1/25/16
So wow this week was awesome!
On Wednesday there was a worldwide missionary broadcast and my
mission, and 3 others in surrounding areas, were invited to watch it
live! I was in the very front row on the left side so the camera just
kept barely missing me. Well actually. It showed me quite a bit but it
was just the back of my head so you probably couldn't recognize me. I
thought about sitting somewhere the camera would see me but then I was
like nahhhh. I'd rather sit 10 ft away from 6 apostles!!! It was
awesome. Although it would've been cool to be seen on camera and have
all my missionary friends all over the world see me. I saw Brandon
Allen there. He's from Albany. He's serving in Orem. So I was front
row on the side of the apostles so I made eye contact with Elder
Bednar AND President Nelson. They smiled at me and I smiled back.
Basically BFFs now. I've read a lot of talks by Elder Oaks lately and
I've decided I think he's super rad. Also, President Nelson will make
a great prophet. But I don't want to see President Monson go :(
We also had zone conference on Tuesday and that was really cool as
well. We talked a lot about if we are a servant or a friend to the
Savior. Are we a recruit or volunteer? Are we missionaries because we
felt we had to be or because we want to be. It made me think about how
I can make the savior more of my best friend. Like at home if my
friend asks me to do a favor for them, I'm like yeah of course! But
certain things the Lord asks me to do, I am reluctant to follow. But I
should be serving him with more love and willingness than friends at
home. He needs to be my best friend and I need to be his. I'm grateful
that he loves me no matter what, no matter how many times I mess up.
So this past week we have had a bunch of meetings. Zone conference,
the missionary broadcast, district meetings and more. But we were
still able to meet with Leo every day and teach him ALL the lessons in
6 days! And he was baptized on Saturday! It was probably the best
baptism I've ever been to. The spirit was so strong and there was so
much love in the room of his closest friends who have been waiting for
him to take this step for the past 7 years. Sister Jensen and I are
praying so hard that he will decide to serve a mission but his mom is
not supportive of the church so that's holding him back. We will see.
We are taking him to the temple in two weeks for baptisms for the dead
so we are super excited for that.
Last night we also had a fireside at the institute and Elder Ballard
spoke. They reserved front seats for the missionaries and our
investigators so that was super awesome. It was a great fireside.
Elder Ballard is so cute! He talked about how is wife is too good for
him and how they pray together holding hands every night. This was the
7th apostles I've seen in person (super close seats too) in the past 5
days! So I've realized they're all super cute. Like while a video was
playing the missionary broadcast Elder Oaks and President Nelson were
making jokes and hugging each other. They're awesome. But anyways,
Elder Ballard's talk was so good. It talked a lot about how we need to
set expectations for the future. He said "We become what we expect to
become" and I really liked that. And then of course because it was for
YSA he talked about marriage and dating and everything and he was
talking about how he didn't like how instead of going on dates, people
would just "hang out" on campus. He said, "Do you have a problem with
just hanging out or is that just a BYU problem?" It was hilarious.
Everyone at the U hates BYU but you probs knew that. Then speaking of
his grandchildren and how he has 74 great grandchildren, he said "they
have them popping like popcorn" hahaha. Every one again just busted
out laughing. One last funny thing he said, "I wish I would've payed
more attention in my English and writing classes. I didn't know I
would have to write 5 million talks!" So yeah. Elder Ballard is
awesome!
But yeah. This week was fantastic. I've found that even if I'm not
having a lot of non member lessons, if I loose myself in the work, and
truly love the people I'm serving, less active and active members
included, then I find so much joy and happiness in each day. It's
really helped this week.
I miss you all! Don't forget to email me back! :)
Also fun fact, someone thought I was a 5'2 Latino women. She was very
surprised when I stood up and was a lot taller and told her that I had
no Latino blood in me lol
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