Week #17

Aloha!

 

So this week has been AWESOME! And it's been sad. And good. And...just everything ok?!

 

Conference is coming up! So awesome! We are stoked! All of the sister missionaries are on the square except for west gate and guest services. And yes, we just had transfers. I will tell everyone where my assignment is after conference because I don't want people to try and hunt me down or avoid seeing me. If God wants us to see each other, it'll happen. And I'll be ecstatic to see you and if you are a female or a male family member I will give you a big hug! (Sorry for the males that aren't family, you'll just have to wait until May 2013)

 

In light of conference, I'm inviting you all to use this! It's AMAZING! I can't wait to use it after my mission! http://www.lds.org/general-conference/invite-others?lang=eng

 

And on that note, my mormon.org profile is finally up and running! It's at http://mormon.org/me/8183/EdenMarie/

 

And on the note of giving you links...here's another that I hope you're excited about! My Mission Presiden'ts wife has started a mission blog! And I'm actually already on it! slctemplesquaremission.blogspot.com

 

To explain Sister Wennerholm's (it's misspelt on blog) departure, she has been having lots of healt problems. So the General Authorities (leaders of the Church) prayed about what to do with her and have reassigned her to serve in Norway.

 

I'm making this fast because we normally write in the Joseph Smith Memorial building and the Senior couple missionaries are Nazis and kicked us out. haah. It was great. It was close to closing time but they closed a half hour early.

 

First a funny story. So daylight savings. It's great. If you get to sleep in. And hypothetically, if you WERE to be the ONLY apartment to get notified by District Leaders, you may miss church! You've guessed it. We slept in. The mission sent out texts to let everyone know, but our district leader didn't tell us. That wasn't unusual because that happened to some other sisters as well. What was unusual is that the other sisters in our apartment were also not told about it. So We were the ONLY apt that was completely late. We realized it when we read our texts in the morning. Sis. Daniilakis is from Germany and didn't know what Daylight Savings was. And I was still asleep because she likes to get up very early to get prettified. So we found out at 6:30 our time, 7:30 reality. And our church starts at 7:30. Our rommates gave up on going to church, and we got hurried but due to indecisiveness about whether or not to go, we didn't get there until 8:15, 7:15 our time which would have meant that we would have been extra early because we are required to be at all meetings 10 min early. Pretty funny. The Mission presidency has been teasing me about it. And we've had a good time.

 

Now for probably the most unique baptismal invitaion I've done. We were on the square and were talking to someone and he said he was not a member and starting talking about all of the wonderful things that he has seen in our church and how he feels different, so loved and at peace whenever he's around it. In the course of our conversation later I said, "You mentioned earlier that you were not a member of the church. Would you like to be? We can make that happen for you." He said yes!! haha. Sadly it turns out another sister missionary there had already gotten his information and was going to call him, so the story as far as I'm concerned ends there. Sister Daniilakis and I had a good chuckle later on.

 

On that note, I have a new companion! Her name is Sister Clayton. She just got back from outbound in upstate New York and is from San Diego. We've only been comps for 3 days so no stories that are too crazy yet.

 

Annnnnnnnnnnnndddd the moment you've all been waiting for....We had two baptisms today! I dont' get to count either of them though. Brian's story I explained last week, and Sister Daniilakis talked to Kevin first on an inbound call so she gets to count him. The good news is that I was there start to finish for both of them so I really got to be firsthand in their experiences. What a joy and priviledge.

 

Now the sad part. Carolyn and Darlene are pass along card miracles, but things that happened this week. Something happened with Caorlyn'ts stepson and he is in the hosptial. They don't want to talk aobu tit. And when I called Darlene and started asking about it, she said that she didn't know what was going on and referenced that they "WERE best friends." They have been practically sisters for a very long time and we don't know what happened that stopped that. We were trying to teach Darlene and from the beginning of the lesson I felt like something was very wrong it was "off." She was very different too. She's struggling, and we had to hang up because her husband (who is ALWAYS drunk, she usually hides so she can talk to us) started yelling at her that he needed to use the phone. I was worried he was going to hit her so I told her that we will do whatever she needed us to do. She hesitated and asked us to call her back and told us that she loved us very much repeatedly. She's never said taht before.

 

It's also been hard with Laura. This is her 8th child and she's never been able to stop smoking, even in pregnancies. She doesn't believe that she can do it, and that is the ONLY thing that stands in the way of her getting baptized.

 

Farina has beeing having trouble with health. She's been in the hospital and loves us and wants to go to church but doesn't feel like she can do it just yet.

 

Jenn and Tony are doing well. Tony was sleeping and was sick when we last called for our appointment, so we said we'd call later. Jenn is very sweet and is very excited to meet with missionaries. (Well acutally they both are) They want to wait until April when Tony gets home from his job site which is understandable.

 

Somethign that was a HUGE highlight of my life.....Grandma, Grandpa, Hillary and Tyler came! Gpa called Temple square asking if he could take me out for lunch and he didn't take anything but yes for an answer...so it happened! Hillary and Tyler were surprises, I didn't know they were coming. And then Grandpa at lunch thrust a phone under my nose and it was Mommy! I got to talk to all of the kids and say a quick Hi (I wasn't sure I was supposed to talk to them but Grandpa doesn't take no for an answer.) It was so fun to see them and be with them. It was just like I was home again...except it was weird when I still needed to go to the bathroom with my companion. Mixing of two worlds!

 

Temple Square Fact: YES, we do have an opporutnity for us to serve a portion of our mission somewhere else in the United States exempting Hawaii. Contrary to popular belief this is NOT an opportunity for us to have a "real experience." I hate it when people say that because this is as real as it gets. There are miracles that happen here that make this just as real as anywhere else, maybe even more. I'll be able to judge when I have that opportunity myself. The reason why they do that is because there is a huge demand for sisters when we get busy, but we're not always busy. So rather than having extra sisters trying to find something to do when there is so many, we share with the rest of the USA. They usually send sisters towards the middle end of their mission, which they have told me is good timing because they're starting to get burned out and things slow down dramatically when they go outbound. (To give you one example, when conference comes we're on the square from 8:00 am to 11:00pm with 20 min meals doing nothing but preaching the gospel and asking for referrals. We work very hard.) No, sisters are not always excited about going, quite the opposite. One of my friends was furious, as I'm told quite a few are when it's their time to go. They have to leave their investigators and a mission they love very much. But something in common is that they are always very eager to come back. One of my friends was asked to extend her mission there to train the rest of missionaries on how to do missionary work, and when it went to the General Authorities (It is issued through the same process as an original mission call) they talked to her and she said, "Elder Bednar I'm a temple Square missionary." He said "That's what I told President Monson, and he agreed. We have a ticket ready for you to come home" Sisters love their experience and we're so lucky to have the best of both worlds. I know many people feel this way, but I truly feel like my mission is the best in the world because we get to teach  the world! It's amazing, and I'm trying to live up the priviledge I've been given.

 

Love you all! I know that this church is true. I am so grateful to have this time to wear the name of My Savior, Jesus Christ, over my heart. I love Him, and will always love Him for what He has done for me. Because of Christ's atonement, I get to be with my family forever. I can live with my Father in Heaven again.

 

 5 And men are instructed sufficiently that they ^aknow good from evil. And the ^blaw is given unto men. And by the law no flesh is ^cjustified; or, by the law men are ^dcut off. Yea, by the temporal law they were cut off; and also, by the spiritual law they perish from that which is good, and become miserable forever.
 6 Wherefore, ^aredemption cometh in and through the ^bHoly ^cMessiah; for he is full of ^dgrace and truth.
 7 Behold, he offereth himself a ^asacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto ^bnone else can the ^cends of the law be answered.
 8 Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, ^asave it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah, who ^blayeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the ^cresurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise.
-2 Nephi 2:5-8

 

I love you all!

 

Sister Eden Marie