Hello! It was good to hear from you.
I got your package! Thank you so much for sending the heating blanket, my medication, etc...Especially the Ensign! Good thinking, Mom, before I even asked you! =) I studied Elder Perry's talk this morning (pre-assignment for our zone conference coming up Friday...what can I say...we have lots of conferences!)...it was a little weird having the Aussef family smiling up at me during my personal study...but it was nice at the same time. I loved all the notes from the family...thank you all for writing!! Sorry I've been neglecting writing back.......the past few p-days have been WAY TO BUSY! we're determined to fix that today though. Cleaning and letter writing. That's the plans for today. (so the stamps will come in handy too! =) ) The cookies are probably half gone already...Sister Niu and Sister Beckstrand both say "thank you!"
The other highlight of this past week was, of course, our conferences with general authorities! On Saturday our mission conference was with Elder Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve, Elder Clayton of the Presidency of the Seventy, Bishop Edgely of the Presiding Bishopric and Elder Merrill (not sure if I've been spelling his name right...), an area seventy. It was wonderful.
We started off with Sister Wilson bearing her testimony of prayer and then President Wilson bore his testimony. What really struck me from his talk was that the big push for senior couples now isn't just for those that could serve immediately, but it's also for those of us that are younger and serving now to prepare now to serve another, as a reminder that a mission isn't THE defining experience of a life, just one of many.
Then Elder Andersen got up to speak. He started out joking that Elder Perry stole his thunder by visiting just a few months ago. It is really so rare to be visited by one of the Twelve anyways...to have two visits within three months of each other!? Anyways...He spoke about our role in the conversion process. It's so nice to hear so many of our leaders discussing how baptism isn't the end goal of missionary work, but true conversion, temple attendance and eternal life are the end goals. He spoke a lot in terms of "this is what I've learned from Elder Bednar" or "this is what I've learned from Elder Scott." Sister Niu, Sister Beckstrand and I were talking about it, and we've really noticed that the Brethren seem to be referencing each other, directly, more and more. Something else we've noticed is that they've been using their titles as apostles and prophets more to introduce their testimonies. The other day during our mormon.org time Sister Beckstrand was watching a video of Elder Oaks speaking in the Senate, and even there he said "I'm here to speak to you as an Apostle of the Lord..." etc. It was pretty interesting. Elder Andersen really bore strong testimony of our work, and how we shouldn't be too hard on ourselves.
Then Elder Clayton opened up for question time. A few good questions were asked....one of the better questions was about the urgency to preach the Gospel and accept the Gospel in this life rather than in the next. Bishop Edgely answered that question. He said the main reason is for our posterity. He gave some examples of some members in his wife's family that didn't stay strong, and it was four generations that fell away from the Church until his wife was contacted by missionaries and she accepted the Gospel herself. Then Elder Andersen spoke on it a little. He said it's not "just" that the "same spirit" will remain with us from this life to the next, but that as a member of the Twelve, he'd learned and seen many things, and that he knows that it is easier to learn the Gospel on this side of the veil. He said (as best as we could piece the quote together, between the three of us...) "Learning on this side of the veil is more enduring. A person is so much better off if he learns faith here. Learn to live for others. The person that says he will wait until the other side fools himself. If he will seek to turn himself out [towards others] in the role of the Master...[these] principles are much easier to learn on this side of the veil." It was really powerful. Elder Clayton had started with the question period reminding us that this wasn't the time to ask deep doctrinal questions that we'll have new revelation told to us...and while what Elder Andersen isn't new I felt like it was a little bit close...Very interesting.
We expected that Elder Andersen would be at our stake conference yesterday also (he was our stake president's mission president) but he didn't. The stake meeting was with Elder Clayton and President and Sister Wilson. It was all about missionary work. The three of us had been talking about what we expected from the conferences the whole week before (well...weeks really...). We were kind of expecting the mission conference to be this smackdown that we needed to buck up and do better work...but really, our conference was all about "You're doing a great job! Keep up the good work! Be patient! Don't get yourselves down!"
But then the stake conference....the members kind of got reamed. Basically, it was all about how if the members aren't doing their jobs to find and fellowship, what we do as missionaries won't make any difference. In a very nice, loving way, of course...but from a missionaries perspective it was kind of harsh...We're really hoping the members in our stake (and our ward especially) will really take the counsel they received to heart. We got a few ideas of things we can try form it also...but really, our conference was Saturday, and that was what was directly for us. We're here in the stake as guests...while the principles apply to us, the direct counsel applies to the members more...The after-effects will be interesting to watch.
Elder Clayton issued a challenge for the stake to set aside a FHE (Family Home Evening) to study the Proclamation on the Family by dividing a paper in half and on one side writing "Christ's Doctrine on the Family" and on the other "What the World Believes About the Family." He said that the Twelve had given that assignment to the Seventy, and it took several FHEs before his family was finished, but he promised that doing so would give added strength to our families, and it would help us "see where the Adversary is hidden" to combat him better. We're going to do that for a companionship study one of these days, I think. We're looking forward to it.
Chris and her son Derrick were both able to come. They actually even got to shake Elder Clayton's hand before the meeting started. They didn't know who he was, but when we saw them afterward they were SO excited to tell us about it. They're both really awesome investigators. They're doing so great =) They LOVED the conference...they said it was even better than watching general conference on TV!
Well...I'm out of time to really write anything else, but I hope you enjoyed reading about our conferences...I have some pictures to send you that I'll get printed and in the mail soon. Hope you have a wonderful week!
Love you all!
Sister Heather Holdsworth
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