This week was SO AMAZING. A ton of stuff happened, but I want to focus on the last couple of days because they were AMAZING TO THE MAX!!!!
So we had a visit from Elder Craig A. Cardon, who is a member of the Seventy (in the organization of the church they work under the direction of the 1st presidency and apostles to administer the church in the different parts of the world). He came and spoke to us at mission conference on Thursday (which was actually only half of the mission because we have too many missionaries. High class probs), at Stake Conference Saturday night, and at Stake Conference on Sunday. My FIRST impression when he started speaking was that his words had POWER. I could really feel the Spirit bearing witness that he was on the Lord's errand! The theme of all of these conferences was hastening the work of salvation. At mission conference he reminded us of the sacred nature of our calls and that the Lord has promised us blessings and He will keep those promises! We also talked a lot about the gathering of Israel and how it's happeningright now. We are all part of it!
Stake conference was all about member missionary work! On this subject I'd like to quote from my friend Meghan Maddock's weekly email because she put this much better than I could have ever done:
"1/1000
670/1000
Math time!
What does the first fraction mean? Out of every 1000 doors a
missionary knocks on, on average, 1 of those people will be baptized.
And the second fraction? Out of every 1000 referrals a missionary
receives, where the member personally introduces their friend, is
present when their friend is taught, and invites their friend to be
taught in their home... 670, on average, are baptized. Over 2/3.
(These statistics come from my zone leader, from an official church
study. And even if the numbers aren't exactly right, the principle
behind them definitely is)
Those numbers speak for themselves. And as a missionary, of course I
will continue to work and I will contact 100000 people, if that's what
it takes. But we need you, members of the church. More than you know.
This is the time. The Lord is hastening His work. It's time not just
to work hard, but to work smart. And, to be frank, without the
members, our work is not smart. You are the core of real missionary
work. You introduce them, you are their friends, you are their
support, you're still there when we're transferred after a few months.
All we do is teach a little.
But this isn't just about the numbers and being smart. It's about
people. It's about helping them come unto Christ. It's about giving
them knowledge that will change their lives. It's about helping them
come to know their Heavenly Father. And forgive me if I'm being a bit
bold, but for those of you who are members of the church, you have at
least one friend who you're thinking of right now. So tell them.
Invite them. If you don't know where to start, call your local
missionaries. They can help you, and they will be thrilled. And for
those of you that aren't members? I bet you know at least one Mormon
(other than me). Ask them what we're all about. You'll like what you
hear."
It's so true!! We've been finding like nobody's business, but while our own finding efforts work, member missionary works SO MUCH BETTER!!
At Stake Conference, the members were given 2 invitations to act:
1. Pray for missionary experiences. Miracles will happen if you do, I guarantee it!
2. Associate with people who aren't members of the church! You should't do so robotically with the lone intention of getting them to come to church, just try to make friends with people of other faiths. Sometimes as Mormons we don't do that, and that's a mistake. We're members of the church, yes, but first and foremost we're all children of the same Heavenly Father!
And here are some more ways that we can hasten the work of salvation:
It was just incredible. I feel inspired and uplifted, and I hope I was able to inspire y'all a little bit.
- become totally converted
- teach the gospel at home
- be good examples of love at home
- develop true charity
- be socially interactive with neighbors
- forgive one another
- doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith!
- refrain from unrighteous judgment about things you don't understand
- invite others to come unto Christ
- use faith as a principle of power (Ether 12:12)
- respect other's agency and love them unconditionally
Now moving away from the spiritual bit a little... WE EAT SO MANY TACOS!!! And mostly they don't make sense. Hispanics will make any kind of food, and then throw corn tortillas on the table. And, because we're still eating Sister Santos's food, we eat a lot of corn tortillas too. So here are the strange tacos we've eaten this week:
- BBQ chicken and mashed potato tacos
- meatloaf and mashed potato tacos
- hot dog tacos
- spicy beef hot links tacos
- frosting tacos and
- (my favorite) cake tacos
So that last one came about because the Santos family bought Sister Crockett a cake for her birthday (which was yesterday) so what do we do? We make tacos out of it! Yay!
Love you all!!!!!
Hermana Holloway
Hot dog tacos!
Beautiful Tree
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