April 4, 2012 General Conference

I absolutely LOVE general conference! I must admit, I never realized how much they talk about missionaries until I became one! I like it :) Before general conference weekend though, we had a few fun and awesome moments. We got to visit our favorite family, the Jones' and do the faith rocket for them. Of course all the kids loved it and it was the perfect day to visit them too! Sister Jones was in need of a break and we showed up by inspiration to help entertain the kids. Afterwards we did a little photo time. You will see lil Anthony in between me and Sister Barnum, he is pretending to be a dinosaur :) if you can imagine him making a RAWR noise WHILE taking the picture, it makes it even better haha.

On Thursday we were having a huge thunderstorm for almost the whole day! We had to go out earlier that day to contact a part member family, left when the rain slowed down a bit and came home JUST before it hit us harder. We stayed inside for planning and went down to the bridge we cross to see what the river was like and it was FLOWING! The Sperry's told us that the rain just comes down that hill after one rainstorm but we didn't realize how much until that day. It was so awesome to see! Gotta love how awesome nature is, its incredible. Later that day the rain stopped, the water went down and we got to our appt with the Weeds right on time. Little Mayanna (she bore her testimony last time) is so amazing. That day we talked about baptism and she knew it helps wash away sins ans that she needs it in order for her to pass through the door to Heaven! We feel like she is ready and committed her for baptism on April 28th!! :) Our Zone Leaders were very surprised to hear that we had one with a date haha, its a tender mercy for sure.

Saturday conference was awesome, just like Sunday. My favorite talk was by Pres. Eyring on Saturday as he talked about how miracles can happen even if you have but a twig of faith left. Sometimes we feel like were losing our faith or that our trials are too big for us to bare. Sometimes it takes time for our foundation to really be prepared for the great building that will be laid upon it. How his mom was dealing with cancer and someone said that she just needed to be polished a little more, he thought oh great if SHE needs to be polished I have a lot of work to do myself haha. What a positive way to look at our trials in life, we need to be polished a little more and trust what the Savior is making of us for our future. I know my faith was strengthened so much by his talk and helped me see that even if I feel like my faith isn't as much as it used to be, I can still see miracles! Of course the Saturday afternoon talk by Elder Holland was PROFOUND! That man speaks with power and is a spiritual GIANT. My favorite thing he said was about how the Lord isn't concerned about the amount of faith we arrive with, not with the hour of which we come.

Sunday was another beautiful day of enlightenment. Uchtdorf is ALWAYS incredible, I love that man. The idea of "Stop it!" when you go to judge someone and the bumper sticker he read "don't judge me because I sin differently than you" is absolutely true. The prophet is always a wonderful speaker and story teller. He is full of so much love, I am grateful for his fun personality and care for everyone. The afternoon session was probably my other favorite session besides Saturday morning. Incredible speakers like L. Tom Perry's talk about the Book of Mormon! I loved it! Another wonderful talk was Elder Haleck about capturing the vision of who we are to become and trusting the Lord. He knew that fishermen were to be his apostles before they did and he knows who we are to be before we will ever know! What a amazing concept.

This past week was amazing! I am grateful for the people who continue to help us out here and who do so much for us. Although one of the girls we are teaching got arrested on Monday, we are still pushing through and trying to find others who are ready. I am grateful for this Easter season to remember our Savior and all He did for us. He is my brother and friend. I love you all so very much!! Happy Easter :)

Love,

Sista Steph