Monday, July 30, 2012

Email: 30 July 2012


Hello friends and family!

We got a new sister in our companionship! Sister Fraire (pronounced Friday). She is originally from Durango Mexico but came out from Georgia, about 30 minutes from Grandma and Grandpa! :D She is great! President Taylor is excited for us to be companions and for the work that will happen here in Norman.

This week was the Leadership Training Meeting and it was absolutely incredible! On Tuesday Jeff came and spoke along with a handful of other recent converts. It was so inspiring to hear all the converts speak, as well as Jeff. Everything about the LTM was inspired. I don't know how long this letter will be..... so I apologize. There isn't a lot to say about the LTM because it was a lot of personal revelation for me and for this area. I'll share what I can though. At the beginning President Taylor told us that this LTM would be hard work. It would require us to step it up, not only during the meeting but from here on out. It was very inspiring and gave me the push I needed to be better than I had been. We always need to be doing that.

Sister Taylor loves music! Since she loves music we had 2 special musical numbers each of the four days we were at the LTM. Get this! One of the special musical numbers was done by all the Sister Missionaries. Yes, every sister missionary and that included myself. I sang with 8 others on the stand in front of 50 other missionaries. I never thought I would do that. Granted I didn't really have a choice in the matter. haha! Seriously though, it was fun. I don't think I butchered the song to badly.... and to be honest I don't think I was THAT off. There were a couple notes I couldn't hit, so I wouldn't even try. Don't go expecting me to sing anything in front of people when I get home though. This was only a success because the people I was with could sing (at least half of them could) and the Spirit was there which made up for any lack of talent any of us possessed. ;)

The whole four days were exhausting to be honest. They were amazing, but I was exhausted at the end of each day. I learned a whole bunch of great things and have a nice big list of things to improve on. However, my mission President blessed us that we would be able to accomplish everything we needed to as we went forth with faith. It was pretty intense. :)

We had a great experience that happened throughout the LTM. On the first day when all the recent converts were sharing their testimonies a man came in and sat on the back row. President Taylor didn't recognize him. Afterwards he went to introduce himself and found out that he wanted to be taught by the missionaries. He had just walked in looking for the missionaries. He didn't know we were there. (and what do you know, there were 60 missionaries plus the mission president and his wife.) The Elders in his area taught him the first lesson that day (Tuesday) and invited him to baptized on September 1st, which he accepted. That's pretty incredible, but it gets better.

The next day, towards the end of the LTM he came in looking for the Elders who had taught him. He found them and told them he had been up the whole night reading the Book of Mormon. He came all dressed up to tell the Elders that he knew the Book of Mormon was true and that he was ready to get baptized right then and there. Of course they couldn't do that so President Taylor explained the process to him and that there was still things to teach him. This guy told the Elders he wanted to meet everyday that week. The Elders moved his date from September 1st to August 12th. I was able to meet the man who the Elders were teaching. He is such a nice guy! I am excited for him to be baptized. It was an incredible thing to witness. :)

On Thursday President Taylor had all the sister missionaries teach the Elders about the Role of the Holy Ghost in conversion. We didn't know it until the end of the day, but that guy the Elders started teaching had come in and sat on the back row as we were talking and he was taking notes on what we were saying.

Thanks for sending the testimonies of the people in the ward as well as the Books of Mormon. I'm excited to get them in the mail. :) Thanks for everything!

I just watched this video and read the article by Elder Holland. I LOVE LOVE LOVE how bold he his. I would appreciate if you would post these on my blog. I have a testimony of how important it is to have the Spirit with you as a missionary. The Gospel CANNOT be preached without the Spirit. I love missionary work! I love what I get to help the Lord do. It is an incredible blessing in my life and I have never regretted my decision to serve a mission. I know the message we share is true! :D

I love you! Have a great week!
Love, Sister Record

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