2 weeks left!

I want to start by sharing my favorite part of me -- and that is my testimony. I have a testimony of so many things, but my foundation is Jesus Christ. I love the Savior! He is my brother; He is my very best friend. I know that the Light of His Atonement can reach even the darkest corners. As a representative of Jesus Christ, I testify that the Book of Mormon is an honest and pure record. I love this Book! I have received many, many confirmations from the Holy Ghost, witnessing the divine truthfulness of the words of Christ. I know that Joseph Smith, as a 14-year-old boy, truly saw a pillar of light in the Sacred Grove. He saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ -- this is something that I know! I testify that the Priesthood was restored to the earth as Joseph was called to be a prophet. We are a Church and we are Saints, who are literally led by Jesus Christ through a prophet today. I support and sustain Thomas S. Monson as an imperfect man who speaks for a completely perfect God. I love this gospel. I love my mission. I, like Nephi, "glory in my Jesus" (2 Nephi 33:6). I testify that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is His true Church on Earth today.

We started the week with a text from Elder Christiansen, our district leader. He texted Sister Willis and I and asked, "How was your day today?" We said, "...Well, we are best friends, so every day is perfect." 
Here we go.

Monday: Busy day. Running errands. We went to the doctors and while Sister Willis was being seen, so many missionaries came in.. A few of which were my daughters! Sister Villoso and Sister Talbert! I just love my companions. They and their current companions were there, along with a few elders. The sisters all sat on the couch and laughed and I really had a feeling that was a glimpse of Heaven.
That night, we did a Family Home Evening with the Fox family... It was so nice! I kept thinking, and maybe even saying out loud, "You are all just so righteous!" ..We started by singing a Hymn, then we prayed, then they read through a few verses of the Book of Mormon together and discussed what they had read. The kids even asked questions! We then read part of Elder Bednar's talk from the General Conference edition of the Ensign. It was just so lovely. And then, they asked Sister Willis and I to share our experiences being missionaries. It was a great Family Home Evening. Before we were leaving, their teenage boy asked a question about how to share the gospel with his friend and the Spirit was so strong.. I love Youth! And I love member missionaries!
Afterwards, we had a lesson with our sisters. They are keeping their commitments and they were so proud to report! As a reward, we played Plan of Salvation charades at the end of the lesson, and they loved it :)

Tuesday: I realized how often Heavenly Father really does put me in exactly the right place at exactly the right time. We are constantly standing on someone's doorstep when they pull into the driveway!! Sister Willis says that the Lord picks favorites... haha. Well, anyway, we were walking up the driveway of the 1st ward Primary President when she pulled in.. She was so excited. She said, "I can't believe you are here! I was JUST thinking about you, Sister Wall!" (because she hadn't met Sister Willis yet.) She had just arranged for the missionaries in Pennsylvania to visit her former neighbors, and she kept saying, "I just hope that they are as good as you sisters!"
That day, we had a very simple conversation with a woman and her husband who are from Greece.. There is just something about slowing down, feeling the Spirit, and expressing the joys that come from the gospel in the most simple form of language. 
In the evening, we had dinner with the Diederich family, who I loveeee!! Sister Diederich is a ward missionary and she is so so wonderful. We are actually going to her house today to get our nails done! 

:Commercial: We just got a text from a Young Women's president, Sister Aldous, who I LOVEEEE! She said, "Not a day goes by that we don't pray for you -- Have a great day sisters!!" 

Wednesday: We had morning studies with President and Sister Banks. They are in the mission presidency. They took us out to brunch at I-Hop and we got to know them a little bit. 
All day long, it seemed like no one was home! So we didn't have too many exciting things. 
Sister Willis and I went on splits. I went with Sister Diederich and Sister Willis went with Sister Young. Sister Diederich and I went to a lesson with Eva and she was so sweet! She is so sad that I am leaving soon. I really want to help find her friends in the ward so that she can transition! 
That night, Sister Willis and I went to a Youth activity. The youth in the whole stake split up into 3 or 4 groups. The activity was "Iron Chef"... Each of them were given a bag with "secret ingredients" that they had to incorporate into their dishes... It was SO FUN! One of the girls was SO into it! She even asked Sister Powell (whose house we were cooking at,) "Do you have any bourbon?" hahah. Sister Powell is like, No sweetheart, sorry.

Thursday: Pretty uneventful day. Weekly planning. Getting a cold. Reading the Book of Mormon with our recent convert, Mallory and the family. 

Friday: We had our district meeting at the Carlston's house. Afterwards, we had this great activity making pancakes.. but not just regular pancakes.. SHAPED and COLORED pancakes! I wish Sister Willis brought her camera today, because we made pancakes shaped like all kinds of things: the Temple, CTR, I made a fox, someone made a horse, a Christmas tree, etc. We had a lot of fun.
Later that day, we had a wonderful experience with prayer!! Again, Sister Willis says that God chooses favorites, but anyone could have had this experience! We visited this less-active woman who lost her foot a few months ago. As we were talking with her, I asked if there was anything we could do for her. She explained that she had crawled up the stairs that morning, to look for these albums full of antique postcards. She explained that they are very expensive and she was so worried that they'd been lost or stolen. We asked if we could go up and look. She said that she'd already looked everywhere, but that we could try if we wanted to. So we went up and searched. There were books and photo albums all over the floor, but we couldn't find the postcards. Sister Willis suggested that we look in the basement, but I felt like we needed to say a prayer before we kept looking. We prayed and when I opened my eyes, I noticed a small closet with a little curtain hanging over the opening. I pulled back the curtain and found a closet full of clothes. I almost let it be, but decided to turned on the light to investigate a little bit more. I pulled back the clothes, and there on the shelf, were 3 or 4 albums full of her postcards! Instant answer to prayer! The woman was so excited! She then explained she had been praying to "Archangel, Michael, all morning, and he hadn't answered her prayers!" 
That night, we didn't have a dinner appointment, so we asked Sister Allen to feed us and she said Yes! She was so sweet. She is becoming a vegan, so I knew we could ask her last minute and not worry about someone having to go out and buy a whole new meal. Well, she is brilliant. We talked about English and Vegetarianism and the Word of Wisdom and had a wonderful time. 
Then, we stopped by this girl's house, who we've tried to contact before but she is never home. She and her friend were there, and they were SO open to learning about the gospel. They even said that they had been thinking about being baptized! We are going back tonight for the first lesson.
Before we went in for the night, we visited another less-active woman and she said she wanted to do a "Reading" on us.. Sister Willis and I keep laughing and laughing and laughing because the woman went on and on about all of these things she could "sense" about me. And then she turns to Sister Willis and says, "And you.. You're interesting."... hahah. She told her a few other things about her, but it was such a funny contrast.

Saturday: An amazing dayyyy!! We got to go to a baptism for an investigator that I taught in Cottonwood! My Amish friend, Abe, got baptized, finally!!!! There were so many sister missionaries there! We had all played a small part in teaching him, so it was wonderful to come together and see the end result.. And he finally did it! He went under water and was baptized.. What a miracle. 


Ahhh! I am running out of time!!! Many other wonderful things happened but we have to go. Love you!

1 comment:

  1. Hi Ariel. I love to read your blog. You are a treasure. You have touched many lives in Utah and those people will never be the same. You seem to scatter sunshine to people you meet. You are special. I can hardly wait to give you a big hug. Love you. Ruby

    ReplyDelete