Superwoman!

Dearest family and friends,

This has been a week of random blessings and referrals... which are also huge blessings. I don't even know what we've done to deserve all these blessings because I know there are still many things I'm trying to do better, but we're trying to work hard, to talk to people, to do all we can. We had Temple this week and Stake Conference, so I learned a lot, but first some of the miracles.

Thursday is usually the day we do weekly planning, so we had planned to stay in our apartment and attempt to plan the rest of our week (it's harder with spontaneous YSAs). So we were doing our studies and we sang "I'll go where you want me to go" as our Hymn that morning.. About9:45 we got a text from a member who has breast cancer telling us to come over now!!! because her caretaker was asking tons of questions about the Book of Mormon. We felt a little like Clark Kent responding to a call. We grabbed our bags and ran out the door. We ended up getting to talk to her caretaker for a while and answer some questions. She has a sister that has had a lot of miscarriages and she was worried about the babies, so we started talking about the Plan of Salvation. We handed her a Book of Mormon and she turned right to Moroni 8 talking about how little children do not need baptism and are saved by the Grace of Christ. But then it got a little weird because we were trying to be nice and understanding, but she adamantly insisted that there is no pre-existence despite us reading Jeremiah 1:5, Romans 8:16-17, Eccl 12:7 and a variety of other scriptures and testifying of how the Holy Spirit works and speaks to our hearts and spirits. Oh well. It was a good discussion and we were glad to be able to be there to talk to her more about things she had wondered about.

No sooner had we returned to our apartment and started making a sandwich than we got another call from some guy Tony that was saved in our phone. Turns out Tony is a guy that works down the street that the Sisters had talked to in February. So we headed over and got to talk to him a little bit. He speaks more Spanish than English but we told him about what we do, and just then the Elders for that area rode by and we flagged them down and introduced Tony to them. There is no such thing as coincidence.

After that we got home, finished a couple things and then headed off to a hand-off appointment with some other Sisters. They've been teaching this guy named Charlie, but since all the people his age are in our ward, they figured it'd be better for him to be taught by us, so we went and he is great!! We taught the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Holy Ghost and Enduring to the End. We also talked about recognizing the Spirit. He's been praying about baptism but doesn't feel like he has a definite answer yet. So we talked about how the Spirit speaks to us to help him better recognize his answer when it comes, or if it already has. Sister King and I were reading from PMG this morning and talking about our responsibility in helping others become converted. A huge part of that is helping people make and keep commitments, but another huge part is helping them recognize the Spirit and the answers they receive. I think that's a strength I've been given too, to recognize the Spirit and help others recognize it too. Sister King is really good about helping investigators reflect on how they feel in lessons. As we testify of truth the Spirit really does touch us and change our hearts.

This letter is long and I haven't even gotten to the good stuff. Temple day was amazing. I amso grateful that our mission president lets us go to the Temple once a transfer. I know that's way more often than most people, but I still feel like it's not nearly enough. I can't wait to be able to attend more. It's so nice to live so close to the temple in this area, we get to have lessons on the grounds sometimes. Anyways, I felt more impressed than I ever have before as we went to the Temple that we are literally children of our Heavenly Father. If we understood just a little of what that really means it would change our perspective, our choices, our hearts and our desires. God loves us and he wants the best for His children. We have unlimited potential. I also learned more about sacrifice. The sacrifice required of us now is a broken heart and a contrite spirit. So I'm trying to do more to make that sacrifice and give more of myself to the Lord. I'd be interested to know how all of you have made that sacrifice, different ways its been manifest in your life and ways you've found to be more devoted to the Savior.

Saturday we got a lot more referrals that we're trying to follow up with. What a blessings, and then in the Sunday session of Stake Conference I learned a lot. Our Stake President said that some study said that families have an average of 55 things on their refrigerator. Items on your refrigerator are usually things we want to remember, accomplish, emphasize, or appreciate. What's on yours? He shared some things from his: family  picture, notes, quotes.. my favorite quote was this, "The fearful seek to serve themselves by mastering the world. the fearless seek to serve the world by mastering themselves." I feel like every area I'm in on my mission the Lord gives me a new challenge to help me learn and grow. I think the one here is learning how to master myself better. To learn how to push myself to reach my goals, to learn how to help myself grow.

Love you lots! Thanks for reading this enormously long letter. I'd love to hear about your goals and sacrifices.

Love,

Sister Andreason

Ultimate Frisbee Morning with our district.

A little practical joke on the APs who complain about having to drive a mini-can while we get to drive a Chevy Impalla :)