offer. That is why I am happy! Eating cotton candy to indulge the little child in me (MOM you have got it all figured out!) laughing over the dumbest things. Soaking in the sunset. Letting every moment be "a moment"
I want my family to know how much I love them. I don't even know who actually reads this... but I have seriously grown such a great appreciation for the so imperfect (sometimes hostile) family I come from. We're not your dream come true 'little house on the prairie' number but I have always known that I am loved. That I have a family that no matter how ignorant and contemptious we are towards one another that SOMEONE has ALWAYS got my back. I have got the sweetest sister that ever lived. I have brothers that I know would do anything for me. Would die for me.
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends"
John 15:13
Obviously this scripture is about Christ. This is not even where I intended this letter to go... but here it is. I am grateful for brothers who can hold a candle to Jesus Christ. I know that they would die for me... like he did. I am so grateful for my savior. I have been reading Jesus the Christ and it just makes everything so real. That all of this Gospel business just seems to come together for me as I seek and study! I am grateful for my brain and the ability to learn
I am grateful to be here. To have a chance to go into the homes of families and really see what makes all the difference. That those little primary answers (reading your scriptures, saying your prayers) surely have a lot more significance than I ever realized. I have never loved reading the scriptures more in my life. It is incredible to me the capacities that are opened when you really try to do these things for the right reason!
No super miracles this week. Nothing real fancy to talk about EXCEPT we built a fort in our living room. A big one. It then became our sanctuary from the revolution outside and for the best scripture studies I have ever had! I cannot describe to you HOW HAPPY THIS FORT MADE ME.
This is happiness I am telling you.
"Happy people don't have the best of everything; they make the best of everything they have."
"gratitude fosters happiness making it easier to cope with stress and trauma."
I truly believe with a positive perspective all that is just unfair, ridiculous, painful, GROSS. These things can all be made right with a positive perspective. There is almost always someone who has it worse than you do, and very likely that they have found ways to be happier.
Isn't it strange that those who have often suffered greatly are the ones that come out noticeably strong and happy?
Denny Hancock is my new idol. Mormon Messages are our guilty pleasure.
http://mormon.org/denny
WATCH THIS
I am grateful for all of your prayers. I know that I am safe, You should know it too!
Ps. I am in the market for 22 things happy people do differently if anyone has access to that! It is good stuff.
Sister Powell, you truly inspire me!! You guys are in our daily prayers for your safety! Today We became Elder and Sister Breitenstein and enter the MTC tomorrow. Thank you for your emails. I love reading them. Love you!!
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