So little time.
I'm sorry that is the common theme of all these letters.
Let me start with a funny story.
We had a leadership training meeting and I was talking to an elder. This is how our conversation went.
Him- "I will never marry a returned sister missionary."
Me- "Oh really? And why is that?"
Him- "Because I don't want to be junior companion for the rest of my life!"
I didn't have the heart to tell him that, that would be the scenario whether she is an RM or not. Haha. That made me chuckle.
At that training, the APs called Elder Andelin up to the stage. They proceeded to go around and offer a chocolate chip cookie to everyone, and regardless of whether the person wanted the cookie or not, Elder Andelin had to do 3 push ups for them. There were over 80 people there. Needless to say, Elder Andelin was exhausted. At one point, his companion was able to go encourage him and help him. It was really hard to watch...in fact, I couldn't watch most of it. They related this to the Atonement and how much our Savior loves us. The price has been paid for each of us. Now it is up to us to accept it and then share it. It was really touching, that's fo shizzle.
We had stake conference this past weekend and Elder S. Gifford Nielsen of the 70 came and spoke. He is the one who gave the talk "Game Plan" at General Conference. He got us all pumped uo in Vegas about MISSIONARY WORK!!!!!!! It is so funny, because ever since then, members are much more willing to help out. We have gotten offers and calls/texts about when they are available to come out.
But he gave some amazing talks. Elizabeth was there and in one of his talks, he mentioned her favorite scripture-- Moroni 7:41. I talked to him afterwards and explained the situation. He was so excited. He said "The Lord is so merciful. And He was speaking to her. We don't know what He was saying, but He was speaking."
During the adult session, he played an epic video and then asked for people's inputs on how they felt about missionary work. I raised my hand and said, "It's game time!"
And he said, "Yea! It's game time exclamation point!" (Do you remember his talk in conference? His was all about the Exclamation Points!!!!)
PLEASE PEOPLE. Help your local missionaries out. If you do not, you are neglecting your responsibilities. Feeding is nice. But NOT ENOUGH. Go out with them!! Get the spirit of missionary work in your life. (When you do go out with them, let them do the teaching though. They are set apart to teach the gospel. And they are trying to teach it simply. Don't complicate stuff.)
Ok. I'm off my soapbox...for now. ;)
We also just had a really neat experience last evening. We were going to a referral and we saw these 5 little boys outside playing soccer. In my mind I thought- Go talk to the boys. So I yell "Hello" at them and they stop playing and all look at me really weird without saying anything. So then I say, "It's ok...you can say Hello back!" (Sometimes I still am sassy. Ok...let's be real. I pretty much always am. Hah) So then they start coming up to us and ask why we're going to that lady's house. They explained that she had giant dogs that could pretty much eat us. So then we play along and say, "Really?!?" And they get all excited and say, "Yea! And they can jump over the fence and attack you!" So we start talking to them and they are this little ragtag bunch of boys ranging in age from 7-13 years old. Some of them have had pretty tough lives. We pulled out our pamphlets and showed them the picture of Christ. We asked if they knew who that was. And they did. We testified that He loves them. I sat on the driveway and they proceeded to follow my lead and sat down. We started teaching them some more restored truths. There was one little boy in particular, Hansel, who was such a special spirit. You could tell he wanted to hear what we were teaching. He would shush the other boys when they got too rowdy and he intently listened the entire time. We taught them how to pray and Hansel offered a prayer. It was such a tender moment. We got their information- address's and some of their parent's numbers- and set up times to go back and visit. We don't know how their parents will react, but I am just so grateful for the experience and that we taught them how to pray.
It never ceases to amaze me how the Lord blesses us when we open our mouths. It can be scary. For instance, today at the store, I felt to talk to the man behind us in line. He is 84 years old and from Russia. His father had a ticket to board the Titanic in 1912, but for "some reason" he didn't board it. We started talking and he looked at me and said, "You're a Mormon, aren't you?" I replied, "Yes! Did you see my tag?" I looked down at my tag and realized my hair was covering it. He said "No, I didn't. I could just tell looking at you." So we proceed to have a conversation until we go outside to the parking lot. He was a kind gentleman, but he was really confused. His thinking wasn't very logical, yet he professed to believe in logic. I tried the love analogy again (pretty dangerous, considering how it went last time) but it worked on him. I said, "You say you love your kids. But I can't see that love, therefore, by your logic, it doesn't exist." He said, "Yea, but I.." I interrupt him, already knowing where he is going. "You show your love to them. You buy them things, you hug them, you take them places...these are all manifestations of your love. But it is not the actual "love" itself. Love is intangible. I can't hold it in my hands or see the actual love. You only feel it in here (point to heart). That is how it is with faith. You can't hold my faith. You can see the manifestations of faith, because faith causes us to act. But faith is a feeling." He paused and thought for a second. Then said, "You have a point. You got me there." But he kept trying to give us anti-literature. I declined and he said, "I know why you won't take it. It's because you're scared." I said, "No. I'm not scared. I know what I believe...." We then bore our testimonies, thanked him for his time, and then left. I don't know if he'll ever listen in this life. But I am grateful that I had the courage to speak with him. If anything, it strengthened my faith and for that I'm grateful.
Life is so good.
Share some happiness.
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| Typical cousin pic |
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| Happy 9 months- Did I not tell you I was gestating? Haha |
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