Sister Young : The One Where Transfer Calls Came

Wowza. What a weeeeeeeeeek!

I read the coolest quote in a talk this week. It talks about keeping the commandments and how it helps us, but I likened it to missionary work as well and it worked perfectly! The talk is called "Wherefore, Settle This in Your Hearts" by Larry W. Gibbons. He says,

"You lived with your Heavenly Father in a premortal life. You were there with Him. Your spirit knows what it is like to live in celestial realms. You can never be truly happy in an uncelestial environment. You know too much. That is one of the reasons that for you, wickedness never can be happiness."

I love this quote! It holds so much truth behind why our spirits can never feel at home in uncelestial environments, despite what the world tells us. It's important for us to know where we came from so that we can understand the magnitude of importance that our choices on Earth hold and how that will affect us in the life to come. It's really such a great talk! Read it!

This week was filled with good stuff. Lots of service and lots of quality conversations! We have been working hard to get our numbers higher and we have felt the Lord's hand in our efforts.

Mainly, our week consisted of service. We worked our tails off going from place to place, trying to find more service and more people to teach. We prayed about where to go and who to be led to and...... we doubled our quality conversation numbers, doubled our service hours, and found two new people! WOOOO!!

One of them is a boy who is unsure about being baptized and comes from a convert family who has been a little inactive. We went to their home and we seemed a little apprehensive but we had a pretty good connection and I told him that I really wanted to teach him something that I love more than ANYTHING and I know how to make it really fun. He thought about it for a second and was like," can we watch videos about it, too?" And I said "absolutely! I love videos!" So he got really excited! It was really fun!

We had a three companionship exchange so I went with Sister Chaffin. She is the single coolest human this side of the Mississippi. She's so fun and such a hard worker! We worked our tails off doing service and having so many conversations and a couple people asked us to pray with them. It really was such a sucker punch from the spirit. So so cool!

After we switched back, Sister Pierce had just met with our Baptist friends and they were finishing up their discussion. One friend had to leave a little early, so we finished up without her and then parted ways. As we were walking to our car, we saw the friend who left early and she was talking to a friend. I had a prompting to go over and talk to her so we headed over and met her friend. She was so kind and so happy to meet us. We learned that she has been investigating the church a little bit and was going to get a Book of Mormon from her friend! Sister Pierce shared a testimony and a little background about the Book of Mormon and we invited her to our discussions with our two Baptist friends and she said she was interested!

It was such a great experience and it helped lift my spirits and solidify the testimony I had that working hard brings results.

At church on Sunday, we saw a lady sitting by herself that we hadn't seen in a while so we went up and talked to her. She's been inactive since she was 10 years old and is now probably in her mid to late 50s. She told us this was the second week in a row that she came and she just liked the feeling. I asked her if I could sit by her in Relief Society and she said yes. When we were walking towards the Relief Society room after sacrament meeting, she was standing by the door, watching and waiting for us. We had the best conversation and I invited her to come to quilting with the Relief Society and asked if we could come by and visit and she said she would like that very much.

I think one of the most prominent lessons I've learned is that all it takes is a kind smile and warm spirit and people can feel the love of God through you. It doesn't take grand gestures or copious amounts of compliments. Just love others enough to let them know you care and God will do the rest.

I'm so grateful for the decision I made to serve a mission. I'm grateful for the joy it has brought and the growth it continues to push me through.

Transfer calls came! Sister Pierce is leaving me. She is going to Mountain Home, AR and her new companion is none other than Sister Chandler, my MTC comp!

I'm staying here in Bella Vista and I'll be getting Sister Kepler. She is the cutest bug and is from Pocatello Idaho! She is just finishing up her training so she is one transfer behind me. It'll be so much fun to have her and I'm so excited to be staying in BV!

I love you all so much. Remember to read, study, pray, and be the light in others lives. If you do that, you will feel the power of God's love for you individually.

Do your best, and be kind to one another!

❤ Sister Young