Week 8 Give the people what they want!

Give the people what they want!!! I will not shorten my emails, I was told the extra commentary was necessary

This week's email is pretty boring I had no time to write! I made up for it at the end

Tuesday- 

Fantabulous day. Started off with no show lessons such a bummer but progressed to spicy lunch making sis Hoyt red and teary. Some good 3 hour service remodeling a house. Dad has taught me well, I'm the best little helper. Sis Erickson is a lot more handy. She's a builder and a fixer. I'm an assistant. We did some visits and they were busy but allowed us to set up a time to come back. We had an online referral and we are meeting this guy to do a church tour!!! After that followed some knocking. First house was the most elect soul. Has never heard of us but invited us in right away. He thought it was a little weird but was down to listen. He has 800 crystals, fossils, and rocks. I'm talking about thousands of dollars worth of crystals. He showed us his ginormous collection. Poor man kneeled for the prayer and we came to find out he has a breathing condition and that was really hard for him, felt so bad. We had an amazing lesson on the restoration spirit was flooding the room. Then a river poured in when we recited the first vision. The first vision is so powerful. I know he felt it. I forgot to mention when we went to kneel for the prayer I looked over and there was a gun in between us and him. He goes oh don't mind that I'll cover it and he grabs a tissue box lol. He said the world is scary. I was like okay so this could be dangerous but I feel completely calm so proceed. Anyways, an amazing man who said we could come back and he tried to send us off with a rock. Did I want to say yes… soo badly but I couldn't possibly take one but I said I'll bring one of my wrapped rock necklaces next time. He also tried to pay us for the Book of Mormon. Next door we knock on they let us in and they're like we don't know about your church what else are you called and I was about to say Christians when my comp says mormons. They go OHH we don't like them. Please leave. So sad but next door elect. The man says to come in and he just had a heart attack and came back from the hospital an hour ago and proceeds to tell us he has two ruptured balls. Totally casual conversation. We chat for a Lil then end with a kneeling prayer and he's like wow I already feel better. I'm like yeah that's the holy ghost and power of Jesus Christ. Anywho we chatted about coming back exchanged numbers and was off. An excellent end to our day. 

Wednesday- 

Today was real good. We had an amazing spirit led district council. Afterwards we got lunch together as a district. We had an awful service experience. The house we were at was scary and unsafe. The ex husband whos soon to be the rehusband was over and told stories of the times he almost killed his soon to be wife who is his ex wife. How he attacked cops and broke through glass at a psych ward and took down some guards. The spirit was gone. I was trying to leave multiple times and my comp was not taking the hint till I finally said we have another appointment to get to. I felt off for about 2 hours after that. It was just an awful feeling being in that house. We then had a great lesson with Keith and his twin brother. 

Thursday-

I've been so busy and have not had any time to write about my days. Thursday was training visits again. I went to shaker with Sister Williams. We did sooo much. I OYM (opened my mouth referring to speaking to everyone)so hard. 5 people accepted a lesson and one asked for a Book of Mormon andddd three are coming to church andddd one spent the last 24 years in prison for murder. I offered to help her carry her groceries to her apartment. Sis W loved that idea so we walked in the sketchy part of Cleveland with her and heard her whole story. She cried so much and couldn't believe we would be so nice. We told her we were heading in the same direction and it wasn't out of our way, when we went to head back she was like wait where are you going. She is coming to church!!!!On our way back we got cat called and told by so many people not to be out on the street because it wasn't safe and there was just a shooting the other day. Sis W had her pepper spray and I'm mean looking so I had no concerns. I taught my first full restoration lesson. I did it all by myself and said the first vision. I cried, Sister Williams cried, the lady we taught cried. The spirit was insane. The first vision is so powerful and I have no doubt that Joseph Smith truly did see God and Jesus Christ. I know he restored the gospel of Jesus Christ and that this is the only true church, Christ's church. I shared all the spiritual thoughts with the members and our friends. I was thrown in the fire today. Sis W really said teach everything!!!! 

Friday- 

I did the gentle throw down to Doug about baptism. We said a prayer with him and he asked if this was his next step. Busy day with a lot of time for me to do some deep studying. My comp has a private scheduled appointment now and during that time I go ham on personal study. We visited this older lady living alone in her own house but it's all one big facility? It's confusing but it's a huge community of assisted living homes and facilities. Anywho the point is none of her family comes to see her, only people from the church come. Soooo I ended up spending over an hour there when it was supposed to be a 15 minute stop by. Older people are my little heaven here and it was a small piece of back home life. This sweet lady needed a visit and I knew Christ would have spent that time to make sure she felt loved and supported. Did we miss an appointment? Yes but I knew we needed to stay with her. It made me think of all the angels back at the beehive home in Perry. Anywho we did some amazing weekly planning to finish the day off and we have big goals this week. 

Saturday- 

Stake conference was amazing and Doug came and guess what he's on date for baptism!!!! My comp was silent as could be so I sternly called out the spirit and told Doug the messages shared tonight and the spirit you felt is an answer to your prayer. He agreed and said he was ready. I gave him the supportive talk about being willing to follow commandments and the blessings that will come if he does so. We were able to have Elder Kearon from the seventies come and speak at stake conference. He has the coolest accent and the message he shared was so lovely. The focus of the night was all about lightning our load and letting go of sins to gain speed/acceleration/ velocity to the light, our Savior and Heavenly Father. We constantly have two forces pulling at us, Satan has a stronger pull at first because he is loud and sneaky whereas Christ's pull on us is gentle and we have to seek for it. We also went back to the idea that faith has a short shelf life and we have to keep replacing it/adding to it. I particularly loved the messages about hope and knowing that God loves us no matter what and is always patiently waiting for you to turn to him. Also the missionaries sung for stake conference which was pretty cool. This older lady has a dog named Trouble who we visited. He is soooo cute and sat on my lap like a kid and snuggled his head into my neck and hair. Cutest dog I've ever seen. 

Sunday- 

Part 2 of stake conference was great. Elder Kearon spoke again and it was lovely. He spoke a lot about how treasured and cherished we all are by God, he loves each of us. He shared this analogy of monkeys sticking their hand through a hole in a gourd to get to a banana but once they grab the banana they can't pull their hand back out. All they have to do is let go of the banana but they won't so they end up being captured. We are like those monkeys holding onto our bananas (could be habits, behaviors, consumption, words, actions, self talk, etc anything distracting us from God and progressing on the coventant path) all we have to do to be set free and move on is to let go of our bananas. We need to identify our bananas and put them aside, let go of them and be free. 

Today I was thinking of why we're often told to become like little children. What does that really mean so I made a list of what I notice in children 

They're submissive

They're so eager and willing to learn 

They listen

They're so quick to love and to forgive 

Clearly there are more things to state but to keep it simple and short here are my thoughts on what God is asking us to become 

Submissive to his council, commandments, and will. Follow his will and his plan he has made for him 

Seek after truth! Keep learning of Chirst and be eager to submerge oursleves in his teachings 

Be listeners of others, of prophets, of the Holy ghost. A skill I need to practice more 

Be quick to accept others for who they are and love them without judgment. Choose to forgive immediately and move past. 

There are lots more im sure we could all come up with but these simple truths are so vital to our convertion and salavation 

Other thoughts I'm jotting down so quickly: 

Opposition makes us grow. I can't think of a single trial, bad day, bad experiences that didn't cause me to grow. As hard as it is, if we try to focus on the growth during hard times they will become easier to go through. If you know your purpose it's easier to press forward. Our ability to endure these trials will allow us to learn to love more, have compassion, understand, and build up tolerance and faith. 

We are often tested and tried to see where we turn to. Do we jump to the lord in times of difficulty? If no, why not? Our Savior knows us perfectly and provides the strength we need to overcome bad days, bad months, bad experiences. It's so silly to go through them alone or to just have a bad attitude about it. This life is filled with so much joy and it's also filled with so much heartache. The Savior felt it all and only through him is it made fair. When life seems cruel, unfair, and not worth it we need to turn to the lord. Hand our troubles over to him and allow him to carry the weight. 

Not all will be made fair in this life, actually most things won't be made fair in this life but they will in the next. We need to bear with our afflictions for a moment * and yes this moment may feel like a dragging 10 years, 30 years, maybe even 50 years* and know that a perfect painless eternity can await us if we do our best. 

Best advice I can give my dear friends and family that are reading this. God answers our prayers through the scriptures, open up his words and let him answer your prayers. Not all answers will come in this life but many will. God's council, advice, promises, blessings, etc can all be found in the Book of Mormon and Bible. Open it up and read, allow the holy ghost to direct you to what you need. 

The one that loved all, served all, helped all, uplifted all, was hated. Christ being all that he was, he was persecuted, hung on a cross, and killed. John 15: 16-20. Being a disciple of Christ doesn't mean you'll be popular and loved. You will be faced with hate, opposition, conflict but the perfect Savior as well faced these things. He walks with us as we strive to follow his example. We can abide with Christ and allow him to abide with us, but this takes faith, action, and trust. 

I did a LOT of studying on covenants and obedience. Here's some super quick thoughts. Covenants are POWER. They bind us to God and allow us to think celestial, both bring about power. Because covenants make us think celestial, they automatically bring us joy and peace. Covenants should be treasured! 

I failed on this email. I apologize it's not very detailed like normal. I was a busy busy missionary who got too tired to write at night. Most nights I came home at 8 skipped dinner and hurried to bed.