Hey everyone!
This has been pretty much the best week ever. It's time for transfers again! I'm headed to California City, in East Lancaster! Back to the Antelope Valley! My companion will be Elder Chamberlain.
This past Tuesday we went up to Frazier Park again. Suzie was kinda sick, so we just had a short lesson and read some of the Book of Mormon with her. She asked us "so this is what the prophets talked about then, what do your prophets talk about now?" WELL it just so happens that they're talking to us THIS WEEKEND. Haha, it was such an easy question! Plus we got to talk about the Family Proclamation, which is always awesome. It's seriously an inspired document.
Wednesday morning we had interviews with President. He gave me some good advice about how to find more people in our area and about planning. We had some appointments that day, but none of them ended up working out. That's alright, they'll just have to happen another day- they might go better then anyway! In the evening we were trying to figure out where to go, and I said "we'll go to the gated community to visit some part-member families!" And so we did. Elder Jackson's pretty intimidated by the double-gated one and the huge houses there (honestly so am I!), but we decided that if the gate happened to be open when we got there, we'd go in and visit someone. And lo and behold, it was! A sign! (or just a nice coincidence.) We did stop by one family, but they weren't interested. Now we know they're not interested though, which is more than we knew before!
Thursday and Friday we worked some more, but all that working was kinda swallowed up in the joy of conference, so I don't remember that much of it, haha.
And conference happened! Oh boy do I love conference. I'll just jot down a couple thoughts I had and things that I liked from each session.
It's really inspiring as a missionary to hear an apostle talk about how everyone has heard the "call of heaven," so I really enjoyed President Uchtdorf's talk. Knowing I've felt that feeling helps me to help others recognize it, the yearnings for an association for that God which gave us life. Elder Holland's talk also gave me a lot of comfort. We've got a lot of commandments, and missionaries have a lot of rules! 10000 talents is a lot! But I can handle doing my little bit, giving (and forgiving) that 100 pence at a time. That's not so bad. Also hearing from Elder Pingree was super cool, since we got to eat lunch with him a couple weeks ago. Another elder asked him what he felt had prepared him most for his service as a Seventy so far, and he said his mission! More motivation to make this time worthwhile.
Elder Cook's talk on Saturday afternoon was really cool- I've been thinking a lot about accountability should play a role in my life, and it helped me fit it in better. I also like how he threw down on how hateful people are these days- being "authentic" or "real" are not reasons to be un-Christlike. Elder Nelson speaking about the Book of Mormon really touched my heart, because I've felt a great desire to share this wonderful gift pretty much only when I'm doing just that- treasuring it and reading it every day. He also said that we would make better decisions if we are reading it, and that's a pretty cool blessing in my book.
The priesthood session is so cool! The combination of Elder Renlund's talk and the focus in missionary work on helping people make covenants really solidified to me that we're the only source on earth where people can get the power to make covenants to experience the full power of the atonement. The only one. That's such an intimidating concept, but it really drives me to work harder. The title of my email is taken from President Uchtdorf's talk- despite our many weaknesses (or in moments of pride, our supposed over-qualifications) God calls us to labor in certain parts of His vineyard, where we have the great chance to bring His light there. I also really appreciated Elder Eyering's talk. I've felt the faith of members here aid us in our work, and seen the faith of those under the stewardship of leaders strengthen them. It's so cool to be a part of such a great organization.
Elder Bednar's talk was a little hard for me to follow at first, but once he started comparing the Sabbath and the temple, I was blown away. Our time on Sunday has the potential to be that holy and consecrated to God. Wow. Suddenly keeping the Sabbath day holy seems like a much, much more serious commandment to me. I noticed a theme among the talks of choosing how we reacting, and choosing to act in faith- really, our eternal destiny is entirely in our hands, and we need to take charge and actively live the Gospel.
Elder Ardern sad something that I felt like really fit in with President Uchtdorf's talk- he spoke about how we have to serve God with all our heart, might, mind, and strength to really have a strong enough light to push back darkness. Satan's going to keep trying harder and harder, so we need to as well. Elder Anderson's talk was just... wow. Hearing that bit of the talk Elder Hales had prepared, the fact that Elder Anderson happened to have it, him speaking about how every subject in conference is given by inspiration and not coordinated... it was a miracle that I felt unfolded right before our eyes. He spoke about how we often feel "calls to repentance" during conference, and I certainly have a lot to work on. But I also feel confident that it's not too much to ask, that I can accomplish it. We got to hear the word of God this weekend. Isn't that incredible?
Thank you for all your support! I'll write ya'll from the desert next week!
Elder Adams
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