A Temple session with an Apostle?!

 

Here's a picture from when we got caught in the rain, and then the rest are from this morning after the temple!

Wow today was such a good day! Let me tell you why...

We got to go to the Temple today! Oh man I missed that so much. I haven't been in 4 months. That's the longest I've gone without going to the Temple in a long time. So needless to say, I was super excited. So we get situated and are sitting in the chapel waiting for it to start, when I get this feeling that there is someone important there in the session. I look up and Elder Oaks and his wife are sitting in front of me! No big deal or anything. Haha so I got to do a session with an Apostle! That is probably the coolest thing that has ever happened to me. Then to add to that....we were walking out of the Temple and I look up and David Archuleta walks past us into the Temple with his mom! what! Haha today has been so strange but in a good way. Oh man, serving on Temple Square is wild.

It's been raining so much everyday here! We have been caught in a bunch of storms, I'm surprised we didn't get struck by lightening haha. But it's always good to get rain though. We just look like wet stray dogs a lot!

Well this week has been so great! I have just loved serving in the Humanitarian Center. I hope I never get transferred. Funny story of the week: The HC feeds us lunch for free, so on Tuesday, I got all my food on my tray and turns out I got way too much, but I felt bad for taking it so I decided to eat it all. I ate a big enchilada, rice, beans, the other sides with the enchilada, bread, 2 things of fruit, a 16 oz. parfait, cake, and 3 glasses of chocolate milk....bad idea. I have never been that full in my entire life! Not even at Thanksgiving...I was so full it hurt. So I contemplated making myself throw up. Okay this is getting embarrassing. haha. Oh well. So I tried, but I have never done it before so it didn't work and we had a tour waiting so I just had to take the tour all hunched over haha. I made a commitment to myself that I will never eat that much again!

Also at the Humanitarian Center, we took this tour of two older couples. It was so neat! One of the ladies said to me, "this woman was my missionary years ago and now my husband and I are receiving our endowments and getting sealed together in the Salt Lake Temple today!" She then told me that they would also be sealed for her parents and other family members. Oh man it was so neat to see that. It made me think of the joy the other couple must have! Here they are, 60 years later, reaping what they sowed. Seed planting works miracles. I hope I get to have experiences like that too.

On Wednesday, we were in the Tabernacle. I greeted this guy named Leonard, and we got to talking. We ended up getting his phone number and setting up another appointment on the square while he is in town. We got to meet up with him on Friday, and he is way nice! He is a non-denominational Christian from West Virginia, here on vacation. He became religious about 15 years ago when he got in a motorcycle accident. He loves reading the Bible but only reads the NIV version. He told us that he tried to read the Book of Mormon once but that he couldn't understand the language. We had a great lesson with him and taught him about the restoration and plan of salvation, and he thought it was pretty cool and agreed but isn't willing to accept it. He is so stuck on not wanting to be a denomination that he won't even give truth a chance! We are hoping that we can read the Book of Mormon with him and help him learn how to understand it so he can receive revelation from it and then he will be able to see that the communication with God isn't closed, but that He still speaks today! And we can learn from His servants and be servants ourselves.

Jenna got baptized! Oh man she is such a rockstar! It was a bittersweet moment though because as we were setting skype up, apparently Persident Daines denied it....so I wasn't able to skype her baptism. I was kinda ticked! Especially since he was my Mission President...but I need to respect both Mission Presidents I guess! But she is just so awesome. I am excited for her to send me her testimony, she wrote it out since I couldn't be there.

Joelle is doing really good! She went to church yesterday and is hopefully receiving the help she needs from the Bishop. She is so ready to be baptized on November 1st. She knows without a doubt that this is the church with the fullness of truth and that she needs to be a part of it so she can receive the blessings Heavenly Father has in store for her.

I met the coolest girl/lady/woman (I couldn't decide which one to say ha) on chat the other day! Her name is Raniyah and she lives in Chicago. She had a friend that is LDS and she's been interested in the church. We had a great discussion and we were able to mail her a copy of the Book of Mormon and she really wanted to go to church on Sunday. We'll have to see if she made it. She was way open and willing to accept our invitations because she feels like there could be more out there. I am constantly reminded of how cool this mission is, and why I need to be serving here. It's more for selfish reasons I think. Haha Heavenly Father keeps giving me the coolest experiences! It's like He's trying to tell me that I needed to come back from Ohio.

I LOVED the General Women's Conference. I got to go! I got really lucky. They didn't have many tickets but I was able to go. It was amazing. I loved all the speakers, and I had prayers answered. It was so neat because right before it started, I had a prayer in my heart to learn something. Then the first thing out of the speaker's mouth was exactly what I needed to hear. Funny how that works!

Well we are gearing up for Conference this week...it's about to be nuts here! I can't believe that this is my last Conference. I am so psyched to just go and give it everything I've got and just be totally spent after this weekend. It's going to be so awesome, I can feel it! I just encourage you all to watch as much as Conference as you can, and just like we invite our investigators to do, I invite you to go to Conference with a question, and as you watch as much of it as you can, I know that you will receive an answer. I know that because the Savior of the World has promised you that if you will 'ask, seek, and knock,' that 'it will be opened unto you'. Something that I have been learning a lot about or just that has been standing out to me is miracles. I was reading today in Mormon chapter 9, which has some of my favorite verses about miracles. Every time I read it I love it more. The promise given is so powerful: "Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth." Remember that this week. As you ask in faith, it will be granted. Look for those miracles!

Love,