Holy cow! Wasn't conference wonderful? I loved each and every talk. They all were exactly what I needed to hear. Its funny how when you're a missionary, everything they say in conference sticks out to you so much more! We received a lot of revelation for our investigators and we hope that we can now take what we learned and put it into ACTION. If you didn't have a chance to watch all of it, I STRONGLY recommend that you go back and watch all of those talks you missed. There was so much revelation and goodness in each one. I could probably type for hours on all of the things that stuck out to me...but, instead ill just try and pick out some of my favorite things:
The past is to be learned in, not lived in.
Doubt your doubts, before you doubt your faith.
In the service of the Lord, it is not where you serve, it is HOW.
Nurture and cultivate your seed of Faith!
Return to FULL spiritual health.
The scriptures hold the keys to spiritual protection.
The work of salvation CAN NOT move forward without us.
Go forth and rescue our lost brothers and sisters; the blessings of eternity await them.
Faith must precede miracles.
YOU WILL NOT WALK ALONE.
Slow down, rest up, replenish, and refill. Hope for Miracles. Never lose faith in our father in heaven. Dont run faster than you have strength. Whatever your struggle, never vote against the precious gift of life. There is still much in life to be hopeful for. PATIENTLY ENDURE. Live by faith, hold fast to hope, and have compassion one to another.
God has devised means to save ALL of his children.
There is joy guaranteed for the faithful.
Worldly laws, do not change God's laws. God's laws are unchanging.
Be true to our covenants with the Lord. Being truly converted is acting on what you believe. Conversion takes time, sacrifice, and our whole heart. Living the principle, converts you to that principle. Exercise faith and LIVE IT. Act upon the doctrines you know are true & keep the commandments every day. Conversion is your personal choice. When we are truly converted, our choices will be inspired by the holy ghost and will be more Christ like. Live the gospel and stand in holy places, IT WILL BE WORTH IT!
SUCCESSFULLY ENDURE. BE SPIRITUALLY SOLID. GET INTO SPIRITUAL SHAPE.
Endure and you will have confidence that you kept the faith, tried your best, and deserve eternal life.
Repentance is not punishment. It is the hope filled path to a greater future.
Our purpose: to persevere and become more spiritually refined through the sunshine and the sorrow.
we truly need Him in every hour.
Dedicate yourself to live the gospel each day.
"Dont forget to look UP!"
Develop the faith that will help us more fully rely on Him for help. Turn to your father in heaven at times of need. He wants us to really love him and when we align our will with His, He will bless us with all that we ask. GIVE HIM YOUR HEART.
We have 5 baptisms this Saturday! October 12th is finally here and this week is going to be busy! The three Shore children will be baptized by their grandfather this Saturday. They are so ready and it has been so fun working with these kids. Clayton, the 9 year old, has grown so much and even talks about being a missionary some day. Every question we ask Clayton is answered with, "umm, so we can go to the celestial kingdom?" He loves the gospel and they are such a good example to their less active family members. This week we were reviewing the story of Joseph Smith and asked the kids, "Who was it that restored the gospel back on to the earth?" Katie and Kendra answered simultaneously with, "Joseph Smith!!". "Who was it Clayton?" "JESUS SMITH!" Haha...close enough. We printed out invitations for their baptism and they have already passed all of them out to their friends at school. Katie, the 11 year old, is even planning on dressing up as a sister missionary for Halloween. so cute! Yesterday at conference, Denise, who is also being baptized this weekend, came up and told us that her 9 year old son, Romeo, would like to be baptized on Saturday too...well people, we have a week to teach him the gospel and prepare him to be baptized and confirmed this weekend. Wish us luck!
Sister Mac and I were kicked out of a Lutheran church this week. David, the less active man we have been working with, wanted to have us over for dinner this week. Because he lives alone, we arent allowed in his house to eat. Every Wednesday, at the local Lutheran church, they have free dinner for the community. David thought we could all go to dinner there together and that would solve all of our problems. Sadly, it didnt go quite as planned. We walked in to the church and there was a good amount of people. A lot of them happened to be some of the people we have taught in the past and some of the less actives from our ward. After grabbing some food, we walked over and said hello to all of the people we knew there. As we sat down to eat, the pastor came in and asked us if he could talk with us outside for a minute. He told us that he really didnt appreciate us coming here and proselyting at his church. He said that we cant just come in to his church and form relationships with his people. (funny thing is that we had relationships with these people before we even came to this dinner) Anyways, he went on to say that the real problem was that "Mormons arent christian and non-christian people are not welcome at his church." I was stunned! Non-christian? Sister Mac and I both tried to jump in and tell him otherwise, but he would not allow us to talk and continually cut us off. He kept talking about how "Mormons worship more than one god" and "Mormons dont believe in Christ's atonement." I just started to chuckle a little bit, as I could not believe that he was really saying these things. He continued on and finally I cut him off and told him, "I am sorry that we offended you in coming here. We are not allowed to proselyte at other churches and were just here to enjoy dinner with a friend. We are christian, but we will leave." The next day, I felt like we should write him a letter and express to him our beliefs. Not to tear him down, but to help him understand the misconceptions he thought about our church. We used excerpts from the book titled, 'The Missionary's little book of answers', which I suggest all missionaries have. We had David proof read the whole thing before hand and dropped it off on Saturday night. We wont be going back, but hopefully now he has a little more knowledge of who we are and what we believe.
Friday night we had an "emergency meeting" over at the Bishops house. He asked us to come over around 7pm and share an "inspiring message" with his family. Friday night also just happened to be the night of the BYU vs. Utah State game and it just happened to be on TV when we went over there to share our "inspiring message". And Sister Mac and I just happened to be wearing our Utah State t-shirts over our skirts that night...haha. We caught the last quarter of the game and let me say, I am still proud to be an Aggie...even though, we totally lost to BYU.
We had interviews with the President this week and I PASSED with flying colors. :) Not that it was a test, but President is very pleased with the work Sister MacDonald and I are doing. It's nice to have the approval of the president. He says that each week he looks forward to our emails just so he can see the newest miracle that happened the previous week. He has even asked if him and Sister Weston can join us for a lesson some time. Because Sister MacDonald and I are trying our best to be obedient we see the blessings and miracles of the Lord. When we have faith that miracles will happen, that is when they come. Also, Sister Mac and I were asked to present for 5 minutes at zone meeting this Thursday on how we can become more accountable missionaries and how we can see more success in our work. We hope to help all of the missionaries in our Zone to become more exactly obedient so that we can all become those exceptional missionaries we are trying to become.
This is really the BEST day to be a missionary. I know that as we increase our faith, the Lord will increase our success. What an exciting time to be a member of the church! I would invite you all to reach out to the missionaries in your area and ask them how you can help. Pray for opportunities to share the gospel. Have faith that miracles will occur. Study out the scriptures and then you can declare His word to your fullest potential.
I love this gospel. I love being a missionary. I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to listen to a prophets voice and the inspired messages from the Lord's servants. We are his children and now is the time to endure well so that at the last day, Christ can say to us, "come unto me, ye blessed, there is a place prepared for you in the mansions of my father."
I love you all and miss everyone! Thank you for the constant love and support.
Love,
Sister Allen
Love,
Sister Allen
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