Conference was super excellente! I can't wait to get the conference ensign so I can read all of the talks again. It seemed to me that all of the talks were about being better disciples via love/service and conviction to our beliefs. We watched the first session at the stake center and then the other three at various member's homes. I really liked Elder Nelson's talk about faith and I also really liked Elder Uchtdorf's talk on gratitude. I guess I really liked every talk. I especially appreciated Elder Ballard's talk about missionary work. If every member studied Preach My Gospel....that would just be so great. I was thinking that maybe I should share something I've been studying with you, Sister Heaps always sends her family scriptures and stuff.
I've been focusing a lot on lesson 4 in chapter 3 of pmg, its about the commandments. This morning, I was reading over the Pray Often section and what stuck out to me were all the blessings that come from praying. I copied and pasted it so you can read it too:
As we pray with faith, sincerity, and real intent, we will see God’s influence in our lives. He will guide us in our daily lives and help us make good decisions. He will bless us with feelings of comfort and peace. He will warn us of danger and strengthen us to resist temptation. He will forgive ours sins. We will feel closer to Him. We must learn to recognize His influence in our lives. We must learn to listen to the still, small voice of the Spirit.
We can recognize when the Holy Ghost is teaching us the truth. Our minds will be filled with inspiring and uplifting thoughts. We will be enlightened, or given new knowledge. Our hearts will have feelings of peace, joy, and love. We will want to do good and be helpful to others
I counted 13 blessings. That's a lot for simply praying often.
This week we made a new discovery. We're not sure how long our phone has been around but there are tons of contacts in it. We don't know about 80% of them, they might be former investigators or they might be members, we just don't know. However! Sister Heaps was going through the contacts when we were driving somewhere (I'm the designated driver so I don't handle the phone) and noticed that some of the contacts have notes along with their other contact info. One of the contacts, Phyllis, had a note that said "Phyllis is a former investigator that loves the Book of Mormon". Awesome! There were a few others that had little notes like that or it just had an address. So this past week we have been trying to get back in contact with these people. We actually met Phyllis yesterday and she was really open to learning more/taking the discussions. I guess she used to meet with missionaries two-ish years ago. She was out cutting her lawn when the elders walked by and offered to mow the lawn. They ended up teaching her but somehow they ended up losing contact.
Susana is getting closer and closer to accepting the gospel. I don't understand how two simple things, reading the Book of Mormon and praying, can be the hardest thing for people to do.
Katie Jones baptism date is still April 19th but we haven't been able to teach her the past two weeks b/c she was out of town and then sick. So we have A LOT to teach her but only a short amount of time to teach it all. I feel at peace with it though because she is super ready.
Sister Heaps and I have been trying figure out how to find more people to teach because tracting is good but not as effective as other finding activities. We're going to really try to encourage members to invite people to hear the discussions. I think having them read PMG will help (it sure makes me want to share the gospel). Plus, Elder Ballard made a pretty bold promise during general conference. He said hundreds of thousands will find peace in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints if we invite and follow-up.
I love you, hope you you enjoy the rest of spring break!
-Sister Davis
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