Dedication

Well hey! This week has been pretty repetitive actually. There isn't much
new going on. There was some really exciting stuff that happened though! We
were able to get in with a potential that we met the other day.
Missionaries use to stop by her house in a different city because she was
staying with her dad to take care of him. He passed away a while ago and
she said the missionaries were so nice and would stop by to see if she was
ok. So that left a good impression on her and she was willing to let us in.
We taught a super short version of the Restoration and mostly talked about
how we have a prophet on the Earth today, and because of that, we know
about the Plan of Salvation and how we can be families forever. We told her
we would love to come by and share that knowledge with her next time. It
was super interesting because we taught the Restoration in a way where we
actually didn't even talk about Joseph Smith. We weren't expecting that or
anything, but the main points we talked about were just the fact that the
church was no longer on the Earth after Christ was crucified (over time of
course) and that it has been restored and we have a prophet today as well.
It was interesting because I have never taught it that way before but
somehow I didn't feel it was really important to talk about Joseph Smith at
that time. She will be gone this week but she said she would read the
pamphlet and we could come back next week when she is home. So that is
cool! It just showed me that we always need to do our best to help everyone
even if they don't seem interested because you never know what will happen
later! It is all about planting seeds. Those missionaries helped her and
because of that, she was willing to let us in. It was cool how we found her
too because we were actually trying to find someone else and apparently
they had moved.

We taught all of our recent converts as usual. One of our newest converts
is going through some very hard struggles right now and was gone, but is
back again because she needed to be by her doctors...long story short, her
husband is having an affair with her best friend (oops), so she is no longer
there and is living out of her car. Luckily the car is in her mom's name or 

else she wouldn't have gotten that either. Poor woman. She was supposed 

to meet with the Bishop yesterday so we hope all went well.

It has been fun because with some of the recent converts we have actually
been telling them what we are going to talk about, and then have them study
the pamphlets and do the scripture study in the back so that THEY can teach
it to US. It has been fun that way :) So we told our married/baptized couple
to be prepared to teach us next time. It was something we did with someone else
and I like doing that, then I don't feel like I'm going over the same old stuff
with them again. So that way we can see what they know and what they
learned and expound on those things and how it has helped them and such.

This week we also had MLC. So we were gone all day and this week we have
spent many hours with the zone leaders getting ready for zone meeting this
week and getting our training ready for that, as well as creating a
training plan for the district leaders for this transfer. We were much more
involved in this process this time than in the past. But we are focusing on
recommitting to the work and being obedient and consecrated. We want this
meeting to be fun, but to also have some spiritual moments and in one of the
Elder's words, "Give all of them a spiritual kick in the face" so that our
zone can buckle down and be better. President T is worried that people
are getting too casual, which is definitely true. So that has caused me to
think about myself as well and where I could be better and be a better
example.
Our mother investigator and her family fed us dinner this week to "thank us."
They are absolutely adorable and I really just love them so much. They also gave us
a cute bag with candies and little sayings to go with them. It was really
fun. They couldn't come to church this week since it was the temple
dedication, so we left the Joseph Smith movie with them to watch.

Also, one of the families we were teaching dropped us this week.
It was the weirdest thing and came out of the blue. We confirmed
our appointment and they said they were good to go. A couple hours
before the appointment they cancelled and said the kids were sick
so they would just see us on Thursday. Then a few hours
after that we got another text that said they would no longer be taking
discussions and wouldn't be joining the church, but thanks for your time
anyway. So that was weird. But oh well! Got to find those people who are
prepared so it's sad, but good so that we can have more time to find those
who are ready.

We also had quite a few lessons with our youngest investigator because his baptism is
this next weekend! woo! He is so cute. Pray for him that he won't be scared
of the water and it will all go well! He is the smartest and cutest kid
ever. He is very sheltered though so sometimes he is hard to teach. Plus he
is always worried that he is sinning but he's definitely not. haha.

The Phoenix Temple Dedication was this weekend! It was really good. We went
to the first session and 2 of our new converts were all there as well so
that was really awesome :) I'm hoping that will help them keep their sights
on the temple to be able to go in a year. President Monson dedicated the
temple and gave a really good talk about how we need to rededicate our
lives to the savior as well. President Uchtdorf and Elder Oaks were also
there. President Monson is definitely getting old and sometimes he seems a
little unsure of what is going on (like during the cornerstone ceremony)
but it is so amazing that once he gets up to speak, he is just a power
house. The spirit is so strong and he is completely normal. You would never
know that he is getting older because he speaks with power every time.
However, he didn't even go to the other dedication sessions. It must have
wore him out. I love that man and that is my thought for you this
week...Rededicate your life to the Savior! Give Him all that you have and
consecrate your life to him and to being a good disciple of Him. I was
reading in Mosiah this week and chapter 2:21-24 as well as a few other
verses such as 34, and 41 all really touched me. We will never be able to
repay Christ, we all know that. The only thing he asks us to do, is keep is
commandments and be good disciples of Him. When we do that we continue to
get blessings as well and we are even more in debt! Our lives are not ours,
we are to do what God would have us do. We are to be instruments in his
hands and do align our will with His. I know that this time I have to fully
dedicate my time and efforts to God are so short, but I hope to be able to
continue to dedicate my life and efforts to God when I get home too. I want
to be an instrument in His hands no matter where I am.

I hope all of you have a great week and try your best to be an instrument
in God's hands each day. Love you all!