Guess what day it is?
Monday! Yo Holla!
So, the temple was the
best EVER! Our entire Zone got to go to help us with our mission of
'shepherding God's children to the temple'. As you've probably figured out, my
mission is very stressful and crazy. As soon as I walked through the second set
of doors into that little, but beautiful temple I felt a huge wave of the
Spirit. It was almost like all my worries and problems were being physically
pulled out of me. It was the greatest experience of my life.
I am still
experiencing withdrawals. The temple is the greatest place on earth! Ah! I'm
going to go there at least twice a week when I return to 'real life', haha.
I heard about the
Seahawks! Gosh darn it! It's okay, we're on God's team. Go Hell-Shakers!
Thank you so much for
keeping the K family in your prayers! It just goes to show that Heavenly Father
will help us if we ask in faith and it's his will.
We had a lesson with
them last night. When V walked down the stairs he seemed like a happier person.
The priesthood blessing he received definitely helped him in some form. Whether
spiritually or physically we don't know, but he is seeing the difference. In
fact, when he was talking about how much he loved our support and care for his
family he started to tear up. Now, V is very quiet and shy so, seeing these
emotions in him was really touching. We had a lesson on faith and how it can
strengthen us. We read Moroni 7 with them and really focused on how miracles
never cease and asked them to share their experiences on miracles in their
lives. For some reason we felt prompted to talk about how Heavenly Father wants
us to live with our families forever and that he is able to make that happen.
When we asked K and V if that is something that thy would want, K began to cry.
We then invited them to be baptized so they can have that miracle in their
lives. They thought about it for a minute and then said yes. Ah! We're going to
help them prepare for March 14th as their baptismal date. V starts chemo therapy tomorrow and
will be doing that every week for three months. He was very nervous about being
physically able to be baptized in March, but we promised him that if he had
faith that Heavenly Father will strengthen him. And by golly gee whiz God helps
His children whenever they need Him.
Oh my flip! Sam, that
car was awesome! I about died laughing from seeing Josh and envisioning the
caption! "Punch me Guido!" Haha! You rock! How's the musical going,
Josh? How's life?
Daddy! Thank you for
the e-mail! I sent it to Sister Ward and she thinks you're the coolest guy
ever. I don't know why she thinks that ;) B is about 40 yeas old and is
recently divorced. He has one daughter who is about 16 or 15. He's been a
jailer for a really long time. Not sure how long, but I just know he's been
doing it for a while. A lot of the stories he shares he usually laughs with
Brother Button about since they work so closely together, but I can see the
stress from and anger that he has for these prisoners and people they bring in.
He really tries to control his emotions and stay calm when he deals angry
nutcases. We've talked to Brother Button on how to open up B and really the
only conclusion we came to was to help him feel safe around us. Thank you so
much for the advice! It is going to help us so much! Like, seriously, I loved
it. We are meeting with him on Thursday so that'll give Sister Ward and I
plenty of time to pray and ponder on what we should do. I love you!
D is doing great! She
is really moving forward toward her baptism. She is reading her Book of Mormon
everyday and even though she is having migraines she gets to church and she doesn't
feel them for the rest of the day. Satan is being a brat to her though and she
knows it. She prays every day for strength to make it. Her date and baptism
time are in the Relief Society newsletter and everyone's super excited for her.
Not so sure about J.
He might not be taking this seriously, but we're going to try again to have
another lesson with him. We stopped by the other day to see how his reading is
going and he said, "I'm in the very early stages." That means he
hasn't read it. So, we'll see how it goes from there,
Man, I wish I could
read more books, but I have no time to do much of anything, haha. There's this
really good book you should try. It's called Man's Meaning or something like
that. It's by a Jewish man who found happiness and purpose in life while he was
in a concentration camp. Brother Simpson says it's one of the greatest books
ever written.
I have no idea where
that dress is. Honestly, I though we packed it away...I can't think of anybody
hat might have borrowed it. Is Emilee going to wear it? Gah!
We went to a ranch as
a service project on Friday. It was really fun! It was me, Sister Ward, Hermana
Jensen, Hermana Wilkinson, Elder Gould, Elder Jensen, Elder Seymour, and Elder
Black. The Elders got to clean out the chicken poop from the empty coop and it
was a big coop. I do not envy them, haha. Chicken poop is the worst. The rest
of us got to muck the horse stalls and because Hermana Jensen and I have horse
experience we got to groom a Tennessee Walker named Sky. She was the calmest
horse, but she was always spooked by the barn cats who were running everywhere.
Sky was so muddy and dirty, that we worked on her for about an hour. It was a
highlight of my week. I'm just upset that we're not allowed to ride the horses.
Mission rules...meh, haha. Don't worry. I'm obedient. :)
I finally finished
getting your Christmas/birthday/Valentines presents! Gosh! (64.12) So, I have
Sam's and Josh's birthday presents in there, plus stuff for all y'all. Get
excited! Sending it today! By the way, I can't handle any more candy. I am
gaining weight out here. Like, a lot! I am nervous about fitting into my maroon
skirt it's that bad. I am able to fit into my jeans, but I really want to be
able to keep buttoning them. You know what I mean?
I tried this new
hairstyle. Everyone at church thought it was really cute. Made me feel good. :)
So, I have major
confidence issues. Well, I did. I'm working on it. I felt like my progression
to be a confident and great missionary was going so slow and that I wasn't
reaching a certain standard. I felt like Sister Ward was the best and if I
didn't teach like her then I wasn't getting better. Well, we kind of had a
little 'come to Jesus' talk. She told me how proud she was and that she was
sorry if I was stressed out because of her expectations. She told me that she
sees so much potential in me that she can see that I can hit that level every
time and that even the AP's took almost two years to become who they are now.
My mission is all about 'becoming' and not 'being'. In fact, my whole life is
going to be that way until I am who Heavenly Father knew I could become. She
then asked me if I would like a blessing from the Elders after church yesterday
and I said yes. I need all the help I can get.
Honestly, I wasn't
expecting anything great from that blessing, but when Elder Seymour and Elder
Black placed their hands on my head I had this familiar feeling. As Elder
Seymour started the blessing he emphasized that it was from my Heavenly Father
and I felt that overwhelming sense of peace that I had when I received my
patriarchal blessing. I managed to write down a summary of what was said:
-Heavenly Father is
proud of you and knows that this is the right choice even though it wasn't
easy. Diligently remember the sacred calling that you have. You have divine
potential and are here to work miracles. You have the greatest authority on
earth and have the power to summon angels. You will be bold and have
confidence. You'll be able to leave feelings of home behind. As you study your
scriptures and pray more earnestly you'll see the great strength that you
have.-
I feel great and am so
grateful that those young men were so worthy to have that priesthood power. I
feel calm and ready to preach the gospel. I know it won't happen all at once,
but now I know that I am becoming. And I know that God is there to help me.
I love you all and am
so happy you're going to send me letters! Gah! I love mail. Here's the mail it
never fails! It makes me want to wag my tail! When it comes I wanna wail,
"MAIL TIME!"
Aww, I don't want to
stop typing, but I have no more fun stories...poo.
I love y'all so much
and miss you!
The Church is True,
the Book is Blue, and Jesus loves you!
Forever and ever and
ever and ever!
Raye FRANCE not FRENCH :)
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