Monday, April 22, 2013

Another fantastic week!
The coolest part about this week was that we had zone conference with President Hall coming down. One really neat announcement we received is that evidently with so many more sisters going on missions, they are dissolving "zone leader training," creating certain official sister leadership positions (like an exchange sister type thing), and doing a "mission leadership counsel" instead of the zone leader trainings. It is so great because sisters will have even more of a voice and will be able to have more training as leaders as well.
One of the big things that we talked about is about power and authority. We have the authority, but having His power as we're teaching is the part that both takes work and is also necessary. If we don't have his power, we are not teaching in his manner which means it isn't his work which means you're not his servant which means you're someone else's servant. On the other hand, As we have his authority, pray for his power, are worthy, and have his spirit, we will receive his power and therefore teach in his manner, it will be his work, and we will be his servants. The thing is this is the power of God we're talking about. It is the power that creates the world, the universe, and life. If it can do that, it surely can touch the hearts of humankind- his own precious creation- and they can become converted.
Another thing I learned is that I want to come to learn to observe things and not just see them. As an example, I want to come to observe things like Richard G. Scott observes the scriptures. At the last two general conferences, he has chosen a New Testament story and expounded on it in ways I'd never though of or related to before. He really observes the scriptures. President Hall gave a quote from Sherlock Holmes where Watson was wondering why he couldn't come to the same conclusions as Holmes and Holmes said it is because you see but you do not observe. He said that Watson must have come up the same set of stairs hundreds of times, but Watson couldn't answer how many steps there were on the stairs. As we not only read, but observe the scriptures, they take on a whole new meaning and it becomes precious to us.
Another thing we did this week is quite a bit of finding (and coming home exhausted ha ha-- It's starting to get hot again here and the sun really takes it out of you!) and we've found some good new potentials which is so exciting! A big miracle of this week is that Gabby finally came to church this week (she's been recommitting each week for weeks) and she brought her two sons and even their very catholic grandma. It was so neat. Oh yeah, my talk went well on Sunday. It was really cool sharing the story "The Lord's Richest Blessings" by Carl B. Pratt from General Conference of April 2011 (http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/the-lords-richest-blessings?lang=eng) which tells an amazing tithing story about my paternal great grandparents. It was really cool because the majority of the people in this ward are from Mexico and one Hermana even came up to me afterward and was talking about how she served her mission in the Mormon Colonies in Mexico. It was really neat to be able to share it. That's the third talk I've given in Spanish out in the field and it isn't even a big deal nowadays to talk for the 20 or so minutes straight in Spanish. 
A few more things I'd like to share...I really liked one analogy that was shared at church that was special. It talked about how when you are growing a tree and it starts to grow crooked, you hook up anchors and hook up ties to it so that it can have supports and be able to grow straight again. That is like the church. They took the analogy a little bit further and said that if you've been growing crooked for 20 or 30 or more years, it may take a lot more time and effort to correct the tree, but it is never too late. I just thought that analogy was really special because sometimes it seems like after a certain point it isn't worth the work anymore. But God didn't give up on us, so we shouldn't give up on others either ever!!
Also, I was reading through the general conference talks of last conference and I really liked one of them and I know Britt is preparing for her trek, so she might like it. It is "Wide Awake to Our Duties" (http://www.lds.org/broadcasts/article/general-relief-society-meeting/2012/09/wide-awake-to-our-duties?lang=eng) during the Relief Society session. I just loved the thought of her wishing she had been physically stronger such that she would have been able to run back down the hill and help the next handcart come up the hill but she didn't have anything left in her. She said she never wants to let her sisters down spiritually. I just loved that and I want to become that type of person that I have very strong spiritual muscles such that I can keep on running down the hill and helping someone else push their load up. That's my goal for my life. I love the scripture used "I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left and my spirit will be in your hearts, and my angels round about you to bear you up." I know that maybe there are real angels helping people out, but I've decided I want to voluntarily be that angel for others all throughout the rest of my life!! 
Anyway, that's about all for this week. Have a wonderful week y tenga el espiritu consigo siempre!!!
~Hermana Whetten