Sister Young : The One Where We Don't Support The Military

"To express gratitude is gracious and honorable, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live with gratitude ever in our hearts is to touch heaven."

- Thomas S Monson

There's a lot about a mission that can be easy to get discouraged about. The list is long with reasons. Because of this, I have found the importance of gratitude and how vital it is if we want a happy life. Being grateful not only allows us to see God's hand in our every day lives, it allows us to step back and look at the progress we have made through this life. The talk that this quote comes from was one that popped up while I was trying to click on another one. While glitches on phones happen all the time, I believe that I needed to hear it! Gratitude comes in handy especially when we're going through a difficult time. Something that Sister Kepler and I have been doing every night is writing "grotes" which is our made up words for "gratitude sticky notes". We list the things we're grateful for and then put the sticky note on our closet door, the assigned area for them. Its been fun to actually write down what I'm grateful for every night but another heartwarming aspect that comes from this is being able to look at the notes as they accumulate and to see all of the things we're grateful for, each individually and all as a whole. It's a powerful tool, gratitude, and from the mouth of one of God's chosen prophets, if we live with gratitude in our hearts, we can touch Heaven. So, #begrateful!

This week was so great. A couple highlights:

We tracted into a neighborhood I've been feeling particularly drawn to for quite a while and before we started, we noticed that one of our less active members lived there so we walked down to where she lived. We knocked and she let us in and we had a wonderful conversation about church and her family and how things were going. I felt prompted to share a message with her about Jesus Christ and that lead her to mention some things she was struggling with. My heart went out to her and I was filled with gratitude to my Heavenly Father to leading me to her because she was dealing with doubts and questions that I, too, had faced before I chose to serve a mission. I kept feeling like I needed to invite her to read the Book of Mormon but I kept asking other questions because I was too scared to be pushy! Lol 😅 I haven't really gotten this whole bold missionary thing down yet, but I'm getting there! The time came and I asked her if she had read the Book of Mormon recently and she paused for a moment and said: " you know, that's a book I haven't cracked open in a while." Sister Kepler and I then had the opportunity to testify of the importance and power of the book and how it would answer her questions like it did ours. She asked us if we would come read with her and spend time around her grandson and show him what it feels like to be around us. We happily accepted and gave her a hug and left feeling blessed and uplifted by our visit.

While we were walking away from her home, we saw a gentleman getting out of his car and walking to his door. We waved and asked him how he was doing and he said: "I'm doing pretty good for an old guy, thanks for asking!" We continued to walk and then decided to stop by on our way back. We knocked on his door and he opened and came out and had a wonderful conversation with us. He isn't interested in organized religion but he loves God. We talked about how feeling God in our everyday lives is so important and how it can be a driving force for good. We then asked if he had come across the Book of Mormon and he said that he had heard of it but hadn't read it and then told us that the only thing he doesn't like about our church is that we don't support the military. I about laughed out loud! Actually, I think I did. Haha we told him that we absolutely do and made sure he had the right church. :) we gave him a book of Mormon and I told him that it even talks in the Book of Mormon that this is a promised land, a land to be proud of and respected! He said he would look into it. :) it was awesome!

We had a great lesson with our people that we're teaching. They're awesome and I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to teach them. They're passionate about Jesus Christ and are filled with the desire to do the right thing. It's inspiring to be "teaching" them; I feel like they are teaching me!

On Thursday, we had interviews and it was a good day. It was filled with district unity and love for each other. We had a great time discussing goals and how we can love and support each other in our efforts. Then, our stake president, President Keogh, came and spoke to us and asked us what ways we would like to be involved in the wards and stake to get them fired up about missionary work. He gave us awesome pointers and left us with a powerful testimony. He's the next Jeffrey R. Holland. He's a powerhouse with the best Scottish accent. He's like the Gerard Butler of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I keep wanting him to go into a Sparta mode but he's just the coolest guy. He also came and spoke in our ward conference on Sunday. He talked about the power of God's Love and how much he loves us. It was awesome because we had some non-members in the congregation so I'm sure they felt the spirit!

On Saturday, we volunteered to be race marshals for the Bentonville Half Marathon and 5K. We had to wake up pretty stinking early to get there on time but we were excited to help! We were assigned to help on the 5K course and then go help the Half Marathoners. We cheered people on and they loved it! We saw a lot of people we knew and a lot of people we didn't! It was really fun to have people say hi to us and to hear "Thanks, Sisters!" as we cheered them on. They knew who we were! It was a wonderful experience and I'm glad we did it! We got a lot of time out in the public and were able to serve. It was awesome!

This week was so great. The work is going wonderfully. The gospel is restored and God is ushering in his final dispensation and is preparing us every moment for our eternal lives with Him. I'm blessed to be out here in the work of the kingdom and I'm thankful for the love and prayers I get from back home. You are all incredible. I love you dearly! Be grateful, be bold, and be loving! Be kind to one another!

-Sister Young