Hey guys! Long time no talk :P I hope you are all still alive
and well! Man it's so nice to finally have p-day! We moved it to today, so that
we can go to the temple again. 🎉😆I'm pretty sure this is
going to be one of my top favorite experiences of my mission so stay tuned for
updates on Monday! I decided today I will just pull highlights from last
week and this week for you and Monday will be all about my temple experience!
I'll try not to overwhelm ya ha, ha but here ya go:
Last week: Sept 26- Oct
2
Okay so I picked my top 3
highlights from last week and they were:
- Getting to help at Sister Chamberlain's (lady who was in the ward) funeral. We helped out with the food and I got asked to play some piano music while people were coming in before it started. Now these may seem like little things but it touched my heart how many of her family members came up and thanked me for the peaceful music. The spirit sure was strong!
- On Wednesday before our district meeting we decided to try to contact a referral we received. Our GPS got so confused, poor g-kingy (my sasser GPS whom I love), so we relied on prayer and come to find out she lived at the top of this windy hill in the very last house. What are the odds right? She wasn't home sadly but it was just a cool experience being able to let the spirit guide us to find the house. Who would have thought her street would be so stinking windy and long!! Exercise- check and check!
- And of course: a missionaries' Christmas- General Conference!! I'm so sad this is my last conference on the mish but now I have some good techniques that I'll keep using! We were able to watch it at some wonderful members’ homes: the Lawsons and Sister Folmar’s! And to make things even better, our investigator Emma and a less-active member, Sister Patterson, were able to watch it with us too! There were so many great talks and I want to just mention a few of my favorites:
Highlights:
- There were so many great talks on prayer!! I especially loved Sister McConkie's and Elder Uceda's (Sat Morning) talks about trusting the answers we get and really making prayer a sacred time to talk with our Father in Heaven and feel that connection with Heaven.
- Elder Cornish (Sat Morning): I loved how he talked about using the Atonement to become better than we were in the past and looking to the future! It was a spiritual and emotional boost that was much needed.
- Elder Oaks (Sat Afternoon): gave a much needed plug for member missionary work and how to have "success" in the work! We need your help folks!!
- Pres. Monson (Sun Morning): I loved how he said to 'firmly plant our feet on the path' and to live the truth!!
- Elder Meurs (Sun Morning): it was so cool to hear him speak again (he was just hear a month or so ago) and I loved how he talked about preparing ourselves for our meetings. I need to do better at that one.
- Elder Nattress (Sun Afternoon): I loved the emphasis he put on doing our part and teaching the gospel! He reminded me that I am "an angel in Zion" and I love the question he asked "how would I feel to see the savior? Would I know and recognize him?"
I could go on and on
but I really loved conference and got so many answers and guidance. I hope you
all can continue to find answers and guidance as we go back and study those
talks again! I will keep writing at the end of my weeklies commitments I will
be working on from things I pulled out from each talk. So you are welcome to work
on them with me if you so desire! J
This week's highlights:
Oct 3- Today (8th!)
- So I'm not sure if you guys have heard about the clowns on the loose...but I just want to shout out that because of them, we were able to get into a less actives' house that we haven't yet! Holla! They rushed us inside and told us it wasn't safe to be out walkin around, gave us pepper spray and told us to take as long as we want with our message. Haha soooo good. It was also in this lesson that half way through what sister Jacobson is saying I look down and there's something on my shoe. It looked like mud so i tried to brush it off....NOPE! Not mud. I think there little dog pooped on me! SICK! Hahaha Sister Jacobson made me hold my shoe out the window on the way home because it smelled so bad. 1) My shoe is shiny clean and as good as new and 2) Also don't worry mom I'm safe;)
- I love when we get to have Interviews w/PJ! They are always so needed. President Johnson is the sweetest man and is just like family. We can joke around and then 5 seconds later have a serious conversation. He always manages to make me cry...good tears, good tears, but I honestly thank the Lord that he sent me to this mission so that I could serve with President and Sister Johnson I just love them so much! One day I hope to be like them. In my interview on Tuesday, President Johnson called me a gem and I had to giggle because 1) I love that word and 2) look how hip he is! We also reflected on what spiritual gifts I've seen grow and develop over the course of my mission. I told him that I've noticed that my ability to be close to the spirit and have a good relationship with him (the spirit) has definitely increased a LOT and that I've been able to grow a more christ-like love for people. At the end I made a sarcastic remark about how the Lord thinks he's funny making me do everything that I didn't want to do but that it's what I needed. President got real serious again and told me he knew he could rely on me to do whatever the Lord asked and that I could do hard things! I really have come to see that I can do whatever is placed in my path and whatever the Lord asks because with him everything is possible.
- One day we decided to go out and tract it up! So after a hiking up that windy road (see referral story above) again and having door after door reject us. We prayed real hard. We soon found a lady who wasn't interested but gave us a referral for a man across the street who was! Of course he was the last house on the steeet;) haha but we didn't stop there. As we were walking down a different street to our car we saw some people outside with their kids. I whispered to Sister Jacobson "you ready to OYM?!" (Open your mouth). And what a good "daughter" she is because she, without skipping a beat, and with a smile on her face walked right up to these people and proceeded to share a Book of Mormon with the woman. The man kind of backed away and sat on a curb a few doors down with his daughter in his lap blowing bubbles. After we wrapped up our conversation with the woman the true miracle happened. I feel like sometimes after something good happens it's so easy to say "sweet we had a great experience! We are done! Lets go to the next activity". But no the spirit spoke to both sister Jacobson and I and told us to now go talk to the man. We walked up and noticed how sad his eyes were. As we shared a Book of Mormon with him and talked he got happier. We shook hands and walked away and there was a smile on his face. He kept saying "thank you! Thank you girls!" Now it may not seem like anything huge but I love seeing the gospel bring pure joy to people- it really does!
Well I love you all and stay tuned for more
temple updates on monday!!!
Love, Sister McDonald
Ponderize: "[I] did
humble [myself] before him and because [I] did cry mightily unto him he did
deliver [me] out of bondage....the arm of mercy extended...to [me if I put my]
trust in him" ~ Mosiah 29:20
Commitment: "Work
together to cheer and bless and encourage progression"~ Sister Bingham
(women's broadcast)
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