I've Got This!

I've Got This!

Shout Out: Vanessa I got your birthday package! I just about died laughing at the BYOB (bring your own bear). Like actually though, it made me SO happy :) You are a wonderful human and an even greater friend! 

BYOB (bring your own bear) a gift from my dearest friend Vanessa :)

So this week we had our last zone conference with President Scott :( It was very bitter sweet. I am going to miss him a ton! He talked to us about one of his favorite topics to study. Light and Darkness! It was really cool how he went into detail with it, but the gist of what he said is that in life there are only 2 forces at work. Light, or God, and darkness, or Satan. Every choice we make will either bring us closer to the light or to the dark. He went into more detail about what light is and what brings light into our lives- being obedient to the gospel. We also talked about how Satan tries to convince us that light is darkness and darkness is light. We looked at some examples in the world today and one that really stuck with me is the idea of Pro Choice. For those who may not know, Pro Choice is for people who are pro abortion.... How grossly mislabeled is that?! Every time I think about it I just get so annoyed! GAH! 

President also took some time to give all of us some advice for when we go home, the things he has learned over the years of experience that he has had. It was hard not to cry. I could feel the fatherly love that he has for each of us. #tender

Sister Rogers! She was at my zone conference! 

I heard some awesome news from London! Im not sure if you remember me talking about Shawn, but Shawn is someone Sister Shurtliff and I contacted on the street and handed over to the YSA Elders to be taught. I remember seeing him walking towards us and thinking he would never be interested haha. He had the appearance of a tough guy; had a fro-hawk, look like he could be Native, and also looked mad and like he could beat us up. Well we stopped to talk with him anyways and he gave us his information. WELL he just got baptized!!! AH! The Elders were telling me about their experience teaching him and said he was one of the coolest most prepared people they had ever met! He comes from a hard back ground most of his family struggles with alcoholism, he felt like he didn't know what his purpose was in this life and he's a boxer. The first lesson they taught him he immediately wanted to make changes in his life. Since then things have been hard for him, he had an issue to over come with like every commandment, but had so much faith and was able to overcome like all of them in a matter of 2-3 weeks. God was there helping him every step! 

I'll share one funny experience the Elders told me about. So they taught Shawn the word of wisdom and at the end of the lesson they invited him to pray for strength to live this commandment. 

In his prayer this is what he said, "Im grateful for the missionaries and that they taught me about the word of wisdom... God, I know that I can live this commandment! I've got this! I dont even need your help! I know I can do this!" He then closed his prayer.

The following week was one of the hardest weeks Shawn had been through and the next time he met with the missionaries he was totally humbled and said he couldn't do this without God.  

I just about died laughing when they told me the whole story! 

As for over here in Guelph, Sister Maeta and I found the best family! They need the gospel so bad! Their story is a bitter sweet one, but I will start with the sweet. The mother's name is Jen and we taught 3 of her 4 boys. The father is away and wont be home till the beginning of August and things have been really hard on her. She is facing a lot of difficult life decisions and we really could not have come into her life at a better time (it is amazing how well Heavenly Father knows His children and is aware of them!). We taught them all about the Plan of Salvation and the spirit was strong :) Her boys asked such good questions about what happens after we die and they are only between the ages of 9-12! SO Smart! We invited them to be baptized on July 20th and they all agreed to work towards it :). Now for the bitter. So the next day we get a text from Jen saying they are Catholic and are not interested in changing religions... apparently her older daughter who came to visit her from Toronto got mad at her mom for meeting with us. Jen is Native and is Catholic mostly by tradition. My heart broke when we read the text, but she said that we could come back to share more messages as long as we didnt try and convert them. AH HA! Its the silver lining! :D I have a strong feeling that this is just the start of their journey and that there is much more good to come. 

Line of The Week: 

President Scott: "His companion was being disobedient and he was just sitting back drinking the kool-aid." 

Scripture of the week: Moroni 8:16 

"...I fear not what man can do; for perfect love casteth out all fear."

A Haiku for you!
two forces

determines destiny 

light and dark

Have a wonderful week and remember to always walk in the Light! 

Sister Hall

The Tornado clouds!