On Monday we went on exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders. Guess who I was on exchange with?? Sister Jensen! Sister Jensen as in THE Libby Jensen from good ol' Springville (for those of you who don't know, I went to High School with her). It was a blast! I was able to meet a really quirky family who's going through quite a lot right now. Two of the girls are pregnant and don't really know what to do with their lives right now. As they were talking, I couldn't help but thank Heavenly Father for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I was able to share briefly with them about the similarities between their family and mine. I have seen the Atonement absolutely, completely change my family, and I know it will continue to change my family for the better. So testifying to them that it will all work out was an amazing opportunity.
Friday we had a Cottage Meeting at the Bruchez's house. A Cottage Meeting is an informal gospel discussion with a lesson that lasts about 15-20 minutes and is then open to comments and discussions. We talked a lot about the characteristics of God and how we would describe what he is like. The whole time I kept thinking one thing: Merciful. Heavenly Father is such a merciful God, and He loves us so much (Read this talk and Matthew 20:1-16).
Saturday we went and helped a member with a birthday party, and it was fun because there was a pony there. We couldn't ride it, but it was still pretty neat.
Later that day we were stopping by a referral that Sisters Bradshaw and Suckow had gotten when I was in Reading 2nd on exchanges. We walked up to the door the same time as this guy did (one of those awkward moments), and he just said, ".... yes? Can I help you?" We asked if Brenda lived there, but he said no. So we talked to him a little bit about the Church, but he wasn't too interested. So we got back in the car and were about to pretty much mark off the referral as a bad address. Well, I looked out my window and saw a woman walking a dog. I had the prompting to go talk to her, but I kept rationalizing my way to not do it. The more I fought the prompting, the stronger it got. I finally just looked at Sister Suckow and said, "I have to go talk to that woman." So I jumped out of the car, ran across the street and talked to her. Well, I had no idea what to say. So I just asked if she knew a Brenda that lived nearby. She did! And guess what? She lived in the house that wejust stopped by. The woman told us that her nephew just moved in (who was the guy we talked to) and he didn't speak English that well. So he probably just misunderstood when we asked if Brenda lived there.
It was cool though, because not only did we find out the address was actually right and that the referral really did need our help, but the woman walking the dog was incredibly nice and receptive. Lesson learned? Well, in the words of President Monson: Never postpone a prompting! If I had, I don't know what would've happened. I'm just grateful I finally listened.
We then went to the 2014 General Women's meeting. If you missed that--WATCH IT. It was amazing! We had a get together at 6:30 (the broadcast started at 8:00 pm) where we did a "Speed Friendshipping" activity. It was pretty much like speed dating, but just getting to know all the women and girls in the ward. The Broadcast itself was wonderful. At one point they showed a video of a girl growing up, and it was focused on her hands and the works she did throughout her life. Well, I don't think there was a dry eye in the congregation. You know it's a women's meeting when they have someone walking up and down the aisles handing out tissues...
On Sunday there were four baptisms in the building. At one time. It was also one ward's Ward Conference. Talk about slightly organized chaos. We were running around like crazy trying to help with whatever we could. The Reading 1st Elders (the Elders in our ward) had a baptism, but we were invited to help out with an 8-year-old baptism of a ward member. And then there were two more. The church building was packed (in different rooms, of course)! It was amazing to see different people entering into a covenant with God to be like Jesus Christ. I love baptisms! But it's not because that's all we as missionaries think about or anything, it's because when we enter into a covenant with God we get SO MANY BLESSINGS. And the more blessings the better. So, baptism = blessings.
And we were just barely at a funeral this morning. This is going to sound weird, but I love Mormon funerals. Not that I love people passing away, but I just love how we have the knowledge and testimony that there is life after death. It's sad when someone passes, but their spirit is merely in another place serving the Lord until we will all be resurrected and see our Heavenly Father again.
Last, but not least... we went to the Pagoda last week. Yay!!!
Sound like a busy enough week?
Love,
Sister Singleton
