Week 72: Planting Jesus Trees+Hold Both Banners High

What a blessed week✨️

Odds and Ends

●I spoke at MLC, I was asked by President Hamblin to give a patriotic message! When I got up to speak, people told me after that they thought that I would start singing haha! That makes me happy people know me as a singer! See some of my talk below👀

●The second I got to this area, I saw the signs that said "Welcome to Gilbert: Home of the Peach Festival." The Peach Festival is on the 4th of July, so when I got here in January, I wanted to make it to July so I could experience it a little bit! Well... we had MLC on the 4th of July so we missed the Peach Festival this year! I guess I'll have to come back next year ;)

●On one of our breaks, President Hamblin had us all go outside. Some people thought that he was kidding. So we went outside and did speed walk races. A core memory right there! It was hilarious watching the elders faces as they ran!

●An areabook update:

Knocked 2x no answer but a little buzzing bee who scared the beejeebes out of Sister Gibbens

●We had a combined Zone Conference with Augusta Zone, so I got to see Sister Wardrop! One downfall is we had to cram 20 people in a teeny room for our zones accountability. It was so bad the elders got permission to take off their suit coats.

●We picked up pinecones for Sherry and Ferman again!

●The Smiths took us and the ZLs out to Augusta to eat after Zone Conference!

●Bruised my OTHER foot kicking Sister Bruce's bed on accident. Ouchie. If that doesn't tell you how small the space between our beds is, I don't know what does!

●With the help of my mom, I got to send Sister Bruce a squishmallow! She used to borrow mine when she was here. She loves pink and I never wanted her to forget all the walks to the cows.🐄🐄🐄

●We had a sisters pday, plus the Smiths! We went bowling, and the bowling balls were so greasy we all got little stains on our shirts.... Then we did the game where you put a whole bunch of water in your cheeks, you then do rock paper scissors. Then whoever wins gets to slap the other person with a tortilla. Whoever let's the water leak out first loses! It was so fun. But I definitely did not win! It started leaking out my nose I was trying so hard!

Miracles

★Braxdyn, Brandon's son, read the Restoration pamphlet and loves it so much. He especially loved the picture of Christ appearing to the Americas. He said he would feel happy if that was him. Kristina the mother has been taught by missionaries in the past! She said if she joined any church for fellowshipping it would be ours. She's still looking for what's right for her and wants to be a better example to her kids. Hopefully she'll let Braxdyn continue to learn in Maryland!

★Donna had a good start to the week! We had a lesson with Donna and she told us she watched the talk we sent her about temples. She got emotional really quickly, she was so touched that she could be baptized for her passed on family... she couldn't even finish her sentence. She just held her face and cried. I just rubbed her arm as she soaked in the Spirit and let the tears fall. Then she called us while she was drunk later in the week and that was so sad. But she called the next day and apologized. Then she came to church and was participating a lot, the most involved I've ever seen her! It was awesome!

★We met Kevin, he made a request but he did not remember making it. Well he was kinda not interested in church and kept saying he's not going to change. But I still tried to share the gospel! I fought for this guy! We left him with a Book of Mormon and our number!

★Krisitana holyyyyy! We had dinner with the Hollingers, and we asked if we could bring Kristiana to, and they said yes! She was 30 minutes late just like standard Kristiana time haha. But she brought flowers for them! She said she prayed to feel God's presence while she was at Nichole's baptism which she said she did! We talked about the importance of having a testimony of the Book of Mormon and Brother Hollinger gave this AMAZING analogy, and said good is good but we have what's best, is the priesthood. That helped her understand it really well. She feels like God has given her an answer and she cried at the baptism bc of the spirit but she wants the Holy Ghost a lot. We read Moroni's promise and she LOVED IT. Then we read 3 Nephi 11:3 and she kept stopping as she read bc she got so excited with how much she relates. THEN the Hollingers invited her over for dinner on Sunday and a church movie night! Ahhh! She sadly couldn't come to church or the dinner and movie night because her laxatives worked too well😅 but HUGE miracles and big steps for her! Something cute we learned from Kristiana; When we usually refer to sharing the gospel, we call it "planting seeds." But Kristiana calls it "planting Jesus trees." I'm using that from now on!

★We had an appointment with the Keech family but it fell through. So we paused, and prayed for direction. I had the number 3 come to mind! So we looked at the apartments but we weren't sure what that meant because many of the apartments had a 3 in it! So we felt drawn to this one apartment. We knocked and got to talking, and she said we could stop by again, but she didn't give us her number. But we did ask her how many kids she had, and she said 3. I don't believe in coincidences! 😊

★The Wilsons are just my favorite! We had the BEST LESSON HOLY. Hunter and Dane told us about their time at EFY and how much they loved it! Following that, we jumped into the lesson about temples! We watched the temple tour video and the spirit was sooo strong! We had a really good meaningful conversation with questions!! Sister Wilson shared some really powerful experiences along with Brother Wilson. The younger siblings had some really neat things to share about their temple experiences that hyped their younger siblings up. Lumen is sad she has to wait until she is 11 to go. But Talon is excited! Lumen also said she wasn't sure if she was ready to be baptized yet and we reassured it that it comes down to desire not knowledge by reading in Mosiah 18. That brought her comfort and they are so hyped!! LOVE THIS FAMILY!! And their jumpsuits fit too!

★Sister Bangerter and her husband are moving to Hawaii...We shared D&C 84:88 "And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up." It brought her straight to tears. Literally it was so precious. We talked about how the Lord is always there for us and it was honestly just so good. She opened up more about her family and their motto: "Be good and trust in the Lord". Gonna miss her so much!

♡Welcoming the Hamblins to the SCCM!♡

President and Sister Hamblin are the cutest thing ever! They truly whack you with Spirit and positivity! While they were teaching together, Sister Hamblin grabbed President Hamblins head and kissed him right on top of the head. SO CUTE! And they both already know my name! Here are a few things I've learned from them all ready:

---In missionary work, all we need is Preach My Gospel and the Book of Mormon.

---Councils are the most important meeting in the church.

---The best advice the prophet gave them: love one another.

---Remember the power of your covenants

---Speed walk races are necessary for mission unity.

---Convert not convince!

---Until we recognize we have a place at the table and not out in the field, we aren't going to have faith.

---We can ask Heavenly Father what His will is and have the authority to do it.

---We are linked arm in arm with apostles!

---The Lord gives inspired guidance to many of His servants, but to all, only a piece!

---These are divinely designed intersections.

Spiritual Thought

★In a lesson with Donna, we had McCall Bethurem join us! And she shared something with Donna that really made me think. She explained that in the scriptures, Christ doesn't say "I'll take YOUR yoke upon me" but He says "Take MY yoke upon you...for MY yoke is easy, and MY burden is light."(Matthew 11:29-30). Christ is saying to us "my daughter, my son, life is hard, you'll have to carry some heavy things, but they will help you grow. And as you walk with me, you'll find the yoke that's on my shoulders shared with yours is easier than all the rest." There's a song I've found since being a missionary and being exposed to all the Christian music. In the song it says "a little more like Jesus, a little less like me." With this in mind, really taking upon us the yoke of the Savior means becoming more like Him to walk with Him with a lighter load. So let's become more like Jesus so our loads will be lighter and easier! Not gone, but easier! I know next to Christ is the only true way we can walk back to our heavenly home. I challenge each of you to ponder how you can become more Christlike! See if it eases you like Christ promised.

★Here is a portion of my patriotic message:

Through whatever battle, in Captain Moroni's time, the battles that follow in the scriptures between the Lamanites and Nephites, to the Revolutionary War, to World War I and II, to more that are prophesied to come before Christ's 2nd coming–through it all, we know our God given rights. We know that liberty and freedom are priceless. Let's hold both banners high! The American flag, and our title of liberty of Moroni long ago. God has been involved in our nation's victories. This land is still the one promised, the one chosen. But the fight for right is not over. Men and women are still fighting for us, and there are many wars and battles I have not mentioned. With these banners of liberty in mind, I'd like to turn our attention to the army we are enlisted in. Our service is directly to everyone here in South Carolina and Georgia. This is our battle. And the best part? Is it's not against our fellow men, but the adversary. And anything with the adversary and Heavenly hosts battling, we already know the outcome. We are on the winning side of eternity. And we have been enlisted, as missionaries, for 2 years or 18 months, to FIGHT. Fight for righteousness, fight for the peace of the gospel, fight for the baptisms of our brothers and sisters. Let's give our all for the word of God to spread across this promised land. As we keep our covenants as Captain Moroni instructed, and as we remember how freeing and liberating the message of the gospel is, we will gather Israel at an increased pace. These banners of liberty were DECISIONS and evidence of commitment. It doesn't happen on its own. God loves effort, but it starts with us as individuals. That effort to lift up those banners of HEAVEN and AMERICA. Today, what do you stand for? What banners are you holding? Remember these banners. Because they are His, and they are yours. On this blooming hot day, the 4th of July, lets remember the sacrifices made for our country, both of those written in the scriptures and in history books. And lets remember the sacrifices we made to be here. I invite each of you to consider how high you hold your banner, and then raise it higher! Together as disciples, please keep these phrases at the front of your mind:

In God we trust.

We are all enlisted til the conflict is ore.

Sweet land of liberty.

Christ set the captives free.

Let freedom ring.

His truth is marching on.

O're the land of the free, and the home of the brave.

Birthdays

It was Sophie's birthday on the 10th! Happy birthday sweet girly!

Pictures