We had interviews with President Wakolo this week! He is so awesome. It was really fun to talk to him for a little bit on a personal level. He really takes such good care of us. He loves obedience and he makes us want to be better people. He's one of those people that could tell you you are ugly and you would smile and say thank you and feel like you are on cloud 9 somehow!! We were laughing so hard because that day we had plans to take someone a key lime pie and also to have pizza with a part member family so in our plans it said "key lime pie" and "buy pizza" as if we have to schedule what we are eating or something. Hahahaha it was hilarious. I hope I explained it well enough that you think it is equally funny. :)
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| This is us right now about to clean our house and make Blondies. |
I finished El Libro de Mormon for the first time ever (in Spanish)! It was so cool. I really felt the power of the Book of Mormon as I read and marked Christ's name! I never really understood the POWER aspect of it before. I knew it pertained to everyone's lives and it is the word of God and there are amazing miracles and principles, but for the first time I felt the true power that it holds. I know it was only possible to have come forth when it did because of the power of God. It has blessed so many lives and it continues to bless mine. I know the Book of Mormon testifies of Christ and we cannot be lead astray if we do what it says. It's truly cool.
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| First of Three New Year's Eve Dinners |
We had a really great New Years Eve - in bed at 10:30!! Haha we went to a few different member's houses and ate a ton of food. :) Unfortunately I did not have the pleasure of drinking any Martinelli's for the first time ever but that's okay because one of the members made this amazing little finger food. It was like a little bell pepper with cream cheese and duck wrapped in bacon and seasoned like a true southerner. SO GOOD.
So, for anyone who is reading this that isn't mom, dad, or Emma, these three sent me a copy of the Book of Mormon with their testimonies in it for me to give to someone. THIS WAS SO AWESOME. As we prayed together, I know they all went to people who will be so blessed by their sweet testimonies. :) Here are their stories:
Dad wrote me one in Spanish. We were contacting a referral from the Elders, she wasn't home. But there was this guy outside working on a chair who seemed nice. We went over and I just sad "Hi, how are you?" And he just started talkin! Haha it was so funny. Anyway, we talked for a little bit about chairs and his work and about our beliefs. He had a few questions and we tried to introduce a little bit of the restoration but he wasn't very interested in that. At the end, Sister Moore asked him if he would take a copy of the Book of Mormon and he could read the introduction and we would come back and talk a little bit more later. (This was all in Spanish, by the way.) And so I gave him the Spanish copy and showed him the testimony from dad and invited him to read it because it was a special gift to me that I wanted him to have. He was very pleased and we will go back and follow up with him this week!
The one from Emma: We again were contacting a different referral from the Elders who was not home and I remembered the counsel they have really been reminding us of, to always knock on the doors around the houses that are referrals. Heavenly Father often prepares people in areas, or He knows you will follow the prompting if you go to that area. So we did, and she was a really really nice lady who studied religion. At first she was not interested because she thought we were a different religion, but we explained a little bit more about our beliefs and she opened right up! It was nice that she had studied a little bit before because she mentioned that she "probably doesn't have anything to disagree with!" Cool. So again Sister Moore offered her a Book of Mormon and I switched hers with the copy I had with Emma's testimony. I told her again that it was a gift from my family to give their testimonies to someone and that she is 12 years old and has the sweetest testimony. She loved it! We will go back to see her too. :)
The one from mom: We were teaching a part-member family and we were just answering some of their questions and talking about the church and different beliefs and stuff. They had lost their copy of the Book of Mormon, so at the end of a really really spiritual and awesome lesson about temples and why we need church, I gave them the copy with mom's testimony in it! They were the happiest out of all of them when I told them that it was sent at Christmas. The mom smiled and thought it was so cute and sweet! They are a young couple, the dad reminds me SO MUCH of Andrew so I thought it was cool that I could give mom's testimony to Andrew's doppelgänger.
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| Us at Missionary Leadership Counsel |
This is sort of the layout that I think is useful in setting all goals (notice how the Lord is central):
1. Evaluation of resources - not numbers. Setting realistic goals based on what you have. He mentioned that there was a companionship that set a goal of zero baptisms one month because they felt that there was realistically no one ready to be baptized. AND THAT'S OKAY. They actually ended up baptizing two people that month! Anyway we just talked a lot about having a reason for the number.
2. Express prayerful thanks & share experiences
3. Ask the Lord to direct our efforts
4. Recognize the miracle - this is huge! Always return and say thank you to the Lord for blessing your life and the lives of others.
I also learned from the assistants to work hard no matter what! It is the only time in our lives we get to do this. I have an entire year to be a missionary! How cool! I learned a lot from this meeting, being with all the awesome leaders in the mission! They really are so great. We decided as a zone that we really need to increase our desire to do missionary work and to really be disciples. We talk about it and get really excited then go back to doing the same routine things. I am excited for this change!
Also, sorry, another thing I like is that we set VGPA for the mission and zones.
V: vision
G: goal
P: plan
A: action
I love meetings and our leaders and planning stuff and being excited about missionary work!!!!!
I know I always say this but I really love my family a lot a lot!!! I am so blessed. I am excited to start the Book of Mormon again this year and to REACH OUR AWESOME GOALS AND HELP ALL THE PEOPLE IN ARKANSAS!!!! :) I love you all. Happy Happy New Year!!
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| This is what I'm doing right now. I hope you all have a gooooooood year!!!! Les quiero. Les quiero muuuuuuucho. :) |
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