Hello one and all!
LA LOVE:
I cannot even begin to express to you how unbelievably close I am to this zone. This is the smallest zone I've ever been in; there's only eight of us, so naturally we have the most intimate relationship. We can almost never see each other in person, but we have faced one of the most iconic moments in missionary history, at times being the only support for each other that we have, and let me tell you, you can't make it out of something like that without becoming best friends. I have way too many great mems with these beautiful people. I adore the Palos Verdes zone.
In June, the California Los Angeles Mission is receiving over fifty missionaries and we are unbelievably excited! To help them prepare for online teaching, they have had missionaries contacting us and teaching lessons with us two to three times a week. We were contacted by our dear new friend Sister Torkornoo and she is amazing! she has been out for four months and is being reassigned from a mission in the Philippines. We love having her! She has taught two lessons with us so far and will likely teach many more with us until she reports to the mission in the middle of June.
The prophet Joseph Smith frequently noted how exhausted he was after having incredible spiritual experiences. This week Sister Nault and I discussed how absolutely true that is. The depleted feeling we have after every lesson is wild. The difference is that Joseph kept having legendary top-notch visions, so he got used to them. Us missionaries' spiritual experiences aren't so grand, and in fact, they only keep getting better. So we never get used to it; we just keep being tired.
EVENTS OF THE WEEK:
On p-day we had the privilege of cleaning an uninhabited apartment in preparation for the new missionaries to come! We also hosted the sisters in the area in a dinner party. It was so fun to get to hang out with all my girls and of course to get to cook for them!
My blog turned seven years old! It would be entirely wrong if I didn't mention it. It's an Adventure! is a shining gem in my life and I am so happy that it has been a part of me for so long. This past year of blog life, while the blog has been so entirely inactive during its whole seventh year, has surely been the most adventurous. From singing at a gala for the consulates of the world to doing missionary work in the midst of a pandemic plus all the countless adventures in between, this has been a wonderful year. And let me tell you, this mission has given me greater vision for my beautiful blog than ever before. My mission pals know the blog by name and can (almost) spell it out the way I do, haha! It's a topic of frequent conversation among the CLAM missionaries. Just this week while we were working on the fireside (more on that in a bit) with Elder Jones and Elder Judd we were talking about my blog and how I spend a good portion of my time thinking about how my mission friends can participate in my blog. Creating It's an Adventure! has been such a joy for me. Here's to the next year!
Another week, another district council. Sister Shay and Sister Chou gave an awesome training about asking for referrals by putting on a beautiful dramatic production of 1 Nephi 8, better known as the tree of life story. never forget.
The missionaries of the Palos Verdes stake had teh amazing privilege of hosting a fireside, Finding Faith in Christ: Inspirational Music! The theme of this fireside, hosted by my dear zone leaders Elder Jones and Elder Judd who worked with me and my companions to compile the fireside together, was that in the midst of all the chaos in life, we need to center on Jesus Christ, and a great way to do that is through inspirational music! It was the most beautiful night. Everyone was hanging out and supporting each other during all the performances, and I had the privilege to sing "If We Love Him" as part of the program. It was an amazing time and everybody loved it.
Elder Pearson (of the Seventy) and Sister Pearson held a mission tour conference with us! Elder Cook of the Twelve Apostles was supposed to come too, but he ended up having an unexpected meeting so he said he would reschedule a time to visit us later. We learned a ton. It made me value even more how lucky I am to be a missionary right now. We talked bout how to set effective goals, plus we talked a ton about the great opportunities we have to study our lessons and the doctrine contained in them. We are now all working on memorizing fifty to one hundred scriptures! I am super excited about it. I love learning more about the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We had the great blessing of having a small sacrament meeting together as a zone. Not only did we get to participate in such a sacred ordinance, but it was the first time in a long time that we had met together as a whole zone in the same building. It was so great to see all my friends and worship together. I love and adore those elders and sisters, and I love and adore the Savior that we serve together.
The Sunday fireside this week was awesome! We learned about how to stay positive during this crazy time in history. Also, if you were watching, you may or may not have seen one of your favorite SoCal missionaries in the introduction.
FRIENDS:
Cathryn is doing great. We talked a lot about how the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ came to be, and especially what role the priesthood plays and how it benefits all people. We also talked about the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end and how we can be guided on our spiritual journey.
To build on what we did with him last week, repentance was a major theme with Craig T. this week. He had watched a video about Alma the younger's conversion to the Lord and said he thinks he's a lot like him. We said that the truth is we are all a little like him: we all need to repent, and when we do, God will forgive us, no matter how much we've done wrong. We also talked about how the Savior atoned for us so we can overcome all the bad things in life. We also talked a lot about how sinning with the intent to repent after is not actually repentance. We had a great Sabbath worship experience with him and Aaron's family too. Craig is feeling a major need to repent right now. He is progressing more and more all the time.
We talked about baptism with Diana and the promises that are made between us and God when we make that ordinance. We asked if that was something Diana wanted, and she said she never feels worthy enough. For the next lesson we had Sister Torkornoo join us. We explained how the grace of Jesus Christ is sufficient for all of us, and even when others will try to condemn us for our past mistakes, Christ never will. He always sees who we truly are and our efforts to change. We also had a great Sabbath worship experience with her and Ariana about how we can find peace in Christ.
We had a great lesson with our dear friend Khiara. Sophia couldn't come to this one, but we talked to Khiara and she opened up a lot. She said she has been praying a lot lately because she recently had a friend die. We decided to teach her about the Plan of Salvation. She said it was really comforting, she liked knowing her purpose on earth, and it eased her anxieties about death too. Khiara is amazing and she is really coming unto Christ.
This week we shared Psalm 46:10 with Beverly and talked about how when we are still we can come to understand Jesus Christ's sacrifice for us better.
Sister Torkornoo joined us for our lesson with Ariana this week. We talked about enduring to the end! We talked about how the Holy Ghost is a guide in our endurance and how attending the temple is a major part of that!
We had a great discussion with Tomm about how the Holy Ghost comforts and guides us!
We had a great discussion with Craig B. this week. He believes that we have a living prophet today, and he believes in teh incredible story of Joseph Smith. He did say that it takes a lot of faith to 100% believe that. We invited him to pray to know of the truth of God for himself.
We had a fun lesson with the W. family about how we prosper when we serve!
We had the most amazing lesson with Corey this week. We talked about why bad things happen to good people and read an example from the Book of Mormon. /Apparently Corey had no idea what the Book of Mormon is! He thought it was so cool that it was another testament of Jesus Christ! He is really excited to learn more about it.
We talked about the Atonement of Jesus Christ with Gisele. She has been through a lot in her life, and she told us that one day she felt God tell her in her heart how she didn't need to go through the heartbreak she was suffering because His love is so much greater. It was such a powerful testament.
We talked about the many blessings we can get from church, prayer, and the scriptures with John and Nataly this week!
I am exhausted and worn, my friends, but I know Jesus is the Christ, and He can fill us up and perfect our weaknesses. As He says in one testament, Matthew 11:28-30:
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
And as He says in another, Ether 12:27:
"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."
Thanks and much love!
--Sister Day
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