Week 12, October 27

"Marriage. Marriage is what brings us together." Name that quote! And I thought of this quote because while the quote is cute, I know of something that is even better than marriage that brings us all together and that is the gospel of Christ. This past week has just shown to me, again, how much the gospel blesses those who follow it and who strive each day to live as Christ did and does.

There is a sister who just completed her mission this past Monday; her name is Sister Stratton. She was my Sister Training Leader (this is a calling/responsibility in the mission field. She was charged with making sure all the sisters under her area were doing well and working hard. She accomplishes this by talking with them regularly and going on exchanges, which is where we "trade" companions for usually 24 hours) and she became my close friend. I love her and look up to her because of how great of an example she is to me. She actually reminds me a lot of my dad because she is also a convert to the church and their character. She is the only member in her family and she was able to use this experience to help so many out here. Basically, she is amazing and I will miss her so much. BUT, because I know that we both are covenants with the Lord and are striving to live up to the knowledge that we have, that we will able to be friends and sisters for eternity.

I take great joy and comfort from the knowledge that I know families can be sealed together for eternity and that our main goal is to have everyone sealed to each other, so we can always be with each other. This is not only how I handle my friends leaving me, or me leaving them, but how I am able to serve a mission at all because it was so hard to leave my family. I miss them terrible but I am able to focus here and work because I have faith in the covenants they have made and I have made with the Lord. I will be with them again and 1 and a half years is not that long in the perspective of eternity. I can serve others and bring them the same joy I have because of my covenants with the Lord.

 So, besides my friend going home (which is actually a good thing, I just miss her), my week has been great. I have seen many miracles. Now, when people think of miracles, they usually only think of the great big and super visual miracles, like Moses parting the Red Sea or Jesus healing the blind and the lame. But the miracles I saw are just as profound, but not as easy to see. For example, I saw an 11 year old girl come to church by herself (she received a ride from a ward member, no worries there =) ). It may not seem like a miracle, but who here could, as an 11 year old, go somewhere new by themselves? Maybe you could've but I know I wouldn't have. It was also a miracle to find her in the first place! We went to her home looking for someone else we thought live there, but had moved. Her whole family is actually interested, but they're all really busy right now so she is the only one making time for us to teach her.

Another miracle I saw was that a member of our ward asked us to go visit someone and this person called her later to ask for help translating something. The member sent us to her right away and we were able to introduce ourselves to someone who we can tell is ready for the gospel. This woman even came to church yesterday without us inviting her! It's hard for us to get investigators to church while inviting them and helping them, but this woman did it all by herself! I am so excited for her and I just love watching her exercise her faith.

 Oh, that reminds me of something I have learned recently. Anything is possible if you have faith and act on it. This past week we have mostly been looking for more people to serve and to teach and we have been kinda struggling. But, we had set a goal that, after praying, still felt good about so we knew that God would help us. How we have found these people has been kinda weird (just judging by past experience and the culture of our investigators) so I have no doubt that it was done through the Lord. That kinda reiterates what I said above a out miracles, but the point here is that you have to have the faith to act first, not just to expect. Yes, it does take some faith to expect God to do something, but it takes more faith to act without knowledge of how He'll provide. The more we walk by faith, putting our trust in Him, the more we are guided and can see the miracles He provides.

I know that having faith is challenging at times, I'm working on it now!, but it is possible because we are putting our faith in a perfect and all powerful being. I love this work and I know how blessed I am to be here. I try to say thank you each day for this opportunity because I know none of this would've been possible without the Lord. This work is done by Him, through us, His chosen servants. I know this church is true and that it contains the fullness of Christ's gospel. We can only be truly and eternally happy by living the gospel fully. I promise that as you strive to live the gospel, the Lord will bless in you in amazing and beautifully personal ways. I love you all. Be good and remember who you are!

Love, Hermana Lindh

A special text

On Sunday the 25th, I received this text:

Hi mama, this is R. the Dattages wanted to take pictures of us for a journal of theirs. I love you and hope you're doing awesome! Tell everyone I love them too. :)

I think this is supposed to be a "poor" missionary.

This is better, love the smile.

Week 11: Letter #2

October 20, 2015

As perm the norm, my week has been crazy and crazy good! The major
highlight (non spiritually speaking) was definitely indoor skydiving.
The letter that I've sent just before this one describes it so that
should be good. =) The other major highlight of this week was a
princess party and a nations party!!! I'll explain that in a bit; I'd
like to try and give a brief overview first. Spiritually speaking,
this has been what I'd call a refining week just because it's
been....a bit difficult. Again, I'll get into details in a bit.

The princess party was AWESOME!!! It was held by an English Ward but
the surrounding neighborhood has a lot of Hispanics who came so we
were invited. We used it as a finding tool (finding is when we are
looking for new people to teach/help/strengthen) and we actually found
a really nice mom! As a missionary tool, it was a success! But it was
also a lot of fun! We were in charge of a sing-along station so I was
blessed to have time to be 5 again! =D We sang a lot of princess
songs, the most popular being, I'll let you guess.......YUP! Let It Go
from Frozen! Besides the slightly repetitious song selection, it was a
ton of fun watching these little girls have a great time and knowing
that I helped with that.
I learned more about myself from that party: 1) I'm still a child at
heart, which may not surprise you =) and 2) what I love is making
people smile. I guess that that helps with missionary work because I
know that the gospel can make people happy so I'm extra motivated. But
really, that's one of the reasons why I act the way I do, why I want
to go into nursing, and even why I'm a missionary. It was a really
cool confirmation for me to learn more about myself and my reason for
what I do.
Now, about the second party. I work in a Spanish Ward and thy love to
have parties. The most recent one was a celebration of the different
countries that make up our ward's heritage. There was fun, Latino
music and booths set up with food and items from each country. At the
end, a representative from each country gave a slideshow presentation
of their country. It was so YUMMY!!! And amazing! And colorful! And
fun! I am so grateful that the Lord called me to a Spanish speaking
mission because I absolutely love this culture =)
I have pictures of both and videos of the princess party; I hope you
enjoy the singing and dancing as much as I did! =D

Spiritually speaking, it's been tough because appointments fell
through or people wouldn't answer the door, even though we knew they
were home, just lots of small things. I'm doing fine, I'm still happy,
but this hard work and sometimes disappointing work. We have to
remember that "real life" gets in the way a lot. For example, one
family that we've met recently I just love to pieces! They're 10 kids
in all with 7 in the one home we visit; the mom is a single mom so
she's really busy with work. But, they all have an interest in the
gospel and want to learn more; the mom not only gave us permission but
told her kids to have lessons with us because she wants to listen and
wants them to listen as well. The major problem that we're running
into though is that rarely the same kids are at home and the younger
ones who would like to do things, like go to church, rely on the older
siblings who are busy with work! It's hard to have patience at times
when you know that they want this but just things get in the way.
Another example is just finding people at home. We may have set an
appointment with them, get there, and they're not home. We don't know
why, so I hope that something came up or that something ran long for
them, which is completely understandable. But, to be honest, it just
gets wearisome when that's the majority rather than the minority. But,
Christ Himself dealt with this and He's the Son of God!
For this brief moment in my life, I get to experience to a very small
degree what the Savior did; I get to walk as He walked and work as He
worked but I also get to be rejected as He was, despised as He was.
Now, I'm not trying to say I'm anywhere near the level of Christ, but
what I'm saying is if even the very Son of God had a difficult
"mission", why would I expect mine to be better? Why would I expect
any less difficulty and heartache than Him? As part of our training as
new missionaries, we get to watch quite a few instructional clips and
one of my favorite was done by Elder Russell M Ballard, of the Quorum
of the Twelve Apostles. He said that missionaries are going to ask
questions that kinda go like this: "why isn't this easy? We have
truth! We have the church that Christ Himself established! Why isn't
everyone just running to be baptized?" And his reply was this
"Salvation isn't easy! It never was! And it will never be. It's hard
work!" (Please keep in mind that I'm summarizing and not perfectly
quoting; this is a mix of what he said and what I took from it) So,
when we have hard moments, I just remind myself that salvation isn't
easy and then I move on. I find joy no matter what and I keep trying
my best to work hard.
I have learned some important lessons this past week; I'm growing even
if I don't want to =) It's hard work because you constantly have to
fight off the natural man (see Mosiah 3:19 in the Book of Mormon) to
be worthy of the Spirit so that you can do what is needed for others.
You have to remember their agency, or their ability to choose, and
while you may be upset with some of their choices you also have to
have faith that the Lord is watching out for them.

I love this work; I love those whom I serve; I love my companion and
others who I work with. It is a great privilege to have been called to
serve and to be a proselyting missionary.
I love you all and I miss you, but please understand that there is
nothing you could do to bring me home right now. =) I hope that you're
doing well and that you're also growing. Let me know how you are!
Remember who you are! I love you!

Love,
Hermana Lindh

Week 11: Letter #1

October 20th, 2015

I'm sorry that I didn't send this last week; let me explain what
happened. Last week, I had an extremely rare opportunity.
There is a company here called iFly that does indoor skydiving. My
mission president happened to run into the owner of iFly and he's a
member; he offered to let all the sisters in the mission come fly for
2 minutes each for no cost to the missionaries. We were invited to go
indoor skydiving!!! My companion and I and 2 other sisters who are our
friends carpooled to go in the early afternoon. I was so excited!!!!
But, that meant that I didn't have a lot of time to email. I think I
may have mentioned, but I only get an hour to email each Tuesday but
because of our activity, I had about 45 minutes. I wasn't able to
write this email previously in the week and I used my time to email my
family. I'm very sorry that I didn't write last week; will you please
forgive me?

Let me tell you about my experience flying though! It was the coolest
thing I have ever done! It's really hard to do but I love how the wind
feels and the sensation of falling/floating; I have always wanted to
go sky diving and this was a great introduction to it. I think before
I attempt anything that requires a parachute, I'll go to an inside one
a couple of times first =) It is officially on my bucket list!
There were about 24/25 of us there who participated so we were split
into 3 groups of 8. Everyone was really nervous so I ended up in the
first group. When it came time to see who would go first, the mission
president's wife encouraged her daughter to go, but she
realllllllllyyyy didn't want to be first. So, naturally being
outspoken, I offered to take her place. I was the first of all the
sisters to go!! That was a really cool but also kinda scary; but, I
know that obedience brings happiness so if I did what the instructor
said, I'd be okay. I did what I was told and I let myself kinda fall
forward, so I was spread eagle. I. WAS. FLOATING...... It was
EPIC!!!!!! I loved the rush of knowing that nothing was holding me up
but wind and that while I was in charge, I really wasn't.
The position that you need to be in to do this correctly is actually a
but harder than it looks. You have to keep everything just right or
you go flying out of control. There was always an instructor there to
correct my form and to grab me from hitting the wall, but I was
actually able to do fairly well. The general trend is to flail/freak
out when things start to get a little funky but I stayed still and
relaxed so I was able to not get hurt and to enjoy myself! The time
that we were in the tunnel was only for a minute then we got out and
someone else went in. We had 2 minutes to do this and the second
minute they first stabilized us like the first minute, but then an
experienced flier maneuvered us to go up really high! It was sooooooo
cool! I knew that he was in control and all I felt was a thrill from
the feeling of flying! (The instructor who took us up higher is a
world sky diving champion; I have a short clip of some of his moves.)
I love this sport so much. If I ever have the opportunity and means to
do this again, I would do it in a heartbeat.
My mission president took pictures so I think they'll be posted on the
Ogden Mission Facebook page if you'd like to see them. I'm also
supposed to receive a video of our time there so when I do, I'll share
it with you
So, that's why I didn't mail this letter out last week. I'm sorry that
I procrastinated, but to be quite frank, it was worth it! I love you
all. =)

Other than my p-day activity, my major highlight of the past week was
when an investigator got baptized. I don't know if I have mentioned
him before, but he could be my great grandfather, if I was Latina =) I
love this man because he is such an example of faith and the power of
prayer. He has had a strong testimony of the these we've taught him
but he had been struggling with his addiction of smoking. To be
baptized, you need to first meet a few requirements that are outlined
by Doctrine and Covenants 20:37(D&C, a set of scriptures composed of
revelation from the Lord through Joseph Smith. We, Mormons, study this
along with the Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, and the Bible. If
you would like to know more about D&C or the other sets of scriptures,
please send me an email or see LDS.org) One of the requirements is to
follow the commandments of the Lord, which includes the Word of Wisdom
(see D&C 89). Part of it is to not smoke so before he could be
baptized he had to stop smoking which has been a multiple year long
habit.
He was cigarette free for two weeks before he was baptized and he has
not touched one since! I am so happy for him! To me, it's a testament
to the importance of baptism and proof that God is still a god of
miracles. If he had not received a confirmation from the Holy Ghost,
it's possible that he could've stopped but what incentive would he
have had to stop? I also know that the Lord strengthens and blesses
those who strive to be obedient to Him. He blesses us when we make a
commitment to Him and then miracles happen; I see it everyday and this
time it was with this man being able to quit his addiction.

A mission is hard work and sometimes it's filled with disappointment.
This week has been fairly difficult because I had a lot of
appointments cancel on me; I'm still trying to not take things
personally, but I'm also sad for these people because of what they're
missing out on: true joy. When you spend all your time and energy on
these people, because you know they're not just random people but
rather YOUR brothers and sisters, you tend to feel the extreme
emotions. You feel so happy for them when they receive their answer,
but you also feel their pain when they still feel confused. No, you
don't understand them perfectly, but you strive to put them before
yourself so you become more in tune with the Spirit. The Spirit will
tell you what thy are feeling and/or what they need to hear or see. In
that way, you know who these people are and you know what they are
feeling and you feel it with them. So when I say that this week has
been difficult, it's because of experiences like that mixed in with my
personal emotions.
But, a mission is a miracle. You are here only for 18-24 months and
usually only 6-12 weeks in one area (sometimes longer, it depends on
the needs of the missionaries and the areas) and yet, you're able to
intimately connect with, in many ways, total and complete strangers. I
have never met my companion before and yet I love her as dearly as I
do my family and close friends. These people I meet on the street or
through members, I come to know them in 1-2 visits. Granted, I don't
know them perfectly, but I want to. It's miraculous that I have
learned as much Spanish as I have in 2 months. It's miraculous that
mere teenagers are able to help fully grown (please don't laugh too
hard at my terminology) adults make difficult changes in their lives.
It's miraculous that teenagers are able to choose to focus on others
for 2 years of their lives at a time that the world tells us we need
to be the most worried for ourselves! No one could persuade me from
this truth that I have; missionaries are called of God and because of
such their work is nothing short of miraculous for God is a God of
miracles.
I know there are some who disagree with my beliefs, my church, my
religion. I would invite those people to ponder on 2 questions:
1. Why do you disagree and what did you base your decision on? And
2. Can you humble yourself enough to listen to a set of missionaries
without malice or ill will in your heart?
I promise you, that if you truly want to know whether The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is Christ's church, all you have to
do is get past yourself and ask God. God will give you His answer
through the Holy Ghost and you will be able to know for yourself the
truth. But, the Holy Ghost speaks in a quiet voice, one of peace, joy,
comfort; you have to be listening for Him in order to hear His
whispering which means clearing yourself of your preconceptions,
arguments, and/or bad thoughts. This is the promise and invitation
that I am extending to people here (granted in more simple terms
because that's all my Spanish skills will allow). Can you do that? Ask
with sincere intent, what I just described above?
You'll get your answer, which will come in the form best suited for
you, for Heavenly Father knows you and what you need.

I love you all and I know that you are all good, righteous people
trying your best to follow Christ. Keep working hard to grow that
relationship with Him; you'll be blessed beyond belief. Remember who
you, a child of God, someone with infinite worth and value. Remember
there is always someone who loves you because you are His child. Be
good in this coming week. I promise I'll do better with letters. I
really am sorry for the mess up and I'll strive to prevent it from
happening again.

I love you. God and Christ loves you.

Love,
Hermana Lindh

Week 10

Dear Family and Friends,

Each week Rachel writes a minimum of two e-mails, one to the group and one to just Jason and me (and the kids). I post her group emails here in her blog for her as a record of her mission and so that if someone wants to read her letters without having to get the email they are able to. This week, Tuesday Oct 13th, she did not send out a group email. I am posting the brief private email we received.

I hope you enjoy her letter and I'm sure she'll be back on the bandwagon next week with a group email.

Love, Lanae

From her letter:

We have a little less time than normal because at 2:30 today, I'm going in-door skydiving!!! A member ran into my mission president and offered to take the sisters (I don't know how many are going) for free!!!! It's a wind tunnel and I am soooooooooooooooo excited!!!!! =D If I can, I'll try to let you know latter today how it went, but I can't promise for sure that I can email again.

We had a zone wide service project at a developing park. Construction workers are trying to make a scenic path through some wooded area but there's a lot of dead trees and shrubbery. Obviously, as missionaries, we take every opportunity to serve and make ourselves known in the community. I was helping and doing all that I can obviously, because I'm a Lindh. There was one tree that was dead, but really stubborn so another sister and I teamed up to try and break it in half. I was expecting it to break easily like the others trees have and it did! But, it broke between me and the other sister. She had the end unattached to the trunk while I had the misfortune of having the trunk hit me in the face.

My eyes watered up really fast and I stood dazed while blood started to come from my nose. Fortunately, I have had enough training that I knew what to do, so I leaned over and pinched the bridge of my nose to help the pain go down and to keep the blood flow to a minimum. The sister who was with me has gone through nursing school and also knew what to do so she helped me out. My face hurt really bad, and my nose/top teeth were throbbing. I could feel that nothing was broken, but I think that I may have damaged the cartilage a bit. My nose still hurts today but I never bruised and there was no swelling so I know I didn't break it. 

The first half of my day is spent studying usually (we also sometimes have service at the library or family history, 2 things that Pres. has required of our mission) and the second half is in lessons/tracting. I use a lot of Spanish but I also have quite a bit of English in my day. I am picking it up fairly quickly, or at least according to Hermana Lewis, my companion, and others in the ward. Apparently, I speak a LOT more than other missionaries who started or were fairly new when they came to this area. I try to talk as much as I can because I know that that's how I'll learn the fastest and I think it's paying off. I love the ward members and all of our investigators. They help me so much and I just love them and their culture. The ward members, I think, have respect for me because I'm willing to just throw myself into the language and the culture, take criticism (I mean that in a positive way), and laugh at myself when I mess up. I learned this skills though through all the moves we've made so I thank Heavenly Father for having blessed me with that. And thank you, and daddy, for listening to the Spirit each time and being willing to listen and obey. I know it was hard for you to move too so I'm grateful for your faith and diligence to the Lord. 

I'm doing well and I'm happy. This past week has been kinda hard, a lot of cancelled appointments, members not coming with us, etc. but it's all part of the job. I still love this work and I'm so grateful that the Lord prepared me and allowed me to do this. It's a privilege to be here and to be a missionary; I say thank you to Heavenly Father everyday for this opportunity. If I ever complain (which I'm hoping I won't ever do), please remind me of this feeling. 

Love,

Rachel

These are pictures that were sent to me by members in UT. The top one was taken 9/28/15 and the other was 10/15/15

Week Nine

Written 6 October 2015

My Dear Friends and Family,

How are you all doing this week? Thank you to those who responded to
the last email, I loved your comments. I know that many of you are
very busy, but I do enjoy reading your thoughts and encouragement so
if you have the time, *sing songy voice* spare a thought of me =)
bonus points to whoever knows that reference.
I'm someone who loves conversation so this group email thing is kinda
weird for me because I feel like I'm just talking out into space.
That's why I ask for responses, even if it takes me a little while to
respond too. We can work on that together! As you may have noticed, I
am learning a lot as a missionary, like the best way to extend
commitments and how to help them keep them. I have found that one of
the best ways is to keep gently reminding and be willing to do it with
them; this can work miracles.

Anyway, this has been a really great week. As I promised last time,
I'll start by talking about General Conference.
As I said, I was able to go, just not in the way we had originally
planned. We had planned to go Saturday evening (2-4pm) with a recent
convert; she had to cancel on us the day off due to some unplanned
problems. We then scrambled to find someone else, another recent
convert, but we also had to find a babysitter for his kids. Basically,
everything was very last minute and we weren't out of Ogden until 1:20
and we had a 20-30 minute ride to Salt Lake. We had also been asked to
be in our seats by 1:30 so that didn't happen =) We arrived and parked
by 1:55 and then we made a mad dash for the conference center. We were
in line by 2 and they were still letting people in but the stopped
that about 8 groups ahead of us; we didn't make it. So, we went to the
tabernacle where the Mormon Tabernacle Choir does Music and the Spoken
Word Sunday mornings. There the conference was being broadcasted and
translated into Spanish so our recent convert and his wife were able
to understand. Overall, not what we planned but okay.
My companion and I felt bad for our recent convert, that he and his
wife hadn't been able to actually be AT conference so we started
asking around for tickets for the Sunday session. Miraculously, we
were able to find four, though they were in different parts of the
center. The tickets we gave to our friends were plaza seats; they were
in the seats right in front of the podium and they could see all the
prophets and apostles and general authorities!!! My companion and I
were so excited for them, even though we couldn't sit next to them;
instead, we were in the balcony seats, the highest and furthest away
from the podium =D I loved it! It was my first time to be at a live
general conference and I was even happier because of how close my
friends were. It was so beautiful and the Spirit was so strong that
all of our troubles were worth it to be there.

Let me share with you my favorite talk from Sunday
afternoon....actually, that's kinda hard because they all addressed
something I needed or had been thinking about. Instead, let me share
what I learned. One speaker, Devin G. Durrant talked about
"ponderizing", where you take a scripture and just ponder on it for a
long time. He challenged us to ponderize a scripture a week and I love
challenges. I am working on Romans 13:12 this week, and I'll share my
scriptures in the following weeks, but this one says "The night is far
spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of
darkness, and let us put on the armour of light". I love this
scripture already and how I'm taking it right now is that I'm here
helping people find their armour and put it on. I've already suited up
so now it's my turn and responsibility to go help others suit up. I've
also learned from conference that the world is no longer just
ridiculing the church, it is outright attacking it at points that are
very dear. For example, I have personally been mocked for believing in
a living prophet; I have been accused of being blind and
unintelligent. I have had some wonder "why for someone who seems
intelligent do you believe in God and in prophets?"
Now, I'm not trying to make a "woe is me" speech or even make others
feel bad, I'm just showing that I have personal experience that
confirms what the prophets have declared. We, as mankind, are in the
last days. We are living at the time that prophets of old have
prophesied about which is both great and kinda scary. This is time
where we have the fullness of the gospel on the earth and it will
never be taken away; we are preparing for Christ's return which is
marvelous! But this is also the time where wickedness is more
acceptable and it's becoming more commonplace. Now is the time that my
scripture talks about; "the day is at hand" and we must have our amour
on to be able to fight against the evil of this day. For this time in
my life, I am one of the more noticeable warriors but everyone who has
Christ's gospel is in His ranks. I would urge you to put on the full
armour of Christ and stand as a witness for Him at all times and in
all places.
Basically, because of Conference, I have found new ways to learn and
to grow and that is one of the reasons I'm so grateful for the gospel
and prophets. It is amazing to me the goodness of the Lord, that He
gave us prophets in the past and He gives them to us today. Now we
need to show our love and gratitude to the Lord by listening.

Besides General Conference, my week has been a fairly normal
missionary week. We taught lessons and helped prepare a man for
baptism this coming Friday. We spent some time doing service, ranging
from cleaning a house to moving a family; we also volunteer at the
local library now. We have also been asked to do family history for at
least 3-4 hours a week so I have started that. It's actually been
kinda interesting to me to try and find more about people that I know
are in my family but that I don't know a lot about. Though, it does
take a while to confirm that you have the right person and you've made
the right connections. We also spent a lot of time trying to find new
investigators because most of our "older" ones have been baptized. We
have found quite a few to teach now and I'm super excited! We found
most of them through techniques/activities that we had been taught in
meetings my first and second week. My family's motto comes to mind:
"Obedience brings happiness".  That is all a mission is, your strict
obedience to the rules and promptings of the Spirit bring about the
miracles you need to bring others to Christ.

All in all, I'm doing great. Life is difficult at times because it's
hard at times to remember that others have agency =) but it's all
good! "It's the hard that makes it great," and I'm here to testify
that it is great. This work is one of the greatest things I have ever
done and I've only just started. I can't wait to see what the Lord has
planned for those in my area.

I love you all. I pray for you and I hope that you're all happy. Have
a great week and I can't wait until I can see your responses!

Love,
Hermana Lindh

P.S. if this looks a bit funny sorry because I wrote it on my ipad =)

 Hermana Lindh ate a hamburger that earned her the right to sign the wall of the establishment offering the challenge of finishing it. Not surprisingly, she noticed that not a single sister had managed the challenge but quite a few elders had so....

Week Eight

Written 29 September 2015

Como estas? Estoy bien! (In the most gringo accent you can imagine) =)

How is everyone doing? I feel like I don't ask enough questions, which is missionary training kicking in =) Really though, I enjoy reading the responses, so I'll ask questions this time. What is something new you have learned this week? How have you helped someone? How have you come closer to God? Your family? Friends? What do you enjoy most about these emails? The least? Am I annoying you, helping you, little bit of both? 

I just wanted to say thank you for all that you've done to help shape me into who I am today and for all the love and support you give me. It helps me in my low points to know that I have friends and family cheering me on, so thank you. 

Okay, what's going on/what happened this week? Um, I guess I have a couple of big pieces of news.

1) There was an investigator who I met my first week who was baptized on the 25th, this past Friday! I have only known him for a short time but I love this man and his family (they have 2 ADORABLE kids!!!) already. He is a young father whose wife was an inactive. He had gone to church with her before for a year and it wasn't until recently that he was invited to be baptized. Since he was invited, he has diligently kept each commitment and progressed quickly. We actually had a date of Oct. 3rd as his baptism but because of certain circumstances (which I'll explain later) we bumped it up to the 25th. He was super excited and ready to go! 

It was so beautiful to watch. The baptism was at 7 and we showed up with him at 6:55 =) there was a good number of people from the ward there to support him, which as the missionary, I was very grateful for because we'll be handing him off the ward later. Missionaries change areas frequently so the ward is going to be his support now. Anyway, the service was amazing; we started with two brief talks about Baptism and then the Holy Ghost before the actual baptism. It took a couple of tries to get it right (which was kinda humorous because our investigator was smiling and making brief jokes) but it eventually was done correctly. The Spirit was so strong, there was no doubt that he had made the right choice. I loved being there for him and being blessed to feel the Spirit testify to me, yet again, that this is Christ's church restored to the earth. 

There is a brief period of time where the person who was baptized has time to dry off and change. During that time, there are a couple of things that can be done. For our branch (if you don't know what a ward, branch, or stake is, please feel free to ask me or look on lds.org), the missionaries give a brief presentation of the lesson, "The Restoration". Yup....I gave a presentation....in Spanish.....after 8 days in the field. BUT anyone who knows me knows 2 major things about my character. 1) I work hard and so I have been working hard to study, fast, and pray to learn Spanish. It's working. And 2) I LOVE to talk! So I actually really enjoyed myself as I bore my testimony about the Restoration. It went amazingly well and we filled up just the right amount of time. =)

After that, he bore his testimony and we closed with a remark from the bishop and a closing hymn. 

He will be confirmed this Sunday, the 27th. Confirmation is when a recently baptized person is given the gift of the Holy Ghost. They are promised the companionship of the Holy Ghost always IF they stay worthy and clean, which takes daily repentance. At the same time, the person becomes the newest member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It's a really cool process and if you'd like more details, just let me know or check out lds.org! 

2)This weekend (the 26th and 27th), we had a special meeting called a musical fireside. Here in the Ogden, and now Logan, mission, they have a regular event called a musical fireside. From what I understand, it's around every 3-4 months and all (or most) of the missionaries learn special musical numbers to perform. It is a beautiful way to share our testimonies and receive referrals (referrals are names of people that are recommended for lessons with the missionaries). For the most part, it's standing room only type of event! There are a lot of solos and group numbers with a few choral pieces as well. 

For this one, I was given the music last week and I had 2 practices before we performed.....daunting yes, but not for me! I love to sing and, fortunately, I have been blessed with the talent to be able to sight read which I'm very grateful for. This talent is helping me to fulfill my purpose as a missionary though something I love. It's amazing to me how the Lord works, blessing us with certain skills and experiences so that we can then go bless others. That's what talents are for, the blessing of both your life AND others; it's what this church is all about, it's what LIFE is all about. We are here to help one another grow and eventually return to Heavenly Father by using our unique talents and experiences. 

3) This past Saturday, the 26th, there was a special meeting for all the woman 8yrs old and older; it's called General Women's Conference. This meeting is always held the weekend before General Conference. It is a time for all the women in the world (ideally) to hear council and guidance from our leaders that is specific for us today. This one was kinda new for me for 2 reasons: 1) it was my first one away from home, specifically my mom and sister but also 2) it was in Spanish for me. =) Because I am a Spanish speaking missionary, I watched the broadcast with my ward, so it was in Spanish. I will definitely have to go back and read it in English =D haha

But, now I'm super excited for this coming weekend, the first weekend in October, because it will be General Conference. This is the time where all the world gets to hear from living prophets that have received revelation for us from the Lord. Because I am serving in Ogden, which is about an hour (I think) away from Salt Lake City, my companion and I have been given the chance to take an investigator or recent convert (someone who was recently baptized) to a session of General Conference live!!! We will be going for the Saturday afternoon session and I am soooooo excited! It will be my first time to see General Conference live and it's even better because I'm going with 3 dear friends of mine: my companion, our recent convert, and her daughter. I can't wait to go!!! I promise to report on that next week =)

Okay, those were my major events of my past week. A lot has happened in just 2 weeks but those were the highlights. I am learning a lot (as I hope you can see) and I am growing. I'm starting to feel more comfortable with my investigators and my ward members and I can't count all the miracles the Lord has given us. Oh, speaking of counting, I have been challenged to have a gratitude journal where I record at least 5 things I am grateful for daily. I would challenge you to the same thing; just being aware of how much the Lord blesses you with and how much His hand is in our lives helps make each day go better. 

Life is hard, busy, and tiring, but it is also so sweet and amazing. Serving others and loving them the way Christ does really changes your life AND theirs. Keep your focus on others and God and you'll be able to overcome personal challenges and live happier. Remember, happiness is a choice you have to make constantly. It's okay to be sad occasionally, admit that things are hard, but then stop focusing inwards and look out and up. I promise, you will be blessed the more you strive to be like the Savior by not focusing on yourself and loving others.

You are all the best! You're all children of God and He loves you perfectly. Smile! And be joyful! =D

Love,

Hermana Lindh