I HIT MY 9 MONTH MARK!!

Hey!!

Well! This week has been a week full of celebrating!! On Tuesday, Sister Baum and I both hit our 9 Months (till we go home) mark! I can't even believe that... oh my goodness. It blows my mind!! To celebrate we had Zone Conference! Wooo!!! Haha. Jus kiddin.. we took some funny pictures! 

We also had a ton of fun on Saturday for my Birthday! I can't believe I'm 20.... I feel old... mission wise and age wise! I was telling Sister Baum that and she was like you really aren't though because we are eternal beings so we are forever young!! I though that was super cool! She has some deep thoughts! Man... Anywho! Lemme tell y'all about my birthday! So! First thing we studied and then I opened all my packages! (thank you so much for those btw!) Then while we were getting ready, Baum burnt the heck outta her finger while she was curling her hair. So the first part of the day we were just worrying about her wounds! Poor Baumski...We didn't have Aloe Vera so we called our ZL's (Dean and Clarke) and the first thing they did was sing to me over the phone.  it was beautiful.. lemme tell ya!!  they're so funny! They brought us some aloe and some utter ointment stuff that Elder Dean swears by!  soo gross... Then Baum and I went to visit some people who were not home...  Before we knew it, it was time to go to Red Robin to put our name on the list because that's where we wanted to go because we wanted some good 'Merican food!  We invited the Zone too. 6 of them should up so it was pretty fun! They sang at me because Elder Jones MADE SURE they knew it was my birthday..  but hey! I got free ice cream out of it so it's fine! Then Baum announced that I still had to do my birthday dance to send home to you guys because I told her it's tradition! So I did the birthday dance in the parking lot!  So that was an adventure! Then we came home to plan our lesson for YSA gospel principles and the next thing we know the ZL's are calling and wanted to bring over a "birthday present" and they said they were be there in like 2 minutes. So our door has a window we have covered with paper. As Clarke was walking up to the door, we shut off all the lights and smashed our faces to the window and it scared the crap outta him!  we were dying! It was super funny! And it turns out that the "birthday present" was lasagna that their bishop gave them that they didn't want... jee thanks Elders..  They thought they were pretty funny! But yeah! That was my birthday! It was an awesome day! 

HUGE SHOUT OUT to the RS Sisters for the AWESOME birthday card ~ Many thanks to you all!!!  It's nice to be remembered from those at home ~ I FEEL LOVED!!

We also had Zone Conference on Tuesday!! That was awesome! It was the first one I didn't speak at! Haha. So nice...  it was awesome though. We just talked a lot about the Teaching repentance and Baptizing converts! Who knew! Haha... its always good though! I love Zone Conference. I also got sung at there too.  

Work-wise, it was a little rough. Haha. Here's our lessons for the week:

Becky: 

So first you must know that we hadn't been able to get a hold of her since she got back from Seattle... and it is apparent that things didn't go well... we don't know exactly what happened yet but she is really struggling. We finally got to see her on Wednesday and she was completely broken and not at all herself. 

We asked about how things and were. She is going thru some hard times that she didn't want to talk about. So we just let her know that the Savior is aware of her and knows what she is feeling. Shared Alma 37:36-37 and prayer and Proverbs 3:5-6 about leaning on the Lord. She didn't have much to say so we just invited her read and pray, left her with a prayer. 

She came to church! She's coming around again. 

Jessica: (the girl who just walked into church): 

We talked to her about how she liked church and everything. She said she really liked it. And she wants to go again. We invited her to the YSA. She said she will probably be there. We shared the Restoration. Invited her to be baptized. She said she wanted to still figure out the truth. She felt like God changes and so we tried to explain that He is the same. She said she felt like He changes with the world... We invited her to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. She really wants to follow Jesus Christ. We promised her that this is His plan for her. And that she would have a desire to be baptized because she will know that that is how she can be close to the Savior. It was really good. The spirit was there. 

This was an interesting lesson.... she was very open with us about her life experiences and her previous lifestyle. She is really wanting to learn and follow the Savior so we will keep meeting with her!  

She did come to church, just to a different ward.. haha. It is seeming like she likes to float around and do her own thing... so this will get interesting. Haha  

Gabby:

We asked if she had time to read the introduction to the Book of Mormon. She said she didn't because her week was too crazy. We read it with her. She thought it was really interesting. The witnesses really caught her attention. She read through the 3 witness one and commented how it was super interesting. She said she would read the other one and the intro to really digest it. It was good though. The spirit was definitely working in her!  

Maria: 

This was in Spanish and I'm still not fluent so I only understand a little bit. Haha. So as far as I know, we just talked with her about the Book of Mormon and the Bible. She still doesn't know and she was kinda being a little defensive and brought up that scripture in Revelations about how anyone who adds to the book will have the wrath of God upon them or something. That is something that all Jehovah's Witnesses bring.. But that's not even a valid argument because we know that revelations was the first book written in the Bible... so if that was the case the whole Bible would be void.. when John wrote that he meant added to the Book of Revelations.. this is just "my Doctrine" I can back this up, just by the way! I'll add a quote in from Elder Holland. But we asked if she was kneeling as she was praying and she said no. So that's part of problem.. we also don't know if there is more to the story. She may not even be willing to act on the answer yet. So we will just keep working with her. 

Here's that quote from Elder Holland:

"One of the arguments often used in any defense of a closed canon is the New Testament passage recorded in Revelation 22:18: ‘For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of … this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book.’ However, there is now overwhelming consensus among virtually all biblical scholars that this verse applies only to the book of Revelation, not the whole Bible. Those scholars of our day acknowledge a number of New Testament ‘books’ that were almost certainly written after John’s revelation on the Isle of Patmos was received. Included in this category are at least the books of Jude, the three Epistles of John, and probably the entire Gospel of John itself. Perhaps there are even more than these.

“But there is a simpler answer as to why that passage in the final book of the current New Testament cannot apply to the whole Bible. That is because the whole Bible as we know it--one collection of texts bound in a single volume--did not exist when that verse was written. For centuries after John produced his writing, the individual books of the New Testament were in circulation singly or perhaps in combinations with a few other texts but almost never as a complete collection. Of the entire corpus of 5,366 known Greek New Testament manuscripts, only 35 contain the whole New Testament as we now know it, and 34 of those were compiled after A.D. 1000” (“My Words … Never Cease,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2008, 91–92).

So that's just an interesting little detail there.  it only matters a little... haha. 

Blanca Andrade:

This is a different Blanca, by the way. This is a less active that a member referred us to. We talked with her about Heavenly Father and church. Again, it was in Spanish so I must just smiled and nodded.. hahah! I know Hermana Perez is a HUGE life saver... let me tell ya. For both Maria and Blanca. She is going to pick up some of Blancas family so they can make it to church this week. That's why they didn't show up last week. So that's good to know..  Her son hasn't been baptized yet so Blanca wanted us to start working with him and her aunt is not a member either but would be taught ONLY if it's out of the Bible...  Little do people know there's more of Gods word a take in.. so that's good! We will work on that! They were 2 of our 3 new 'gators for the week!  

She, her aunt and her kids came to church!! They were 2 of our 5 'gators at church! 

Samantha Rincón: (our 3rd new 'gator!) 

Stopped by to see Isabel but Samantha answered. She is super cute and kind of shy. Asked if she wanted to see a video about Christ. She said yes. We shared Hallelujah. She said she liked how it talked about living forever. We talked about how we can live forever in families with Heavenly Father. We invited her to meet with us next week. 

That's was our week! Pretty good! Just trying to work with people and answer their questions. It's always interesting especially when it's in Spanish.  I love the Latin culture though! They're so kind and so generous! They are so Christlike! In our culture, it's not as common as it is in there's.  

Thanks for all the birthday wishes!! It helped make my birthday awesome!  I'm so grateful for the gospel! It blows me away everyday how loving and merciful our Heavenly Father has been. Especially to allow us to be born into or to have grown up in the Gospel. I also appreciate the Utah bubble more and more. Haha. I know the Gospel is the only way to return to our Heavenly Father and be perfected through our Big Brother, Jesus Christ. I love Him and my Heavenly Father more than anything. I know the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ. I know that is helps us conquer temptation. We can withstand Satan's fiery darts when we armor up by reading the Book of Mormon daily. There's is SUCH power in that book. I know that it is the word of God. I know Heavenly Father loves each of you. You are His child. He is always going to be there like a perfect father would be. I know that when we pray to Him we will always be able to feel His love and know He is there as we open our heart and mind to the spirit.  There is no doubt in my mind that God has a plan for each of us, as individuals and as His eternal family.  Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. I invite all of you to come to know Him deeper by reading about His life trying to be like Him. I know it will not be a waste of your time to get to know Him intimately. He lives and He loves you! 

I love you guys! Have an amazing week! Thanks again for an awesome birthday!  

Love, 

Sister Hood

 Let Him shine through you!