i don't
even know where to begin with talking about the blessings/miracles/tender
mercies of this week. it was unreal.
lets
first start off by addressing the fact that the Apostle, Elder Jeffrey R.
Holland, came to our mission this week! Words couldn't even begin to describe
what an incredible man he is. We've known that he was coming for several weeks,
but we got an extra bonus and his wife decided to come too!
so
starting back at Monday, we polished ourselves up to meet him! and our car.
President told us to be in top shape for the meeting and to please wax our
cars. something that S. Bringhurst and i had absolutely no experience with!
haha be we're pretty sure we did it right... took a while but it seemed to be a
bit shinier in the end.
Tuesday
we had a mission wide WebEx and President and Sister Packard gave us the
lowdown for the meeting with Elder Holland that week and told us to be on our
best behavior. Afterwards Sister Packard came out to Littleton and took Sister
Bringhurst and me out to lunch. That was a special treat! we LOVE Sister
Packard. and its always fun chatting with the Packards cause they tell us
everything thats going on in the mission. They had been with the Hollands over
the weekend so we got to hear all about that.
Wednesday
was an exciting day for the entire mission because Brent Packard came home from
his mission! the Packards were SO excited and it was so cute. they invited
everyone that lived close enough to come to the airport to welcome him off of
the plane. funny story. we wanted to go superrrrr bad so we asked a member to
drive us so that we wouldn't waste our miles. and there was a big
miscommunication and she thought she was taking us to the mission home, not the
airport, and we didn't realize that she was totally headed to the wrong place
until too late and then we missed it! ughh. oh well. we heard all about it and
it was a very happy reunion for everyone! i am so happy for the packards
:)
Thursday!!
ahhh i cant even handle it so im just going to say it right away! NATALIE IS
GETTING BAPTIZED!! we had a lesson with her that night and at the end she told
us that she had been thinking/praying about it and she had decided on June 14th
:) ! i almost fell out of my seat/ refrained myself from tackling her with a
hug. she is so perfect and i don't think ive loved anyone so much on my
mission. she's 17, don't know if i mentioned that before, and she is adorable.
she was introduced to the church through her friend Anna Berrey - a stellar
young woman in our ward. and she's been coming to literally everything for the
past month. church, activities, seminary! and now she's getting baptized! we're
praying that June 14th will work out. her dad is on board but her mom isn't
convinced yet. but natalie seems pretty confident that there wont be a problem
and her mom will agree by then. YAY! she wrote us both the most adorable
letters telling us thank you for teaching her and it took everything i had not
to cry in front of her.
Friday
was the Mission Conference!! We got there super early to get the best seats! we
chose the third row exactly in the middle :) and saved seats to sit next to all
my favorite people - sisters cope, gomez, hileman, and lewis. best day ever! so
since we got there so early we had lots of time to visit with the other
missionaries while we waited. the whole mission has never gotten together all
at once and it was way too fun to even be allowed. i just love everyone so
much.
they also
had the traveling visitor center set up for all of us to see. its incredible.
it includes several displays with ipads on a stand that are connected to tvs
that show videos. and they all have different themes - the savior, families,
joseph smith. they're breathtaking. and some sisters in our mission have been
working super hard to get them going. and its exactly that! a traveling
visitors center! they take this displays around and can set them up anywhere
and turn a place into exactly what you would find at visitors center. super
cool.
anyways.
so we were all freaking out and no one could even sit still because we were too
excited! and then about a half hour before the meeting started it was time for
all of us to chill out and actually stay in our seats so that we weren't
embarrassing when he came. and sure enough Elder and Sister Holland along with
President and Sister Packard walked into the chapel around 1:00PM.
He
started things off with shaking all of our hands. and then told us afterwards
that he interviews each of us when he shook our hands and looked into our eyes
and that we were a good bunch of missionaries. He brought the President of the
70 with him who spoke to us first - Elder Hallstrom. and then the adorable
Sister Holland spoke to us. and then Elder Holland! He talked to us about the
importance of staying strong in the gospel after our missions. it was really
cool. he spoke up on the stand for a while and then said "i feel a sermon
coming on!" and got down to walk around the rows and keep talking to us.
it was way cool. He ended with talking about something that hit me super hard.
Its a poem that goes like this -
"Come
to the edge"
No, I'll
fall
"Come
to the edge!"
And so I
came. He pushed me, and I flew.
I think
it means something different to everyone. what it really means to come to the
edge and how we do that. But i know that we ALL get knocked off the edge
sometimes. We feel like we're falling and really we only have two options in
that moment. to hit the ground or hurry up and learn how to fly. and the only
way we could ever learn how to fly is if we fall in the first place! so we have
to let the Lord push us. We have to come to the edge.
So there
were rumors that Elder and Sister Holland would be coming to our ward on
sunday. even Sister Packard told us that it was a good possibility! because their
son and grandkids are in the Littleton Ward. and so it was like 10 minutes
before church started and we were trying not to hope for it. but sure enough,
in walked the Hollands! They sat in the pews with their family but we got to
shake their hands again and he got up at the end of the meeting to tell the
ward how impressed he was. He didn't tell anyone he was coming other than his
family (and the missionaries just know everything) and he said it was really
amazing just to see an average day in the littleton ward. they went and spoke
to the young women during third hour. they're so lucky. and guess what?? they
talked to our investigator Natalie and she told them her baptismal date!! we
passed them in the hall several times and Sister Holland told us we are
adorable - i died. what a day. I was sitting by a returning inactive during
sacrament meeting and when he finished speaking she leaned over to me and asked
"who is that?" haha and i was like uhhhh let me tell you. after i
explained she said "that makes sense. i could feel it."
so that
was our week with Elder and Sister Holland! i couldn't even begin to explain
everything that he said to us during the mission conference but it was
beautiful and inspiring. and i felt so happy afterwards!
thats all
for now! have a wonderful week and I’ll talk to you again next monday! love
you!
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