We'll Bring the World His Truth

Hi everyone!

This has been such a great week, ESPECIALLY with being able to watch General Conference.  General Conference is one of the most exciting things that happens in a missionary's life.  I was so grateful to be able to listen to a living prophet and apostles and to hear their inspired counsel.  As I was listening, my mind was going all over the place thinking about how their words apply to the people we are teaching, the ward here as a whole, and also me personally.  I could definitely feel the spirit testifying that these men truly are the Lord's representatives as they spoke.

I especially enjoyed the talk by Elder Nielsen who just happens to be the general authority that visited our mission a few months ago.  I was touched by his personal experience with his sister and his family's love and determination.  It truly is unconditional love that softens hearts.  I also loved the talk by Elder Holland.  He is always my favorite.  The analogy he shared really illustrated to me our complete dependence on the Savior.  Sandra was able to join us at one of the sessions as well which was awesome.

This past week we also had another opportunity to go to the airport.  At 3:00 AM, we drove to Portland to drop off a sister missionary.  That same day we had MLC (Mission Leadership Conference) which started at 9:00 AM.  It was a long day and an amazing one.

This MLC focused on technology and the new pilot program that is taking place in our mission.  The training focused on the principles found in the story of the two thousand stripling warriors and how they apply to us today. One of the thoughts President shared that really stuck with me was based on the scripture Alma 56:47-48:

 47 Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.

 48 And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it.

He related that to how some of us may not always believe we can do everything that is required of us but we don't need to doubt that President knows we can, prophets and apostles know we can, and the Lord knows we can.  At the end of the day we sang, "We'll Bring the World His Truth". I'll never sing that song again without thinking of that day. The spirit was so strong and I felt we truly are counterparts of the stripling warriors today.

from the MLC: 

Two awesome miracles happened with Margarita this week. One night, as we were driving to go visit a member, we saw a girl on the side of the road and realized it was Margarita. We quickly pulled over and got out to talk to her. We set up an appointment for later but at the last minute she had to cancel. We were sad because we have not been able to see her lately. A few days later, as we were driving to another appointment, all of a sudden we felt we needed to go see Margarita. We haven't had much success catching her lately but we figured we'd try. It was already late when we knocked on her door. She was getting ready for bed but nonetheless she let us in and we were able to talk about how we build our relationship with our Heavenly Father through prayer and scripture study. She showed us a piece of paper she found which was a note she had written her grandfather almost a year ago the first time he entered the hospital. It was a sweet letter talking about how he was her best friend and how she would always put God and him first in her life. I just love her. She is such a kind, tender person.

This week we went on exchanges with Hermana Gifford and Hermana Aubrey. I was with Hermana Gifford in Hayesville. We knew they had been struggling lately with finding people to teach and a few of their most promising investigators recently dropped them. We tried to find contacts through various ways throughout the day (contacting previous investigators, referrals, etc.) but nothing was really happening. We went back to the apartment for dinner and, as we were leaving, we said a very specific prayer that we would be led to find one person who would be prepared to hear the gospel. A short while later, we were walking down the street and ended up behind a Hispanic woman pushing a stroller and walking with three other children. She was going SUPER fast but we felt we needed to talk to her; we were just trying to figure out how. We looked at each other, jumped into the bike lane on the road, and started jogging next to her, talking with her and teaching. She kept moving and didn't seem very eager to talk with us but we kept going. Then something amazing happened. Hermana Gifford pulled out one of the cards for the He Lives video and, as soon as she saw the picture of Christ, she stopped dead in her tracks. We talked to her for a few more minutes and she gave us her address and said we could come by whichever afternoon we wanted. The Lord answers prayers! It was such a testimony to me that when we act, we receive and that finding people is directly linked to faith.

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter Sunday.

Love,

Hermana Meise

We went to dinner at a member's house who lives out in the country and this was our view just as we got to their house:

Bonus picture this week...another missionary mom who lives in Oregon and whom I met on Facebook just happened into a Panera Bread restaurant last week and saw the sister missionaries. She asked if she could take their picture and post it on the Facebook page which she started for moms of missionaries serving all over the world. I belong to that group along with 7,000+  other moms and dads. Hayley mentioned that her mom is a part of that Facebook group. When asked who her mom was, Hayley said my name and the MM said, "I know your mom!" Small world, indeed.