Hey guess what! October 19th was my beloved Lyndsey Resnik's birthday (wow 22 - I never thought we'd get to this age) but it's also the year mark of when I got my mission call!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?!
Yeah it was a cool discovery.
MONDAY: Was pretty interesting. Our ward mission leader picked up a kid off the street and was convinced that we should teach him the lessons. Needless to say it didn't work out, but we ate dinner with them Monday night. And then scheduled an appointment for Tuesday night which (not surprisingly) the kid did not show up to. And during Pday we spent like 3 hours playing sports with the elders (okay Sister Pilcher played and I sat and wrote letters when I really wanted to take a nap) and then I came to the realization that I should probably be participating with my zone... I refuse to play soccer or basketball though. Volleyball only.
TUESDAY: Tuesday was weird. We're trying to meet people in the ward and like no one was home. We're already low on miles, so it probably wasn't good planning on our part either. Yeah. And I felt nasty that morning. Just like dead tired. Anyway. Sorry. We won't go into Tuesday. But our coordination meeting that night was great because auxillary heads actually came! Apparently in the new handbook, it says that the auxillaries don't have to come to coordination (which was not at all what happened in Prescott or Glendale so I was really confused when I got here).
WEDNESDAY: Mormon.org time! I love mormon.org. Slash mostly I love the Bible videos and the mormon messages. Wow. It's fun sharing those with people when they don't want to listen to what you have to say too. We stopped by a member who we needed to reschedule dinner with and she said, "Oh can you wait a few minutes? My next door neighbor has been asking me questions about our religion so I'll invite her over and you can talk" Uhhh okay! It was pretty awkward because she really wasn't interested and had a lot of misconceptions that she wasn't willing to clear up, but I think we made a good impression at least. The Phoenix North Stake (aka the stake I'm currently serving in) has a mission prep class they do once a month, and Sister Pilcher and I were the "guest speakers" this month. We gave little talks - me about the importance of bearing testimony and Sister Pilcher on sacrifice. Then they had the pre-missionaries prepared in companionships to teach a principle and we got to give a positive evaluation on how they did. Haha it was good because they're learning Preach My Gospel, but they're going to get hit hard by the spiritual bat of reality when they go to the MTC. It was cool though.
THURSDAY: Fine. Why am I even going through these days?
FRIDAY: because in reality I only want to get to
SATURDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!: ELDER NEIL A. ANDERSEN AND SOME OTHER GENERAL AUTHORITIES CAME AND SPOKE TO US. We were physically and spiritually exhausted the rest of the day. And it was at the Phoenix Temple site which was so beautiful. They're filling in the concrete on the baptismal font today! And the outer framework is all done! It will be beautiful when it's done APRIL 2014. Geez.... Oh well. It was so crazy to see the whole mission. We were crammed into the stake center chapel. It was so great. And wow. Elder Andersen is like a real person. He was making jokes and forgetting names in his stories and flipping through his scriptures to find a particular one. It was great. Wow. Wow. He talked about so much. Wow. Our minds were blown. He talked about the Atonement and the doctrine of Christ and repentance and how missionary work is different than how it was in the past and how something wonderful is coming! He told us to read the new Testament where Christ speaks and to always bear testimony of Him. he told us to know that He lives more than we know now. And it was so amazing. As he closed he touched his chest 3 times and said that one day, our badges from the Arizona Phoenix Mission will be badges of honor for eternity. Wow. And then he talked about Christ a bit more and said, "I am His witness" and then he got just a little choked up and the room was silent for like 30 seconds. Completely silent. And then he bore a very powerful testimony and we were all just floored by the Spirit. It was amazing. Wow.
SUNDAY: I came to the realization that you will always be responsible for other people throughout your life. So. I need to get over it and be okay with it.
THIS MORNING: We went hiking as a district and with our zone leaders, so there were 8 of us. And it was fun! I think we were only up 2000 feet at the top of the mountain(ish thing), but you could see the whole Phoenix valley and it was very beautiful. Reminded me of how when we flow in back in February, they did that great spin around the city and I just got so excited because it was mine! Bahahaha! Then I got transferred to Prescott haha and never saw it. But now I'm back in the valley so it's mine!!! Also, we love our elders. They're so great. I'll have to email you pictures from the district leader because I forgot my camera.
ALSO HELLO?! How is Hannah's birthday present going? If you don't answer, I'm not emailing any of you next week and I'm not telling you about my birthday. Okay maybe Taylor and Matt. And Elder Parks. Maybe Mom too. But that's it! Ugh okay maybe not. Just tell me!
The pictures are from the mission conference Saturday. The sun was really bright so we all look ridiculous. But it's right there on the temple site with our whole zone. Pretty neat!
Also, District meeting on Friday was great. Elder Colovich had us write down all the truths and ordinances that have been brought back through the Restoration of the gospel. Then he had each of us bear testimony on one of them, why it's important to us, and how it has shaped us as a missionary. I bore testimony about revelation and how I get to tell people every day that the heavens are not closed! God still speaks to us! He cares about us on an individual basis, enough to reveal what we need to help us become the best people we can become. But He also cares about us on a worldwide basis, enough to reveal the organization of His church and His doctrine through living prophets. We can be united, strengthed, and made safe in this worldwide church and can be together forever as families. ISN'T IT AMAZING?! It was great. We need His guidance more than ever, and He gives it.
Wow. Isn't the truth amazing?
Time for maybe a couple individual emails! I love y'all so much. I'll try not to feel guilty about the birthday package. THANK YOU FOR THE SLIME TIRES.
LOVE YA!
Sister Parks
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