Staying in Russellville with Hermana Moore!!

First time I've worn the Sister Missionary "badge on scarf look."

I think the theme for this week was something like divine nature/individual worth with a little bit of obedience and testimony. :)

I had one of my favorite lessons on my mission this week! Last week we found a cute young lady with some kids who we started teaching. They are really sweet! She read the first 10 chapters of the Book of Mormon in like 3 days and is now about in 2 Nephi. :) So awesome. This week we brought Hermana Roque to come see her with us. (She speaks English and Spanish and so does Hna Roque.) We taught her the Plan of Salvation and it was so awesome because I have never really felt the Spirit come just because of a testimony. We were teaching with the Spirit, yes, but when Hna Roque bore her testimony it was like the happiest most sure wave of the Holy Ghost. It was so cool. She bore a very pure and loving testimony of the Plan of  Salvation and how it has blessed her life, and it is the thing that converted her. That knowledge is something so precious that really changes people's lives. I am so grateful for the knowledge we have, for the genuine testimony of Hermana Roque, and for the Holy Ghost which testifies to the heart!

Love him!!

This week they did the mission broadcast which was like general conference for all the missionaries. I guess they haven't done one like that for over 10 years? Elder Oaks is the new head of the missionary department and he is amazing. As I have said, the new focus is "Teach repentance, baptize converts." And all of the speakers talked about a different point of Preach My Gospel (PMG) along with this focus. SERIOUSLY SO GOOD. (Elder Anderson, Elder Bednar, Bishop Waddell, Sister Oscarson, President Clayton, Elder Nielsen, and Elder Oaks.) I wish I could tell you everything I learned but it is such a long list and probably not that applicable to anyone at home. BUT, I did think it was cool that ...

1. They used PMG. We have the exact same book they do and yet they are still teaching us new concepts about it! It's one of those things that you need a fresh perspective, but also the Spirit will tell you the things you need to hear. It's not just a one time read!

2. After talking about everything, they reviewed. I thought that was interesting. They did a few interactive things with some missionaries in Ogden or something and afterward, they always reviewed the questions and the main points. And then, after the broadcast, we reviewed again! And then that night, I reviewed again. And now I am again! And every time I do, I learn something new or I remember something I had forgotten.

3. Faith is action and power. I thought about this again this morning and faith is not just belief. There is more to it! Faith is strong belief in something unseen, that leads to act and has power.

4. The Holy Ghost is not the tool, we are the tools. (I resisted the urge to tease her about this phraseology.) I thought that was really interesting! Heavenly Father has entrusted us with a small portion of his vineyard and we are to work in unity with the Lord and the Holy Ghost as His tools! (Yes we do have other tools too, Book of Mormon, PMG, white handbook, gospel library, etc.)

5. This is the most important work in mortality. That sort of changed my perspective. There are so many important things we do here, but if we are not sharing the gospel, if we are keeping it to ourselves, then what good is that?! I only have 13 more months to devote all of my time to the Lord and to this work!

6. We are here to establish His church and to testify of Christ. Matthew 10:32 "Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven." What a cool promise! Because of that promise I have been trying to always share a genuine testimony of the Savior. There have been times where we will teach a lesson and not testify of the Savior once! It is important to testify of other things too, of course, but He is the reason why we can overcome and be happy here! He is the root of all the doctrine! So I am trying to always share my testimony that He lives and because of Him, we can have peace.

I love this painting by Minerva Teichert

In church yesterday Sister Warrendorf taught an awesome relief society lesson about peace. I love love love that Christ says he leaves us with peace. John 14:27. Christ gives us peace that the world cannot offer. She talked about worldly peace and Christ's peace. I had never thought about a difference! It seems that the world wants peace which is lack of war and common ground, yes Christ's peace is found in those things too but first it starts within ourselves as we read the scriptures, serve others, pray, go to church, and accept Christ fully in our lives. It's kind of like enduring to the end with Christ = peace/calmness. He will always leave us with his perfect peace and calmness as we accept Him and His will! Not as the world giveth, but as only He can give through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This is Bernie who actually got mad at us for not taking her stuffed animals.

I'm not sure if we will be able to give them back next week! But she accepted a

Book of Mormon and even started reading it before we left! It is a very powerful

book that even the sweet old ladies still feel the Spirit with.

When Bernie had me hold all her stuffies.

Dinner with Beth and her family (Beth is next to me) and Genevieve who
took good care of us in Danville. They are best friends so it's
nice because we get to see them both. :)

The Holy Ghost testifies of Jesus Christ to our hearts, and if we are open, we can feel it. We were chatting with an investigator this week who loves the loud celebratory feelings of the spirit at her church. She is an awesome awesome lady! Yet I am so grateful for the peace and calmness of the sacrament meeting and the  environment that the Spirit can dwell so easily. I love 1 Kings 19:12 "And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice." And Helaman 5:30 "And it came to pass when they heard this voice, and beheld that it was not a voice of thunder, neither was it a voice of a great tumultuous noise, but behold, it was a still voice of perfect mildness, as if it had been a whisper, and it did pierce even to the very soul."

Also we are ponderizing Moroni 8:25-26 because it is really good. And this morning we were trying to figure out how to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to an investigator (for some reason it is the hardest for both of us to teach because you can be way too simple or way to deep. It's really hard to balance) and Sister Moore came across Alma 7:11-16, 27 so yeah that's an awesome chapter and I am excited to use it more! I love Romans 8. I love the scriptures and I want to read and study all the day long.

We always joke about the Arkansas 50 or Arkansas 75. But even the Assembly of

God knows there's at least a mission 20 as a general rule. (She's talking about pounds you gain while serving there.)

Yumm!

I know that the Book of Mormon was preserved for our day and so many sacrificed so that we can have it now. It's amazing. I am thankful for the testimony of Jesus Christ that it is and that I have the opportunity to share it with others. I know Jesus Christ is our perfect example and was even baptized so we could have a perfect example of obedience to follow. Heavenly Father has all the answers and wants to tell us He loves us and is so watchful over us, and He does so through the Holy Ghost and the scriptures. Jesus Christ is my Savior and the reason that I can be happy even when it doesn't make sense that I am. I know I can pray to Heavenly Father and because of Christ's perfect love, I can be forgiven of my sins and be comforted and be at peace. I know that Christ was resurrected and that He lives. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Hermana Macfarlane

P.S. We tried Fat Daddy's and I was like NOT super impressed. I think if we went on a day that it was busier so the food had to be made more fresh maybe it would be better? The sauce is super good but all I could think about was SIM's BBQ from last week.

Where we are right now. It's looks really big but it's not.

Unfortunately, Hermana Moore has had some
less-than-pleasant experiences with eating too many mints. BUT, we
aren't allowed to chew gum in public. I want to put in a disclaimer that
Hna. Moore is the most obedient missionary I know. Anyway, we were in
the car, I was texting someone a really long text and kind of out of
it (mistake on my part) and Hna Moore was chewing some gum because we
had just eaten and we were on our way to a lesson. We have this Piano
Guys CD that usually we just listen to on repeat and there is a
version of Twinkle Twinkle on there that just really gets Hna Moore
goin. So, that was playing, she was "directing" the music and getting
like way into it, chomping gum, and I was texting and because of all
that, SHE RAN A RED LIGHT and it was so so scary! hahaha Karma for
breaking the rules .... Thankfully Heavenly Father knows our hearts
and is so watchful over us because somehow there was no one going and
no one turning into the intersection or anything. All the cars were
stopped at the intersection as if they knew we were going to run that
light either way! So blessed. So, then we got to the place we wanted to
go and she was like "oh I forgot to spit out my gum" so she remembered
that she and her BF always try to kick their gum and she tried but
somehow it fell right down her boot. She doesn't chew gum anymore.

 See the video below for more gum chewing evidence.