Dear family,
Heather got up in Sacrament meeting yesterday to share her
testimony of the atonement and how Christ brings forgiveness of sins. She got a
little bit emotional. I may have gotten a little bit emotional too.
LJ is doing great. We were a little bit concerned at our
second lesson because it seemed that feeling the spirit so powerfully in our
first lesson had scared him. Heather felt that he was backing off a little bit
because he recognized that a witness from the spirit meant accountability which
meant change. LJ is native american, and very connected to his culture. He has
expressed concerns about how he is the chief pipe carrier for his tribe.
Whenever someone in the family dies he does some sort of ceremony with smoking
his chinoopa. He says he wouldn't want to ever give up the tobacco, simply
because of how closely it connects him to his family and culture. In our third
lesson we talked about the Book of Mormon and he seemed to have opened up again
though! Please keep him in your prayers!
Zahra is still bravely preparing for baptism on November
2nd! We talked about temples and family history a lot this week and she is
excited to take her family names, including her dads name, to the temple to
have their work be done. I love when truly converted investigators develop an
instant fascination with the temple! It's because they feel the spirit and they
recognize how good and true it is! Zahra invited her teacher to her baptism and
gave her a Book of Mormon this week!
We have a few other investigators that aren't progressing as
rapidly but they'll get there. We spend a ton of time finding. I think it comes
with being a missionary, but that's especially the case in YSA. This week in
weekly planning we felt like we received revelation for some new and
interesting ways we can find this week, so we'll see what happens as we
implement them this week.
I have really been loving my studies recently! A while back
Heather and I were both reading in 3rd Nephi so I challenged her to see which
of us could finish the Book of Mormon first. I've never been so happy to have
someone beat me! I did finish the Book of Mormon last week though, so this week
I'm starting over and I'm trying something a little bit different. There was an
elder we used to split the ward with that was writing the Book of Mormon as he
read, so that he could gain a new appreciation for what it must have been like
for them to etch words into gold plates. It takes me about half an hour per
page, so I'm only in 1 Nephi Chapter 3, but it has been an amazing and unique
experience so far! I'm finding that it forces me to slow down and think about
each sentence and even word. Nephi feels so real to me! I think I've learned
more about the first 3 chapters of the Book of Mormon in the past week than
I've ever learned before! For example, this morning the words "thou and
thy brothers" stood out to me in 1 Nephi 3:4. Lehi knew his sons. He knew
how hardhearted they were, so he must have known how much trouble they would
cause if he tried sending them back to Jerusalem to get the plates. So this
morning I thought, why wouldn't Lehi just send Nephi and Sam? Wouldn't that
have been so much easier? Why would he send Nephi's brothers as well? I think
it's because even though he knew their hearts, he still wanted to give them the
opportunity to choose right. How often does Heavenly Father do this for us,
even those of us who aren't quite as stiffnecked as Laman and Lemuel were? Then
I thought about how if God wanted he could put a giant mormon.org card in the
sky and everyone would know that they need to be baptized and people would be
lining up outside the font and everything would be so much simpler. But instead
Heavenly Father chose me and you, as weak and inadequate as we are, to share
the gospel. It's humbling to think that he would give us that kind of a
mission. What does this one verse tell us about the way that we should be
viewing ourselves and the way we should be viewing others? I'll leave the
answer to that one to you all. :)
Transfer calls were today and it looks like my dying area
will be............. Silverlake YSA! Sister Smith and I are also staying
together for a third transfer which we are super excited about. Sister Smith
taught me how to speak jibberish this week. We worked on it all day wednesday
and I think I finally got it down! Heldagel Lodago, mydagy nadagame idagis
Britagit Neydagey Sladagade. Apparently it's a "real" language,
almost as widely used as pig latin... don't worry, I'll be sure to enlighten
you all when I get back. :)
Love ya lots and lots!
Love, Sister Slade
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