04-25-2016

Helllooooooo

This week was a very cool week.

We had exchanges on Tuesday so I got to spend the day in Davis with
Sister Ngawhawu. Sister N is the bomb. She is from New Zealand and is
just cool. Like low key professional kick boxer in New Zealand kind of
cool haha she is the hardest worker I have met. We taught 9 lessons
talked to every person we saw and found a new investigator. It was so
inspiring to spend the day with her because it made me want to be a
better missionary. She is the only member in her family and was
baptized a little under 3 years ago. She has given up everything to be
on a missionary and I am so impressed with her. One of the coolest
things happened at one of our lessons. We were teaching an
investigator and a member came with us to the lesson. During the
lesson the investigators phone started ringing. Instead of stopping
the ringing she just let her ringtone go. It was a very unique ring
tone that sounded like a medley of songs played by harps. After the
ringtone ended, we looked over at the member and she was crying. She
was visibly upset and we wondered why. Through her tears she said "13
months ago my mom died and I have been missing her more than I can
describe. This week I have been just wishing I could hear her voice
again. What is amazing is that I have never heard anyone have that
ringtone before except for 1 person. And that one person was my
mother." The spirit was so strong. It's amazing how every day I see
how God answers our individual needs. He is aware of us. How crazy
that we happened to call this member to come with us and our
investigator had the same ringtone as her mother. God makes impossible
things possible.

Sister Waite was sick for most of the day on Thursday so I spent most
of the day on the phone haha hopefully by the end of the mission my
phone voice will be gone haha but we can only hope. It's amazing how
much I was still able to get done with the phone. Shows the power of
technology these days. We had dinner with this cute old couple in our
ward. They are some of my favorite people, they make me laugh all the
time. They sent us with so much cheese cake home I'm like Amigas we do
not need any more dessert haha

One of our investigators name is Raina and she has been through about
everything. She was in the system and was separated from her family.
It's been awesome to teach her because we are teaching her truths that
are changing the way she views her life. She has so much more hope for
a better tomorrow and that she can get through all things. One of the
things that wasn't so hot about Raina is that she didn't tell us that
her couch has bed bugs.... And I guess bed bugs really like
me.......... Mama Mia haha but it's okay

 you guys probably won't even believe me when I tell you this but it's
the truth haha we had to drive down to Santa Rosa on Saturday and I
don't know how it happened but before I knew it I was nominated as the
navigator. I know you are probably thinking that we didn't make it
there but wronggggg! Amazingly I got us to Santa Rosa and we didn't
get lost once, honestly I've never been more proud of myself

The coolest thing this week was that on Saturday we got to have a
mission conference with elder bednar who is one of the twelve
apostles. It was seriously the coolest thing ever. The spirit was so
strong and I felt such a strong confirmation that he was a man called
of God. The gospel is true. There was maybe a 110 people in the chapel
with elder bednar. We were sitting so close to him. it seemed so
unreal to be in person with an apostle and for him to not just speak
to us but speak with us. I felt a spirit that I can't describe. no
human mind can orchestrate what the spirit does. He talked about the
principle of strength through the lord. He said that he gospel of
Jesus Christ doesn't make our burdens easier, it's that they are eased
because we are made stronger. He talked about in the Book of Mormon
when nephi is bound by his brothers. It says in there that he prays
for the strength so he can break the bands and through the lords
strength he breaks them. It doesn't say in their that it caused him a
lot of pain but I can imagine that breaking bands will hurt. That's
just like our life, things will hurt, things will be hard but these
are things we wouldn't have been able to do without the savior. He
breaks through the bands and he is free. That's what we can do,!what
we can be through the savior.

Elder bednar told us a really cool story that I want to share with you guys.

He talked about that he was heading to another mission conference in a
city of over 20 million people in another country. In the mission
conference there was such a strong spirit there and as he looked out
he saw in the midst of happy missionaries, one girl who was plain old
grumpy. He wondered why and how she was so grumpy in such a place as
this mission conference. The mission conference ended and elder bednar
left to another meeting. Before he left he told the mission president
to tell that sister that if she came to the stake conference she was
speaking at the next day and sat in the chapel area and rose her hand,
he would call on her and answer her question. The next day he went to
the stake conference and it was packed full, so full in fact that they
out a row of chairs between the pulpit and the first seats. As he got
up to speak he saw that dead center of that added row, was the
missionary. Half way during his talk, the girl rose her hand and asked
her question, she said how do you know if it's the Holy Ghost? Elder
bednar said that he responded with a question he had never thought of
before, he said if it's telling you to do something that you don't
want to do. Then he went on and finished his talk. He left but a few
years later that girl came and saw him.

She told him that she was ready to go home that she wasn't just ready
to go home from her mission but that she was going to go home. She
didn't like the food, the language or the city and was just done. She
felt that she needed to stay but she didn't want to and was upset.
After the mission conference, she called her mission president and
said I need to be at elder bednar's stake conference I need to ask him
a question. I know it's not in my area but can I go. The mission
president had forgotten to call her and tell her what president bednar
had instructed her to do if she wanted her question to be answered.
When she got to the church, the chapel was full and there wasn't
anywhere to sit, but they set up a row of chairs and luckily she was
able to be one of he few to occupy them. she asked him her question,
and his response was exactly what she needed to hear. So she decided
to stay. The next day due to certain circumstances she was placed on
an exchange In another city. There she met an investigator who had
been to that same stake conference. The investigator told the two
sister missionaries that She didn't know if she was going to be
baptized because none of her family were supporting her but then a
young sister asked a question "how do you know if it's the Holy Ghost"
and his response was when it tells you to do something you don't want
to do.  So she decided that she was going to be baptized. The one
missionary then told the investigator that she was that sister that
asked that question. How amazing that one day later that Same
missionary is in that investigators home.

Someone might ask, was elder bednar sent by God all the way to that
mission conference for that 1 girl? And the answer to that question is
yes. God is a God that sends his servants out for 1. He knows us
individually. He loves us and he is the type of shepherd that leaves
the other 99 so he can bring back the one. I testify that Jesus is the
Christ and our redeemer.

Godspeed

Sister Thurgood