Week #20

Aloha family!

 

This week has been...so busy. I may as well start off this email with a bang! For conference weekend we DID attain our goal of 7,162 referrals from Friday, Saturday,and Sunday. In fact....we EXCEEDED it!!! We came up to a final count of 7,541!!!! That means that we have SO many people that we get to invite to come unto Christ by hearing of His restored gospel!! EEEEeeeeeekkkkkkk!!!!! It was nuts. 20 min before we were 400 short of our goal. And at 10 minutes we were still a little below. At the end of Saturday we only at about 2,000 referrals. Yep. Yikes. And it was disgusting weather on Sunday. It was freezing. Snowing. All that good stuff. But we did it. And man it feels good. And I'm happy to report that my comp and I made our goal as well. We felt like 100 would be a good goal. And at Saturday because we were busy with West Gate (my assignment this transfer! Annoucement! horray!) and we couldn't really talk to alot of people. So we only had like....5. Yep. And we hit the pavement and came up with a grand total of...121 referrals!!!Whoopee!!! Sister Clayton says that she has never had that many, and she's almost done with her mission. What a testimony that when we prayerfully make goals, there is nothing that can stand in our way with God at our side.

 

Man, there are so many stories from Conference! I'm going to share my favorite one. I was at West Gate, and since I wanted to talk to people, I would go outside and talk to people while still in eyeshot of my companion. There was one guy that I met named James. He was a member of the church, and did not serve a mission. He actually was a little against missionary work. He siad that he'd see people that come back from missions and do bad things...so why are missions so great? And he also said that everyone will have a chance to receive the gospel, whether it be in this life or the next, so why teach it to people now because if we do and they reject it, in his eyes we're damning them. I really followed the spirit in what I taught him, but through the course of our conversation he changed his views. He could see the truth in what I said and it changed his heart. And by the end of the conversation, the very man that was against missionary work....ended up giving me 20 names to call. Yep. That's the power of the God for ya. And what made it all the more memorable...well, remember how I said it was REALLY cold? Well, the day before, it was sunny and sisters didn't prepare. I ended up giving my coat, gloves, scarf,and hat to someone who was going to be out on the Square while I was in West Gate, because she would be out there more than me. So I was shivering out there...for an hour and a half! It was snowing, and freezing cold and I just stood there in a cardigan. My hands were purple and it took real effort not to let my shivering show. And when we left, I couldn't feel my feet and I took my shoes off and my feet were blotchy yellow and red. I guess the blood stopped circulating to some parts of my feet....? A sister said it was the first stage of frostbite. I took some pretty sick pictures so stay tuned! The sister heralded them becuase alot of people think that Temple Square missionaries it's just cream and roses for us, but it's one manifestation that even though we don't trek miles and miles everyday, we still have opposition of our own. (Mom, there is still a part of my foot that hurts, and it feels hard. It had white dots on the skin and I tried cutting them out with fingerclipping and couldn't feel it. But it hurts to walk on it and to touch it. Can you ask Sean or Damon what they think that is? I really don't want to go to a doctor here becuase they don't have a reputation for being intelligent or helpful.)

 

That's all I have time for! I also want to include when I wrote on easter.imamormon.org (CHECK IT OUT!!!) No, I did not log into facebook and yes, we had permission from our president to do it.

 

I am currently serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. That means that I have the honor and privilege of inviting people to come unto Christ. Sometimes they have a knowledge of Him, and sometimes they don't. But no matter the measure of their knowledge, I have tried to help them deepen and strengthen their relationship with their Savior. I am very conscious of that fact that I wear the name of Christ over my heart next to my own on my nametag. I try to live up to the name that I have been given, and by doing that I find that I have come closer to my Savior, and have been able to help others do the same.
Preach My Gospel, a manual for missionaries says, "As your understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ grows, your desire to share the gospel will increase."(pg 2) I can attest to that. Over time my understanding of the Atonement, the very reason why we celebrate Easter, has grown. And as it has, I cannot keep my mouth closed when I see the struggles and heartaches of my fellow men. "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, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah, who layeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise."(2 Nephi 2:8, from The Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ)
Something that often happens in American culture is that when we have something that we don't want to forget, we write it on our hands.  By allowing Himself to be sacrificed for us, our Savior has done just that. 1 Nephi 21:16 says, " Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me." Our Savior Jesus Christ loves us. And not only WILL He not forget us, but He CANNOT. The marks where the nails were driven into His body act as reminder to Him, and to us. He loves us. He will never leave us. I love Him, and I am so grateful for what He has done for me.
I bear testimony that I KNOW that my Savior lives. There is no doubt of that in my mind. And to that same level, I can attest I that I know through experience that the atonement of Jesus Christ is powerful enough to take away every heartache, every sin, and every weakness. All of unfairness of this world is made right through His atonement. We have a promise, "For with God nothing shall be impossible." (Luke 1:37) I know that this church is His church restored on Earth once more. And I know that if we come forward and partake of the fullness of His gospel in this His church, that it will be the only way we can obtain all that He has for us.

 

I love you tons, there is SO MUCH MORE I want to say. But duty calls! I am trying to be the best missionary I can be, that the Lord wants me to be. A saying that I heard that has impacted me is, "No one remember an ordinary missionary." I want to be extraordinary not because of myself, but because I want other people to remember Christ because of my actions.

 

Temple square fact: "Motors" is computer time when we are assigned time in our day to call the people to teach and the referrals we received.

 

 

I love you all!

Sister Eden Marie

P.S. Can I have Aubrey Helton's address and Michael (Lyman family)