Long time no see! Como estamos? :)
This has been a crazy week...two weeks? I don't even know where the time is going. We only have two more weeks together in training and that just blows my mind. I know I always whine about the time going so fast, but it really doesn't slow down!
We had a lot of fun experiences these last two weeks and also a lot of very, very spiritual experiences. I think imma save explaining all the crazy funny stuff for a separate email that isn't really in a concise format haha. It'll be a little game for you trying to figure out what all the randomness means haha 😜 But holy cow. Let's start with last week. The temple.
Wow, I love the temple. We got to Rego at about 9:30 and Elder Brown was already there with his companion. We sat there talking for a few minutes and then all of a sudden there was a fist in front of me. I fist bump it and look up, there's Elder Stoker! We all talked for a bit and then the Hermanas finally arrived. We had the cutest little reunion. It was so great. I felt like Alma, how he finally meets back up with the four sons of Mosiah after years of being apart preaching the gospel and how what made him the most happy was that they were still "his brethren in the Lord". Same. :) We all traveled through the subways to the temple together and were sitting there reminiscing about almost eight months back when we first came in together haha. It was awesome.
The actual temple though. Best part. This week was just so spiritually packed! The temple and Elder Holland! The coolest thing was when we walked in. There were fire trucks going by outside but the second the doors closed you couldn't hear a thing. Now usually when I enter the temple and then when I enter the celestial room I feel the Spirit shift. Same Spirit, just stronger then a little stronger again. But the coolest thing for me was that I walked in to this temple I've never been to before and I didn't feel any change. I instantly felt at home but I didn't feel the Spirit change. You may think that's a bad thing, but when I left the temple it didn't change either. Know what that means? To me, it was a tender mercy from the Lord. He was telling me that I'm on the right path. I'm doing what I'm supposed to be. Yes. I literally almost started crying when we first walked in because I was so happy.
It talks about in the scriptures how you can wax stronger and stronger in humility, firmer and firmer in faith, and that your confidence can wax strong in the presence of God. Slight tangent, but I've been thinking a lot about the judgment bar and how the Book of Mormon prophets all testified that they will stand as witnesses before the Father that they did their part in testifying of the Christ and we did or did not choose to accept their testimonies. And it has me thinking: will we be ready, worthy, and able to stand in the presence of God? Forget about having confidence in His presence, will we even be ready to stand before Him? The goal would be yes!
Anyway, so the long story short here is that I feel like I'm getting there. And for me that has started with having the same Spirit of the temple with me always. It was always such a cliché thing to me, people saying how we can feel that same Spirit of the temple always. But now I do.
That was a lot of words to express a simple thing: temples. Be worthy to be there always. No better place to be in this world.
We also had the opportunity to participate in this lovely activity called a Noche de Hispanidad. Oh dear. So each organization represented a country and of course they gave us missionaries the USA. Naturally my compañera and I went all out. We had half the members coming up to us afterwards to get pictures with us haha! #makingafoolofourselves But it was a great opportunity to build some member trust and help them see us as real people. I think them seeing us in work work work mode and also goofy mode was actually a very good thing :) the food though, the food was so good. Food from every country and then some. Also, I have learned I like tamales.
Drum roll please. The best part of the whole last two weeks: Elder Holland. Or as he referred to himself: Jeff. Wow, that was cool. We got to Woodside at 7:30 for the devotional that started at 9. We sat second row behind the assistants and can I just say it was the coolest thing. He wanted a picture with the whole bunch of us and then to shake all of our hands, so that was amazing. We did the picture first so we got all lined up then he came in. We all knelt down or bent over for the picture after he sat and he goes, "such a good looking group! *we kneel* and humble!" Haha. We all filed out of the picture and got to shake his hand and his wife's hand. We said our name and where we were from. Once he started his remarks he said he didn't care about what we said to him cause he was going to forget it anyway, but that it is very important for him to shake all of our hands so that he can have a five second interview with all of us. One on one. He said that was the purpose. To look into our souls. Yikes! Haha! It was so cool. He said there are maybe three or four struggling, but that this is a strong worthy mission and that he could feel our spirit really strongly. It was amazing.
Elder Holland came with his wife and then their son and his wife who also brought their ten year old son. This was so cool. President and Sister Reynolds addressed us first, then Matt Holland, then Elder Holland for a second, the daughter in law, then Sister Holland, and then Elder Holland again. It was great. So. Many. Notes. Thoughts. Questions. Goodness. It was so great. He got a floor mic and was walking around and was just so intense. It was amazing. We've got some golden quotes from the class with Elder Holland that we'll send at the end :)
He first got up and said he felt inspired to talk about the restoration and the Book of Mormon. Now, if you have not seen his talk Safety for the Soul, what are you doing reading this?? Go! Read it! Then come back. He basically was along the same kind of lines as that talk (even quotes himself at one point) only up the fire to about five hundred times the fire from that talk. Also, add a chalkboard and his scriptures cause he was writing and flipping like mad haha! It was amazing. But, basically the message is the subject line. We have the Book of Mormon. And this book literally holds the key to everything. Like, everything. He said after about thirty minutes of preaching about the first few chapters of the book, "if you can only get an investigator to read 15 pages of the Book of Mormon i can't think of anything [the first seven chapters or so] more important!" Dang. We gonna be testifying of the Book of Mormon like there's no tomorrow!
But, all in all, this was probably the coolest experience of my life. Done. If you don't have a testimony of the restoration of this gospel, test it! Do as Alma says --whether you believe Alma was a prophet or not-- and experiment upon the word!! What will happen if you experiment on what God and the prophets have given us?? If it's not true you will have read a cool book, heard a cool story about a man who says he saw God, and will have had some cool thoughts to then carry on with you life. But if it is true --and I testify with all of my being that it is-- then do you know what rich blessings, promises, and joy await you?? Do we not even want to try the word and see if it is good?? We will not even just experiment for a few days just in case we could get those blessings?? Because I promise you we will. :)
But I want it clear to everyone I ever meet that I know the Book of Mormon is true and the prophet Joseph Smith is the prophet of the restoration. Through him we have the true church restored again with a living prophet to guide us in these perilous times when men's hearts shall fail them. Now what will we do with that testimony? Share it, hopefully. :) those of us who know, open your mouths and let yourselves be instruments in the hands of God. For those of us who do not yet know, try. Just try it. See what happens. And when ye are converted strengthen thy brethren, lift up the hands that hang low, strengthen the feeble knees, bring others that they might be strong also. We have something no one else has, might we all do everything that lay in our power to share the joy of this gospel with everyone we meet is my prayer and hope. Have a fabulous week :)
Muchísimo amor,
Hermana Karra Gourley
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