The Gwilliam Fam: "Unforgivingly Myself"

I sure LOVE talking to my girl every Monday. She is a ray of sunshine. I love the opportunity she has to serve a mission. It is a life changing experience. I'm also proud of her for making the sacrifice for 18 months and happy for those she gets to teach.

Here is her letter from this week. (March 15, 2021)

Hello everyone! Hope your weeks were amazing!

This past week was actually really good. I finally feel like I have a *small* idea of what I am doing. The transition to 4 new congregations has been an adventure for sure!!

The people here are amazing. Everyone is so kind! And also hilarious😂 The other day we went to a congregation member's house to pick up dinner, and their 16 year old daughter answered the door. The next 30 minutes me and Sister Maycock said maybe 10 words combined. I've never seen anyone with more personality. It was AMAZING. She went from talking about missionary work, to pigeons being fake, to Japanese anime without taking a single second to breathe in between. At various points in the conversation she would set down her phone so she could throw her hands and head back for dramatic effect. Trying to follow her train of thought was almost like a mental workout😂 I think at one point she must've seen the intense confusion in our faces as we tried to figure out what she was talking about. She stopped for a second and said

"I'm sorry, I'm what I like to call *dramatic pause* unforgivingly myself."

1.2 seconds later she was on to a new topic😆, but that phrase stuck with me. "Unforgivingly myself."

I've decided that's going to be my new life motto. I think that's what I've really enjoyed about Star so far - everyone I've met is "unforgivingly" themselves. No matter how "out there" their hobbies are, they do them and they share them without holding back. It makes it such a cool place to serve already, because these people also don't hold back when it comes to their belief in God and in their Savior. And their friends are listening!

I love this phrase even more, because when you think about it, the Savior was "unforgivingly Himself" as well. Throughout most of His ministry, He was not popular. In fact, some people hated His ideals so much that they eventually crucified Him. But even with all of the judgement, He said what He had to say anyway.

He never held back. He talked to sinners and He threw merchants out of temples and He healed on the Sabbath, even when everyone around Him told Him He shouldn't.

The more I think about it, the more I want to apply that to my own life. For so long, I held back part of who I was because I thought I'd be judged. Over the years I've opened up in a lot of different ways, but I still want to do a little more. I want to be "Unforgivingly myself" for Him

And that's my invitation to you all as well this week. Be open about your beliefs! Talk about the Savior. Be open and unashamed. People respect confidence, and whether they agree with your values or not, I think you'll be surprised by how much they'll respect you for sharing them.

I know this is a long one, but I wanted to share one more special experience from this week.

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Temples are very important to us. We see them as houses of God where we can learn more about Him and learn to become more like Him.

Because of COVID, I've only been able to attend one time, and it's made me sad because I can't remember a lot of things I learned. A month or so ago, me and my last companion realized we had been sad that we can't go to the Temple, but we haven't been doing anything about it! After talking one night we decided we'd use every prayer to ask Heavenly Father to open temples again so we can attend.

I was sharing that experience with some Elders in the zone, and I didn't think much of it, but then the next day we got a call from those same Elders. They said that someone in their ward is going to the Temple for the first time, and she felt prompted to invite 2 sister missionaries to join. They said after hearing my experience they felt that me and Sister Maycock should be the ones to go!!

Although Temples aren't open yet, I know Heavenly Father has heard my prayers! I will be attending next Saturday and I am so excited to come even closer to the Savior there.

I love you all!

-Sister Gwilliam

Pictures:

- Recreation photos》 who did it best?