Thanks
for all of the emails and letters and everything and just ongoing support. I
love getting the pictures you guys send too! Looks like everyone is having fun
and it makes me happy that even though we're all split up now that you guys
still get to see eachother pretty often
Well,
things are goinnnn here in Mesa. WASN'T CONFERENCE GREAT?! It was great. I got
to see the first three sessions in our stake center, and then the last session
I saw in the visitors center. I didn't get to catch all of that one because we
still had visitors coming in, so I missed the one about missionaries, but I'll
have to watch it soon. But I loved it all, it was just such a reaffirmation to
me that everyone needs this gospel and that we really are led by a living
prophet who is inspired! Well, and also...sidenote...PROVO TABERNACLE! I
totally freaked out when I heard that, I wonder if people in Provo are going
crazy...I was pretty shocked. Anyways, that'll be pretty awesome. But yeah, so
I loved every message, and I thought a couple times about how you were all
taking each of the messages (i.e. the one about having kids hahaha :)). Or also
just the one about being a good father to your daughters (cough cough...Eric)
and that talk also made me just want to express to you all how grateful I am
that the Priesthood has played such an important role in my life! Thank you for
being worthy holders of the priesthood and exercising it to bless the lives of
others so much. For instance, Dad, I thought about the blessing that you gave
me before my mission, and just how I remember specifically feeling the Spirit
really strongly during that blessing, so, thank you :)
Anyways,
so there was a lot that I got out of conference, but I'll give the highlights.
I loved how it talked a lot about the Book of Mormon and the scriptures, and
for me I just want to make sure that every day I am FEASTING on the Book of
Mormon. I've definitely seen how when you read it and truly study it you just
get a sense of conviction that it really contains the fullness of the Gospel,
that it is the most correct book, as Joseph Smith said. And I really believe that
having that sense of conviction will make my teaching and testifying more
powerful. I just saw after conference that I was just that much more sure of
the testimony that I was sharing, there was more of a sense of urgency and true
conviction in the message I was sharing.
I also
enjoyed the talk by Elder Hales on waiting upon the Lord, and the talk on
managin time by Elder Ian S Arden. There were so many things I liked just about
all of conference...it reminded me that perfect love casteth out fear, to not
let my bad habits become my master, that whom the Lord loveth, he correcteth,
all of that. I think overall I just really appreciated all the testimonies that
God loves us and is mindful of us. That's something that I want to continue to
learn and remember...that God loves all of us perfectly, He is always there.
Oh, I also thought that Elder Bednar's talk on youth doing family history work
was really cool...it felt very prophetic, no? So yes, all in all, I hope you
enjoyed conference and each got the personal message that you needed.
So
things are goin gooood in the missionary work. This past week I saw lots of
mini miracles in the VC. THe end of the month was nearing so I was working
extra hard to make sure that I met all of my goals, and it's cool to see how
the Lord always provides a way. This was one of the coolest...so, last Friday
was September 30th, and we were workign in the VC and I was trying to make
calls to try to confirm some, but wasn't having any luck...but I was like
"Oh, it's okay, tomorrow's September 31st, I still have one more
day." And then, right when our shift ended, Sister Tejada reminded me that
there is no september 31st! Ahhh! I wasn't going to meet my goal! So, it
was 3 pm, our shift had ended, and she went to enter a name in the computer
really quick. So I was like, ok, i have 2 minutes, what the heck. So I made 2
phone calls, the first one didn't answer and the 2nd one did, it was this man
that I've talked to a bunch before, but he's always at work and can't talk. So
he tells me he's at work, next to a mormon coworker of his. And so I'm like
"okkk well i guess i'll call you after work" and he was like
"yeah call me after 5". Then he says "wait...my coworker says
you can come to my lunchbreak and teach me then or something." and I said
"well, I can't, but I know some missionaries who can!" and then he
quickly gave me his address, then had to get back to work. So, in a matter of
like 1.5 minutes, I had confirmed! It was just really cool, if you just go even
the tiniest extra mile, the Lord provides. Its funny to tell you guys all of
these mini VC miracles, because they probably do seem really small, but
something about being in the VC just shows how God can be so specific with the
blessings he provides. Because here we're so much at the will and mercy of just
whoever walks in the door, whoever decides to answer the phone, you really do
see that it's all in the Lord's hands. So that was cool. There were just a lot
of instances of that this last week...I saw a lot of referrals, "top
boxes", all of that. One guy came in wtih his family and it turns out he
was the 2nd oldest child of the Jones family in La Crescenta! So that was cool,
and he gave me a referral.
I also
had a great conversation with this lady that came in a couple days ago to the
VC. She was dressed super nice and you could tell she was really well off, and
I went to start a video for her. We ended up talking for like 45 minutes, and
she tells me about how her husband and her have separated, he and much of her
family have gone inactive, some of her kids have landed in jail, all of this
stuff. And it was just really cool to talk to her because she had a GREAT
attitude, and you never ever ever know what someone is going through...on the
outside she led the perfect life, and she acknowledged that, but she had to
have so much faith for her internal struggles. She had a great motto that was
"The more I know about the plan, the simpler my life will be."
Anyways, it was just a great conversation. I love that at the VC, with so
many members, I get to teach them, but they also teach me SO much.
Also,
Sunday afternoon conference I learned that sacrifice brings blessings! Because
we were watching conference, and then there were some visitors that wanted to
see God's plan, so I stopped watching conference so I could visit with them.
So, I missed some of the great talks, BUT, I got a top box...the lady wasn't a
member, her mom had recently passed away, and we had a great conversation! So,
that was cool.
As for
the area, well, we continue to see miracles, but it's been hard. We did see one
cool miracle last week. We were tracting in one of our favorite apt complexes,
and this lady and her sister and their kids were sitting outside, looking super
stern. We got the guts to talk to them, even thuogh they seemed not interested
at all. Everyone left except for the lady, and we invited her to the VC, asking
if she had ever been there before. She said yes, and we asked how she liked it,
and she started just crying. She hadn't been there since Christmas time, but
she just starts crying and she says that she felt something special there, that
she had never felt before. And after all of these months, she still remembered
that feeling. And she was just asking questions like "Do you always have
that feeling?" "where can i get taht feeling again?" It was
pretty incredible. So, that wuol dbe our new investigator---Dianna! Who has a
rough life, and she's going through some struggles right now, but we're hoping
we can teach her the Gospel to help her with each of those.
So
yeah, the area has seem some miracles...we prayed for 2 new investigators last
week, and we got them! The other was a referral, the family is Jehovah's
Witnesses, so we shall see. But I've been thinking a whole lot about just
having the faith to BAPTIZE. According to the president, a successful
missionary is either someone who baptizes a lot, or has the faith required to
baptize a lot. So, I've been thinking about that...because we have hadsuch a
hard time seeing our investigators progress. Discouragement, doubt, stress, all
of that creeps in, when you see just how low your numbers are and you don't
always know how to fix them! Tomorrow we have zone development meeting and our
interviews with the president, so I hope I can get some guidance from that. We
got some good guidance from general conference, and we're trying to see some
changes. We had a good brief lesson with Jose yesterday. Also, Fernando, the
daughter of a recent convert Marta, is starting to take the lessons again. We
taught him last week and will again tonight...he's way cool and has every
desire to change, so we just gotta help him commit. So things are good. As for
the familia baez, we need some INSPIRATION for them. We saw them on the street
briefly the other day, and the 2 daughters just said hi briefly then quickyl
ran off...things have changed. I realized that there is OPPOSITION. If we just
sit by the side, the opposition will take over...we have to be actively
fighting for them and their happiness.
So yes,
things are good. Thanks for all of your support. Dad, I liked hearing about the
nighttime sacrament...I like it! Any other ideas from the elders about how they
get people to keep appointments? Or have the elders ever planned activities for
the ward? What do they do to find new investigators? Send all ideas this way! I
LOVE YOU ALL, thank you for everythinggggggg and for your thoughts and prayers.
Have a great week, be happy, know that I love you!
Love,
Hermana Fors
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