This week was also a fire hydrant of experiences:
putting up electric fences, giving a Book of Mormon to a firefighter, hearing the full length story of a member who was falsely accused of murder, meeting a man that speaks 6 languages fluently, visiting a woman and seeing the diagram of her foot surgery as well as the pin they inserted into her toe, having a Spanish lesson on a rickety porch in the pouring rain, being warned for the second time while tracting that a bear was spotted in the area, going to see a less active and seeing a warrant taped to the door, doing a workout video we found in the apartment and falling out of bed the next morning because we were so sore, tearing up as we read the parable of the bicycle with a struggling ward member, having an investigator show up to conference, and of course hunting for eggs hidden by a color-blind man (long standing joke is he hides all the green ones in the bushes without realizing:).
Needless to say it's been a jam packed but a very good week.
And to top if off there an absolutely legendary weekend of General Conference!!!!
One of my biggest takeaways from conference was the amount of times the word "disciple" was used, it seemed as though every speaker used it at least once. All offered different ways we can deepen our conversion, enhance our service, and reach out to others more fully, which are all important elements of true discipleship.
Overall my favorite talk was probably Elder Uchtdorf's, he truly NEVER disappoints. I can echo with a missionary I met in the Mexico CCM "I fangirl over Dieter F. Uchtdorf" However I was also inspired by Elder Godoy's "One More Day," Elder Robbins' reminder of how we have chance after chance made possible by Christ's Atonement, and of course was taken aback at the strength and zeal of our beloved Prophet Russell M. Nelson. It is so difficult for me to grasp that he is 93 years old! I look forward to continuing to sustain and follow him as his ministry of healing hearts continues.
That right there is what discipleship is all about: reaching out and healing hearts and striving to help our own hearts be softened and turned towards our Savior.
His heart was unlike any other... His capacity to love exceeds any measurement we can imagine, His love for the Father and us His brothers and sisters is what motivated and drove Him to the depths of sorrow and despair as well as what lifted and exalted Him. The miracle of His gospel is that our love for Him and our Father and our brothers and sisters around us is what will lift and exalt us and help us overcome the depths of sorrow and despair.
Which is why we must minister. To help lift others and at the same time ourselves out of the depths of sorrow and despair that surround us. Distractions of this life, trials, lonliness, hopelessness, grudges, weakness, sickness, pain, heartache, are apart of each of our lives at one time or another. Because the Savior isn't physically right here with us He depends on us to fill our hearts with His love and take it to our brothers and sisters.
In a parting letter that ripped my heart to shreds while I sat on the plane taking me from Utah to Mexico over 16 months ago my dad shared with me that on my mission I would "learn to love as you have never loved before." I have experienced Christlike love so often as a missionary, it has changed me, it has helped me become the disciple the Lord knows I can and wants me to be.
Let me reference back to the fire hydrant of experiences this week and elaborate of how my heart was filled with love for the people we met and talked with this week and the work we do on a day to day basis.
I love the sweet couple that needed help wiring their electric fence in their cow pasture.
I love meeting people in their front yards, learning about them and then sharing about how we share a message that can bless their lives more than they can imagine and handing them a Book of Mormon to prove it if they let it.
I love how the trials of people's lives can have profound stories and applications such as how a falsely accused woman has a unique understanding of our Savior who was the ultimate example of someone who was wrongly accused.
I love seeing the way Heavenly Father has blessed each of His children with spiritual gifts.
I love being able to brighten the day of someone in need and lending a listening ear, it is the most powerful pain reliever.
I love that the Lord is so merciful and has provided opportunities for each one of us to hear the gospel in our own languages and how in His mercy He enhances our lack of language with the Spirit.
I love the absence of fear that comes from knowing that we are "on the Lord's errand and are entitled to the Lord's help" (Thomas S. Monson).
I love that repentance is real and available to each of us no matter the choices we have made, there is no such thing as "too far gone."
I love laughing and making memories with my girl Hermana McCune
I love feeling the Spirit testify of our self worth, and that our offerings are enough, and being able to share that with people who forget that sometimes. And share that I forget that sometimes.
I love the way my heart swelled when our investigator walked in late, but there to the Sunday morning session of conference.
And I LOVE the family I have found in Greeneville and the way so many of them reach out and welcome us missionaries into their homes and hearts and allow us to crash their holiday parties and hunt for easter eggs with their two year olds, it was a great Easter.
I will never forget the way my heart has been filled near to bursting over and over and over again, I truly have found a new way to love, it comes from serving every day. It doesn't have to be big things, most of these examples listed above are pretty small and pretty insignificant to the world... but I know from experience after experience that those very same little deeds make a world of a difference to the recipients.
I LOVE this gospel, I LOVE this Church, I LOVE my Savior, I LOVE my family, I LOVE my friends, I LOVE the blessing that is my life.
To close I don't know if y'all picked up on the amount of times hymns and songs were quoted in Conference but I want to share a favorite line from Come Thou Fount:
"Here's my heart Lord take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above."
Love and miss y'all with all my HEART!
Love,
Hermana Hall
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