7 April 2014
Dear Family,
This week couldn´t have been any better! Conference is Better than Christmas. I Loved knowing that all of you were watching it with me at the same time! Priesthood Session and the Women´s session (I think it was last week but they showed it at the same time as priesthood in our stake) was 9-11 at night so we didn´t get to watch it unfortunately but that´s so cool Hunter got to sing in it!
After Sunday afternoon session we had 3 baptisms - Kawane, Lucas e Eduardo. I thought it was especially cool to hear so many talks directed at the youth and then get to be a part of the baptism of 3 of them. Our youth in our ward have really grown to be a powerful goup of young men and women. But I think what I have loved most is seeing these 2 families change so much. Kawane is the daughter of a less-active who, when I first got here, was very closed with me about church and I never imagined at that time that I would get to be here to see how much of a change she has made in her life! She´s now reading the scriptures and praying with her kids every night and being a faithful visiting teacher and we´re working on getting her to the temple. She was so supportive of her 9 yr old, Kawane, getting baptized which wasn´t even close to an option when I met her a couple of months ago. Lucas and Eduardo´s dad and mom have progressed a ton too and were in conference
both Saturday and Sunday as well as bringing 2 of their friends that we are teaching. I figure it´s almost impossible to listen to conference and not feel the spirit. It was cute to see Eduardo, 13, nearly crying after the baptism as well as his dad.
One thing that really stuck out to me at conference that Elder Packer said is that many lessons can´t be taught, but can be learned; And that´s so true. We´ve been learning the same principles of the gospel since the beginning of the world, but it takes living these principles to really understand what the prophets have been telling us forever! There were so many different things I loved about conference, but a couple themes I felt like stuck out to me:
Love. In how we talk to each other, look to serve one another, have compassion and forgiveness, look for the best in others, etc. If we could all truly follow the prophet´s counsel and show more love for one another, how much happier and better off we would all be! And especially learning to love those who are hardest for us to love. I loved how it was said that so many of these "opportunities" to love are within our own homes. It´s true. That really it is a great opportunity for us to learn how to love others and especially those most difficult because that´s how we grow. Also I loved Elder Uchtdorf´s talk about Gratitude. We set some goals because of that to show more gratitude to our members so they will want to help us more and we can work together! I loved that he said gratitude was the catalyst to all Christ-like attributes. I also thought it was interesting how Elder Scott and I think Sister Reeves talked about how to help those we love come back to the path; To not be shocked and angry, but just show love, share what you´ve learned in a loving way, ask questions that make them think and then give them time. Definitely that could apply to some of our investigators and recent-converts that fall into paths we hope they won´t go.
Stand up for what you Believe in. Know it and Show it.
Lucas´ favorite talk was Elder Holland´s (the first session we listened mostly in Portuguese so I was a little disappointed I didn´t get to hear his voice because it´s always so powerful. I´ll have to listen to it after the mission). But how many powerful talks there were about the need to stand up for what we believe in! For sure the world is becoming more and more wicked. Choose ye this day whom ye will serve; ye cannot serve God and mammon. Many of the most powerful testimony building points in my life were moments I had to stand up for my faith and now I am so grateful for those times. That truly changed my whole future, so I feel like that really is one of the best things the youth can learn to do right now.
I also was thinking after Conference how I feel on fire and there were millions of people watching these sessions, but how many of us are actually going to change because of it? If all it did for us was let us feel the spirit for a few hours, yes it was still worth it. But our purpose here is to change and better ourselves. So I hope everyone set new goals for themselves to let conference actually change you! I LOVED Elder Bednar´s talk about the Enabling Power of the Atonement and our Personal Load. He suffered for our weaknesses and shortcomings as well and I know through Him we can make our weak things become strong. I´m so grateful for the chance conference gives me to think about what I can do better in my life to be a better servant of the Lord, and be more like Him. And I hope all of you were changed by what you heard too!
I love you all!
Sister Lewis
No comments:
Post a Comment