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| Sister Allgood, Sister Fraire and Sister Record camping |
It has been a good week. It is all kind
of a blur though to be honest. I can barely remember what has
happened. Wednesday was Sister Fraire's birthday. We went camping.
Don't worry, we didn't break a single rule to go camping. We camped
out in our living room. We even made a tent that would put the boy
scouts to shame. ;)
We bought sweet calendars for the Zone
Leaders. They came into our apartment while we were gone. (We needed
them to pick something up for us. So we gave them permission to go
inside. don't worry.) They rigged our sink so when we turned on the
water it got us all wet. It was pretty funny. Later that week they
asked if we had a blank calendar, so we went to the dollar store and
got them this calendar. We thought we were pretty clever. :)
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| Pony Calendar |
Saturday was our stake conference and
Elder Bruce A Carlson of the seventy was there. He spoke in
conference, check
out his talk about obedience. It's great! In stake conference he
talked about why the age for missionaries to serve was lowered. He
listened a few reasons.
1. It would save many young people of
this generation. There won't be that gap of time between high school
and a mission to hang around.
2. The church needs more missionaries
3. It will have a positive effect on
marriages. Young people will be more prepared for marriage.
4.The fabric of the home will be
changed. Gospel teaching and learning will be central to raising a
family
5. To hasten the work of the Lord.
Elder Carlson said the 5th reason was
the biggest reason for the change. As a mission each fast Sunday we
fast for a list of things and for the Lord's work to hasten in this
area is one of them. That prayer will be answered in the next few
months. President Taylor sent us an email. Here is an excerpt from
that email,
"As I write
this letter to you I am filled with great love for each of you.
Sister Taylor and I think of you constantly and you are in every
prayer offered by us and our boys. Please know of our trust in you
and our admiration for each of you. We are privileged to be here with
you as you learn to develop and exercise faith in Christ and His
Atonement and repent. We respect you for the choices you make that
lead you to Christ and result in you becoming “converted unto the
Lord” and a more “consecrated missionary.”
With you, Sister
Taylor and I were thrilled to hear of the announcement in General
Conference regarding the new minimum age for missionaries. I am
confident this announcement will lead to a further expansion of our
mission and an increase in sister missionaries. This will be a great
blessing for our mission. We must accelerate the development of our
missionary skills so we can train these new missionaries in the
months ahead. They will be spending less time in the MTC before
coming to the field so the responsibility to train these missionaries
will fall to us......
What we are doing
is greater than we can now see and understand. We do not always see
the hand of the Lord in the lives of the people we meet each day. We
often do not see it in our lives but it is always there. This is a
spiritual work and God’s labors in our areas are best seen through
spiritual eyes. He is “mightier than all the earth” and can
accomplish all his purposes in us and the people of our areas. If we
have faith in Christ we “shall have power to do whatsoever is
expedient” in Him (Moroni 7:33). Of this I testify in the name of
Jesus Christ, Amen."
What a blessing to be a part of the
Lord's work! Its an amazing thing! I am so thankful for President and
Sister Taylor. They are so kind and loving and want what is best for
each of us.
Yesterday we got a solid baptismal
date! :D We did finally get a baptismal date though! He was taught
previously by the Sisters. It has been a year but he is ready to be
baptized. We had our first meeting with him on Sunday. He came to
stake conference and really enjoyed Elder Carlson's talk. He told us
that when he heard him speak he felt a peaceful feeling. It gave him
comfort to a concern of his. He told us that spark he felt lasted for
just a moment.
We talked to him about the
Holy Ghost and that when you are baptized by proper authority you
receive the
Gift of the Holy Ghost. We told him that he could feel that
peaceful feeling always. We told him he could have the Holy Ghost as
his constant companion. He replied rather shocked, "I didn't
even know that was possible!"
We invited him to be baptized and he
said he would, but that he would be a lot of hard work to change. He
grew up in another denomination but isn't working for him. He had
questions about the authority of the church. He wanted to know how we
know a man really has authority. The member we had with us explained
that he had the priesthood and that he got it from his dad, who got
it from his dad, etc. He explained that he can trace his authority
all the way back to Christ in an unbroken line.
Then, unexpectedly, [Name withheld] exclaimed
"Well then! Lets schedule the baptism for next Sunday!" We
were all surprised but very happy. We explained that we had a little
more to teach him and that he needed to come to church. [Name withheld] is so
eager to learn and already has a testimony, we need him to have
conversion though. :) He trusts the member we had with us 100%. He
had been talking to him about the gospel over the last year.
I'm telling you, its only through the
members that the church is going to grow at the rate it needs to.
Keep doing missionary work! We are doing a great work and we cannot
come down. :D I love you all so very much! I am deeply grateful for
all your love and support. Have a great week!
Love, Sister Record
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