Conference and Confessions of a Sister Missionary

So, Conference was amazing! I'm sure that every missionary in the world is going to email about General Conference today, but it's all good. Some of my favorite talks were these:

Elder Ronald A. Rasband, who talked about how service teaches us to value what the Lord loves. He told a story about Tori, an elementary-aged girl who was in the tornado in Oklahoma last year. She was in the bathroom with fellow classmates and her mom and prayed that the Lord would protect her. The tornado went right over the school and tore everything apart. She closed her eyes because she was scared, and when the tornado was gone, she opened her eyes and there was a stop sign right in front of her face. Those who were in the bathroom with her all lived, but seven of her classmates did not survive. I started crying when I heard this story, because it was so touching to me that even in the midst of a tornado, God can and will calm and protect. 

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, who is, of course, my favorite, talked about gratitude. It seems like this talk is a favorite among most people who watched Conference, which is understandable!  He talked about how "gratitude is a disposition; a way of life." e also said that "being grateful is an act of faith in God." How true! I totally agreed when President Uchtdorf said, "gratitude is a catalyst to all Christlike attributes." I love that, because honestly, if we all were able to be truly grateful people, than we would be much more like our Savior.

Elder Gary E. Stevenson, who talked about the 2014 Winter Olympics and how LDS athlete Noelle Pikus-Pace spent years of preparation just for a 4-minute performance in the Olympics. "Consider how your life is like that: You've prepared to come to the earth for a brief moment. It is our 'four minutes.'" Our life is but a brief moment on spectrum of eternity, so we need to perform at our best. Don't wait until later in life to change or repent-- do it now! 

The most amazing part about Conference though was that our investigators, Roselie and her daughter, Octavia, came for ALL FOUR SESSIONS!!! They both absolutely loved it and Octavia asked if it was going to happen every week. She was slightly disappointed when we told her it was every six months, haha. But they felt the Spirit, and Roselie even stayed an extra session (she was supposed to leave after the Sunday morning session to go to New York) because she loved it so much. And it was fun because in between session on Sunday the members traditionally have a lunch between sessions. Elisia made the lunch, and it was delicious Spanish food! Oh, I love Spanish food! Then we had a Book of Mormon reading group for whoever wanted to join in. 

Needless to say, Conference was amazing. I encourage every single person in the whole wide world to watch Conference. If you did already, watch it again!

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Now for story time:

This morning I had an armful of fresh laundry and I needed a place to put them. I went to move the blanket that was on my bed, and I saw something crawl really fast in the blanket. I yelped and threw the laundry onto Sister Suckow's bed. Well, the bug disappeared somewhere on my bed. Sister Suckow came in, wondering why I was shouting, "STOP IT! GET OFF! GO AWAY!" We geared up-- shoes on hands and feet, ready to squish the sucker. Well, I flipped the blanket off the bed and... nothing. So I started flipping other things off my bed when I saw it.... crawling at super speed down and underneath my bed. 

So we tried to get it out from underneath my bed, but the problem is that there was a pile of hangers underneath. It was a disgusting bug that was quite large and had lots of legs (but it wasn't a centipede or millipede...) and we just couldn't get it. So what do two Sister missionaries do when they can't kill a bug? Call the Elders. Elder Beatty just said, "Are you serious?" When we assured him that we were dead serious, they agreed to come over.

So thus the adventure continued. They took longer than expected to show up, so we texted them. Their response: "We had to stop and get gas."
Our response: "BUT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!!!!!!!!! THERE'S A BUG IN THE HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

They came over, moved the entire bed and finally found and killed the bug. We thanked them, even though it was ridiculous that we couldn't kill the creepy bug.

That is all.

I love you! Watch Conference!

Love,

Sister Singleton

The Pagoda!