a looong week

Well, this week was long! Therefore this weekly update will be laaame.

Monday we visited the Pulsiphers and had FHE with them. We read the parable of the 10 virgins and talked about the importance of spiritually preparing ourselves for when the Saviour will come. 

It's happening one day, people!

Later that night, we visited our investigator Hilde and the Chinese elders came and gave her a blessing for her back. It was neat to hear in her blessing how much her Heavenly Father loves her. Power to the priesthood!

hello from Gotham city!

We also have been visiting more families in the ward. I love those people. I really admire how these families and I'm grateful to see how none of them are perfect, but they do what they can to love like Christ and put Him at the center of their lives.

It's also funny to hear conversion stories of all these older members and how they turned down missionaries so many times! Haha seeds have to be planted before flowers can bloom! (I'm still sick so if that's cheesy and makes no sense, sorry).

Friday we have Zone Council! It was so great. Sister Jensen (another sister in the ward) and I were asked to demonstrate the role-play on how to use the pamphlets more effectively and simply. It was scary and fun! 

Afterwards, Sister Pettus felt sick and pulled out of the musical number last minute so guess who filled in for her?

yep. 

I sang Silent Night with Sister Jensen and two other elders and it was TERRIFYING. But I loved it. I love singing! I just needed a push to go up there! 

This week, we have met a lot with Mike! Haha we love Mike. He always prays that we will have dreams where we are flying over things or prays for our future husbands, he's a special one. 

We even went over to teach him and ended up showing him and his mom and sister the "He is the Gift" video. The spirit was so strong and my heart was just a pounding! I love the spirit and I love my Saviour. He loves us all so much.

How about that Christmas Devotional?! The music was beautiful, the words were uplifting, and the spirit was edifying. 

So yeah, everyone go watch it! And share the wonderful spirit of Christ with all those who mean something to you.

I love y'all!

the sketchiest of all elevators

hey lookey there. It's Dallas!

He is the Gift

I love being in Hamilton! I love being in a family ward! I love Sister Pettus! I love the Christmas season!

This past week was too good. (Except when I hit my HALFWAY mark...)

churchin

Monday we visited the friend of a member. She is old and German and ended up telling us about her childhood and started crying. I can testify that old German woman do not cry, but she did! We were then able to testify to her about the Atonement and about how much her Saviour and Heavenly Father love her and how the trials she endured have taught her how to be a good mother to her children. It made me grateful for my German grandmother who blessed my life with the love and guidance I needed as a child.

Tuesday we had a special zone conference with half the mission! It was AMAZING. The means of our vision is switching gears a little! We will be working A TON with members and I'm so excited about it. 

We also talked about the new He is the Gift initiative that the church is producing! It is AMAZING. 

DISCOVER

EMBRACE

#SHARE

I invite everyone to 

1) watch the video "He is the Gift" on christmas.mormon.org 

2) and then to think about how Jesus Christ is God's gift to you

3) and then share that with your friends and everyone else! Share it on your social networks, send it to a friend, invite a stranger to watch it. 

Let us flood the world with the gospel. Discover the gift, embrace the gift, then share the gift!

After the meeting, our mission President and His wife surprised us by showing us the movie, "Meet the Mormons"-- IT IS SO GOOD. EVERYONE GO WATCH IT AND JUST CRY YOUR EYES OUT WITH TEARS OF HAPPINESS.

yum.

So this week we visited a lot of members! I'm excited to get to know more. Yesterday in sacrament, I was invited by the Bishop to share my testimony and I bore testimony of the simple truths I know about the restored gospel and about our Heavenly Father's love for each of us. Good thing I did not specify where in Texas I was from because it gave some members a reason to come up and ask me, so I got to know lots of members that way!

One night we had dinner with the Pulsiphers. They are C E L E S T I A L. I love them dearly. It was truly one of the most spiritual experiences of my life. I left their home a different person. I am so grateful for them and for the spirit. A quote they shared with us was, 

"...the one power, even beyond sight, that can burn doubt out of us and make it, as it were, impossible for us to disbelieve—is the Holy ­Ghost."

I KNOW that this is true. This ^ is how our Heavenly Father communicates to us-- through the Holy Ghost.

Yesterday, Satan was suuuuch a stink! 

So there we were-- tracting (also, something I never have done in YSA, but it's so fun!). We saw a couple leaving one of the houses and so we approached them. The husband began asking us a little about who we were and about our main message and we shared a portion of the restoration and he immediately began telling us that what we believed was false doctrine. The woman whose home they were leaving said she even met with missionaries in the past and said she read from the Book of Mormon and prayed about it and felt she was SINNING (what?). The man went on further to tell us more about what we believed (I love when people do that!) and said that we do not believe in the same Jesus Christ as he does and that we are a cult and that he cannot even wish us luck on our missions because we are preaching false doctrine (as he pretends to shake our hands and then slowly and so proudly pulls away).

Man! I feel bad for them. I feel bad because Heavenly Father loves them so much and they don't even know how to return to live with Him.

This restored gospel of light and happiness and hope and TRUTH teaches us how to return to live with our Heavenly Father and everyone needs what we have. Think about who in your life is ready to receive the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and then invite them to partake of the sweet goodness we feel and value!

I love the gospel and my Saviour so much. 

He is coming again one day. 

Are we prepared?

xoxo

wimpy Christmas light we love! and AMERICAN flag

mormon.org everywhere you turn