Dear Family and Friends,
This week has been a good week, with an amazing weekend attached to the end. :)
First, last weekend I had a really neat experience that I didn't tell you all about, but got reminded of it by mom and dad :)
Every Sunday night, we go to ward prayer. It is when members of the ward all get together at the Bishops house, and we talk eat food, and then have a couple of spiritual thoughts, and then pray together for the week. It is a really amazing experience. Well, we have been going early to that, to help Sister Brice (our bishops wife) make the cookies. This past Sunday when we went, there was another sister there. We were talking for a little but, and she said that she was really worried about her son in Yemen. She said that she keeps calling President Price, President Christensen, and Brother Clemence to see how her son is doing. I don't know why I said this, but I told her where I was from,(meaning Saudi Arabia) and that I knew each of those amazing men. I felt strongly impressed to let her know that her son was safe. I had the distinct impression to tell her, what I was told when Elder Holland came to see us. He told us all that we were safe. That we were sent to the Middle East for a purpose. I promised her what I was promised, that her son, as long as he was keeping the commandments, being careful and doing the best he could, that the Apostolic blessing was for her son too. It was an amazing experience. I know that her son is in a scary place. I know what it is like to worry about family, and the ones you love who are in an area where things can go wrong at any moment. I had to remind myself, and let this kind sister know, that the ones we both loved were okay. That they were safe. Sister Brice last night thanked me. She said that I really had an impact on this sisters heart. I feel like that was why I am here. I don't know how much longer my time in this area will be. We have at least 3 weeks until transfers, but I feel like my purpose has been accomplished. It was an amazing experience for me. There is someone out there for us all to touch. We all go through things that are hard and are difficult. Follow the direction of the Spirit. He will let you know where you should be, and how to help those around you. You never know the impact you can have on someones life.
Okay, so back to this week. It was kinda a normal week. Monday was the usual P-day, then Tuesday we had institute, and then had dinner with Bishop Brice and Sister Brice. It was really fun. I like them both a lot. There is something about having older people serve in Young Adult/Youth callings. They become younger. I don't know how to explain it. They are a lot of fun :) That night we did some unplanned service instead of going to Institute. Sister Brice is getting her cabinets redone, and had to remove everything from all the drawers and try and find a place for them. So we helped her with that. It was fun. We got to chat, and get to know each other a little better. :) On Wednesday It was a normal stop by and see as many people as we can type of day. We also found out that day that we now have a limit on our miles. It is going to be a little difficult with how much we cover, but I know we can do it. We are starting to see if we can get member rides to everything that we do with the ward. It should be really good. We are also walking a lot. It was really hard for Sister Letoa. On Friday we walked for a good 5 hours. We did about 6 miles too. It was a little much for her. She isn't used to walking. Her pore little feet were covered in blisters, and she could barely move! I felt so bad! I was also very thankful. I am so glad that I didn't have a car my first year up at BYUI. It meant that I am now really good at walking and pushing through whatever I am feeling to just get to the next point. It was really good for me. I enjoyed it. :)
Okay so now to the really spiritual weekend :)
We had an Apostle come to our mission!!! We had Elder Neil L. Anderson, Elder Perkins, and also Elder Higham. It was way neat!! We got to shake hands with all of them. Oh, and we also got to leave the mission :) The meeting was a combined mission conference. We were meeting with the Rancho Cucamonga mission, and so we went to the Rancho stake center/mission office. It was really fun :) Each and everyone of the 500 missionaries got to shake hand with the Apostle and the General Authorities. It was amazing!!! Elder Anderson talked a lot about the Atonement. He said something that really stood out to me. He said that there are sometimes that we think of the Atonement as just Christ suffering for our sins. It was that yes, but He also suffered for any pain, suffering, sadness, hurt, anything that would cause us to not have joy, He suffered for that. It isn't just about the sins, Christ really does understand all of our feelings. Every one of them. That was really powerful for me. He also mentioned that one of the Apostles or someone told him that he is an Apostle with a big "A" and we are apostles with a little "a". That was neat to hear :) The conference was just amazing!! I loved it so much!!
Another really neat thing happened. Graham got baptized on Saturday!! How amazing is that!!!!! Graham is the investigator that I was teaching in Highland, and then got transferred. He is now baptized!!! It was amazing!!! To be able to watch him go through everything he has gone through, and to now be perfectly pure and clean! Amazing!!! (See the beginning of Graham's story in Sister Randall's blog on December 5th, 2013)
After the baptism we had a ward activity :) It was a St. Patricks Day party, and lot of fun!! Adam Bleleau, he is the ward member that is so amazing to the sister missionaries. He helps us a lot. He took lots and lots of pictures :) He said he was going to send them, and by the way it sounds, it seems like he has :)
I am not sure what else to say. Oh, now I remember. On Sunday we got to hear from Elder Anderson again. It was really neat, because we had a lot of the city officials there, and he really directed his talk to just on Christ. It was really neat.
Well, this week was wonderful. No new investigators, but we hopefully have a lot of referrals coming from the members! It will be amazing!!
Have a wonderful week everyone!! I love you all so much! You are all in my prayers!!!
Ou te Alofa is oe!! <3 <3
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