Man it's October! That's crazy. And yesterday it was almost 80 degrees. But tomorrow it'll probably be back in the 50s. I don't really care what the weather is, but it'd be nice if it was consistent for at least a few days. It's too hard to know what to wear. Four layers or just one....
News about transfers...they're tomorrow. And. We're both staying here, again! Everyone was FOR SURE Sis. Olney was leaving since this is her first area and she's already been here 6 months. That's already more than most everyone. That'll be almost half her mission including the MTC. I guess they really are trying to keep people in the same place longer. They didn't even tell us until we called them at 10:00 last night. Talk about not telling you tell last minute. To some extent that's the idea...but it was kindof hard to plan the next day without knowing if you were going to be packing.
Who loved conference? Just like my mom said about them, you never want to get up after it's over. I almost never like it when the last session starts because then you know it'll be over in two hours. The secret though i've decided, is not letting the enlightenment end there. It's up to us now to apply the teachings and let them change our lives EVERYday. There's so much truth shared and the feelings of the spirit that we feel need to be stretched out forever.
Johnathan and Kathy weren't able to come :( Another emergency conference call. Dumb eyes...Why can't everybody's be perfect, then we wouldn't have to worry about trying to fix the effects...and then John could come to conference. Man, chain of events to that one.
BUT, Sandy came to 3 sessions, and listened to some of the other on the internet. She absolutely LOVED it. We took her to Kirtland before it last Thursday too and set a date for her to prepare for baptism. She was somewhat apprehensive but conference really helped her. The only problem though is getting her to church for the next two weeks. She promised her friend that they'll go back to the Methodist church together to get back into church. They went this past Sunday AM and they both said they didn't even know what the pastor was teaching about. The pastor was new so they thought they'd give him another chance. Sandy says that service was nothing compared to conference and she told her friend about our church and she might like to come too. Hopefully...
At Kirtland the spirit was really strong. It always is, but it's really neat to take different investigators to Kirtland because there's a very different spirit for each one. I've been able to see how the spirit speaks individually to each of us --how WE need it to recognize it. When we're there with them we can feel it and see what impressed them the most through their responses. I know that the spirit is real. That's something I will never be able to deny. You can feel it--physically, mentally, and spiritually. As we learn to recognize it, we rapidly progress in our ability to obtain knowledge.
To expand on this thought, we previously taught Johnathan with a member Ben Mackenzie who is very respected in his field and received an award from NASA not too long ago. He introduced how as members of the church we refer to "promptings" from the spirit-- Ideas that come to mind that lead us to obtaining further knowlege and understanding. As we recognize the promptings, we flourish is our growth.
John as well as expressed the influence of the spirit's "promptings" in his successes at work. Throughout his life he has learned to really recognize such events, often through meditation. Instances where new insights enter his mind which has helped him as well stay on top of his intellectual field. It's not our own abilities and anyone who's really experience can attest to that. The magnitude of the spirit is more than we can comprehend sometimes, but we can experience the effects. That's something I've really been learning--the power of the spirit.
I know what people mean when they say on missions you get so used to having the spirit with you strongly that you seem so alone when you get released. Although a lot is a result of our current calling, I think more than we realize the amount of the spirit's guidance we feel is a result of how we live our lives. If we were as focused on the Lord's work as we are on a mission, I believe we should have similar experiences with the Holy Ghost in our everyday lives. It's up to us, and how we respond to what we're given. A wise man once said...call yourself on a mission, and if you're willing to respond, you'll be given the best tools as the missionaries.
That'll be all for today.
I know that this gospel is true. It makes us happy.
-Sister Ruthie Salisbury
PS, I got my hair cut today. Finally.
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