Temple Square Happenings: A Birthday in the Lord's Service!

WOW!! Thank you soooooo so so much for all that you did to make my birthday special! I just love you all. A birthday on the mission is AWESOME! I loved it :) Spending the entire day just serving the Lord and His children makes it so much more meaningful! Unfortunately, I don't have any miracle stories that happened on that day, but as Sister Woo always says, "We planted a lot of seeds!" God gave me a wonderful gift though- SUNSHINE!!! It was the warmest day of the week! It snowed the day before and the day after my birthday, but it was nice on warm on the 23rd :) That It was exactly a year ago that I went through the Reno Temple and made those sacred covenants with my Heavenly Father.

Last week on Sunday, Sister Woo and I and 4 other sisters had the opportunity to go to a FAMILY WARD!!!!!!!! Right here in Salt Lake City. So we went to our ward at 7:30 in the morning, and then drove over to the Edison Ward. All the other sisters had to give talks, but since I was in charge of the music, I didn't have to! (That's what happened last time too! Sharing your talents brings great blessings ;). They sang, while I accompanied the EFY Medley- we'll bring the world His truth. Always a powerful song! We could only stay for Sacrament meeting, so as we were leaving, the Bishop informed us that there was a lunch prepared for us! (That was a happy surprise! lol) And this ward was FULL of Polynesians- so you can imagine ALL the food they gave us. Not only was it plentiful, but it was DELICIOUS. It made me sad that we don't get to eat at members' homes, but at the same time, it made me really glad because they just keep filling your plate with food... we were stuffed after that! lol. At least when I make my own meals, I control what I eat! (most of the time haha).

We left the apartment Monday morning in a little bit of a rush- but thankfully we weren't late! Want to know why? Before we walked into the gates, Elder L. Tom Perry passed by us on his morning walk, looked at his watch, and said, "It's 4 minutes till 9.. are you gonna make it?" I was SO thankful that we weren't late.. how embarrassing would it have been to be late and have to account that to an apostle of the Lord! lol He was so cute and so happy! We were laughing as we continued walking, and Sister Woo said, "What a cute man....... is he a regular?" (Some people that come to Temple Square come really often and so we see them all the time- we call them 'regulars'). I looked at her and laughed! When I told her it was Elder L Tom Perry, her eyes got SO big! She didn't realize that was him :) It was hilarious! Seeing him really brightened up our morning. It's amazing how much happier we were after that. God truly has called apostles and prophets again on the earth, in this day and time. We are SO excited for GENERAL CONFERENCE next week!!!!! It is always such a happy time. And such a spiritual high. If any of you come for conference, do not come to Temple Square without names and numbers of your nonmember friends so that I can call them for you and share the gospel with them!!! :) :) :) Just thought I'd warn you haha :)

New investigators, progressing investigators, baptisms, new people to call.... all of these are falling into our laps. God truly blesses us for our efforts as missionaries. I was reading about missionary work in Preach My Gospel this morning in Chapter 3, Lesson 5 (page 84). I outlined all the responsibilities we have as members to do missionary work, and listed the blessings that the Lord promises us for doing it. One of the blessings is "joy". What an understatement! SO much happiness comes from sharing the gospel! I love it! I've realized that I need to do WAY better at being a member missionary when I get home. There are so many things that I'm going to change. There are so many things that I will actually go out and DO when I get back! Fear definitely gets in the way for too many people. Forget your fears and get to work! The Lord needs you. Pray for missionary opportunities, and take advantage of anything that comes up which would allow you to share what you believe. President Joseph Smith did say, "After all that has been said, the greatest and most important duty is to preach the Gospel". It's our DUTY! Let's get to it! :)