#20 - Exchanges, An Apostle, Temple Trip, Miracles!

Hello!!

Exchages with other sister missionaries

Fresno West 'Best Zone' at the temple

This week was so much fun! So much packed into one week.

First off, we had exchanges with Hermana Malpica and Hermana Whitney, who are serving in Los Banos. We got a picture with a whole bunch of sisters too :)

Then we had a temple trip on Friday. We only get to go once a quarter, so it's a really special experience. I love just going to the temple and feeling so much peace. Afterwords, we went to Chick-fil-a, and this person offered to pay for our lunch, and the assistant manager is a member and gave us coupons for free milkshakes, everyone was just so sweet and we felt really blessed. On the way back, we stopped by and visited our Bishop's wife, since they live all the way in Fresno near the temple, and we're not over there very often. She said she almost never gets visitors, and we had a really sweet experience with her singing "I believe in Christ" and sharing Mosiah 4:9, which says to believe in God, and believe that He is, and we can't comprehend everything that He can do. Faith may seem so simple, but it's what begins all of our actions and character.

Then Sunday was Stake Conference, and Elder Quentin L. Cook came! He's one of the 12 apostles, like with Elder Renlund came to the MTC. The interesting thing is though, I don't really know what Elder Cook said exactly, and that ended up not being the highlight of the day. I know you're probably all thinking, what can top an apostle coming to speak? But our investigator Chuy did! He's never been to church, although we've been teaching him for two months, because he feels like he can't change what he's done in the past. He drove all the way to Fresno, then called us when he got to the church and said there were too many people and he couldn't do it. We ran out the building and down the street after him, and after 30 minutes outside, singing hymns, praying, and telling him he could do it, he FINALLY CAME!!! We were going to stay in the main congregation and listen, but because he was there, we went to the Spanish translation room, and so I wasn't completely sure what was said. But afterwords he said he wanted to meet the Mackays (our mission president) who had spoken. When we introduced them, President Mackay just gave him a huge hug and we were all crying. He finally got the strength to overcome his fear, and we know he felt the Spirit so strong. Afterwords we walked around the temple, and explained how he could go there someday, and it really touched him. Such a miracle!!!

From what I gathered, Elder Cook and Elder Pingree of the Seventy talked about the importance of the little things. They both talked about reading our scriptures, praying. One quote we learned from the Valentine sisters later was, "If you don't read your scriptures or pray, you've made your choice". It's pretty direct, but it's true. They explained how important the temple is, how we need to go. We can experience grand miracles in life, but it's the daily things that strengthen us and are really going to help us on our way.

Also, this week we switched to the early (Normal) missionary schedule, being in at 9, or 9:30 if you're in a lesson. It's been kind of weird. I've actually had a moment to breathe at night. I realized this week that I can't be trying to do everything at once, we accomplish things by doing one thing at once.

I hope you all have a fantastic week, I love you all!!