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| These dogs kept following us as we were contacting |
Y'all might be wondering why this email is coming a day late. Yesterday we had the wonderful opportunity to gather together as missionaries and hear from some leaders of the church! Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles was scheduled to come and be one of the speakers, but he wasn't able to make it :( which is sad, but from hearing what their schedules are like I have gained a greater appreciation for the time and effort that the leaders of our church put into their callings to lead & serve the members of this church.
BUT! We were so blessed to hear from Elder Teixeira of the Presidency of the Seventy & Elder Ochoa (who also spoke to us in November when the Prophet came!). We gathered together as a WHOLE MISSION to hear them speak, which we have never gathered together as a whole mission for a meeting, so it was pretty special & powerful to all be gathered together. Elder Teixeira spoke for most of the time, and it basically was just like a coach pumping up his football players for the big game hahah :))) We have seen so many miracles in our mission as we have focused on becoming consecrated missionaries and seeking to find the prepared who are ready for the covenant of baptism. He gave us such a big boost to work even harder to reach our goals, by focusing on talking with EVERYONE we meet and finding joy in every part of the work. He invited us to "Rise Up" in the TSAM, to avoid becoming stagnant in our missionary work, and he even gave an additional invitation to the Spanish speaking missionaries to seek out the Spanish people, since they are a remnant of the Lamanite nation. So yeah, it all was something I needed to hear to encourage me to keep working hard!
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| Exchanges with Sister Fano! |
Missionary work is full of miracles, so here are some from this week :)
Last Monday night we were visiting with the Neal family on New Years Eve since it was Briley's 8th birthday and her dad just got baptized recently! So in the next few weeks he will get to baptize her :) As we were leaving, Brother Neal tells us "Hey Mario wants to get baptized!" (Background: Mario is dating one of the other Neal daughters, and he sat in on our most recent new member lesson with Brother Neal and their family). So we look at Mario and we're like "Really??" He says "Yeah I'm serious, I've been thinking about getting baptized!" Like where did this come from?!
We also had another member email us this morning whose on a mission saying that she thinks her dad is ready to take the discussions! He's come to church the past few weeks with his wife whose a member. And we also ran into another part member family the other night. The wife has taken some of the discussions on and off, but the sisters haven't really had contact for a while with them since the family was busy with holidays and with us transferring in as well as new sisters. We talked to the husband and he said that his kids were just talking about how they were hoping they were going to see the missionaries soon! The wife wasn't there when we first went by, but the husband told us to come back tonight to see the whole family!
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| Found Santa At Mamacitas! |
Another fun thing from the week, we went on exchanges! I got to go with Sister Fano to her area, which is actually the family ward of the main part of the YSA area that I first served in! It was so crazy to be back at some of the apartment complex's I would contact at all the time when I was in training :) We also got to help out at a wedding of 2 recent converts who got married to each other! They invited all the missionaries in the zone to help out to talk to all of their non member friends, so that was fun!
As I was sitting in the passing of the sacrament on Sunday, I was reading the verses Doctrine and Covenants 59:8-10
8 Thou shalt offer a sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in righteousness, even that of a broken heart and a contrite spirit.
9 And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day;
10 For verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High
Verse 9 really stuck out to me this time as I was pondering the meaning of taking the sacrament. To keep ourselves "more fully unspotted from the world", we take the sacrament each week! It is a reminder of our baptismal covenant, and helps us to focus on the Savior and His example throughout the next week. I'm so grateful for the sabbath day, for the time that we have to partake of the sacrament and focus our thoughts on Jesus Christ & His atoning sacrifice for us.
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| Car selfie of Sister Warr:))) |
