Week 42 - What Kind of Question Would You Ask?

You`ll never guess who I met this week...Elder D. Todd Christofferson! He came to our mission and held a special meeting for all the missionaries. The night before, we had 2 other sisters staying in our apartment. We got emails from our leaders saying that Elder Christofferson wanted to shake hands with all of us. That night we couldn`t sleep! We just kept squealing and repenting...we didn`t want to burn when we got into his presence or anything, haha. As we patiently took turns walking up to shake his hand, I thought that this was probably how it was like when the Nephites were visited by Jesus Christ. And He loved them enough to give them all a chance, one by one, to feel the prints in His hands and feet and side, and to enjoy just a little bit of time with Him. Through Elder Christofferson, I could feel his love -- and God`s love -- for us. He smiled at every single one of us and complimented us. His testimony was so powerful and his apostolic blessing he left on us was indescribable. At the end of our meeting he left time for some questions and answers. One missionary asked, `As a mission we`ve been focusing a lot on Christ and who He is. What can you add to our understanding of who our Savior and Redeemer is?` There were many questions asked in that meeting only an Apostle of Jesus Christ could answer. What kind of question would you ask a Member of the Twelve? He had us turn to D&C 19 together and read:

16 For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;

17 But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I;

18 Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink—

19 Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men.

Elder Christofferson taught that this is one of the rare times Christ talks in detail about what He suffered. As He atoned for our sins He asked God 3 times to `take this bitter cup` from Him, yet always ended His pleas with `Not My will, but Thine be done.` Christ`s motivation, for EVERYTHING He ever did, was always to follow God`s will. His strength and His ability to accomplish the Atonement came from His desire to follow God`s will. Without that determination to follow God, none of us would have a chance to repent, be forgiven and progress in this life. I found that very interesting as I thought about the things we members endure. Whether it`s being subjected to ridicule, sacrificing valuable time to fulfill callings, or making bigger sacrifices like selling all you own to go to the temple, we do these things because, in the end, it`s the Father`s will. Following His will strengthens us. Relying on the Atonement empowers us.

I needed this strength yesterday as we were streeting. I was really tired and just beat down from the day. Sometimes I think Satan does a good job of making us feel even more tired than we really are so that we get lazy or grumpy. We knocked on doors for a little while and everyone was really rude and wouldn`t let us say a word. As we turned around to head home, I prayed that I would be able to pep up and not be such a downer because I knew this was what God wanted me to do. As I did, this really sweet lady pulled up behind us on her bike. The light turned green so the 3 of us biked together. We talked and laughed and before we went our separate ways I handed her a flyer with the address to our church and our names and number on it. I invited her to church next week and she said she wanted to come! She lives by herself and she gets lonely sometimes. And she said Sunday mornings she doesn`t do anything so she wants to come. We parted ways and I said a quick prayer of gratitude to Heavenly Father for giving me the strength to talk with her and for putting her in our path to invite her to church. I know this is just a small example but I also know that regardless of our situation Christ`s Atonement is always there to help us. It`s amazing how His Atonement is a gift that just keeps on giving! We think we understand it, and then we discover there`s even more power we can receive from it.

Last week was a blessing to learn from an Apostle himself in a room full of missionaries. It was nice to have all 250 of us gathered together in one place. That was an experience I will never forget!

So just really quick, I got Heels' wedding invitation and LOVED it! Hall shimai and I were laughing so hard because people in japan hardly hold hands or have any PDA and we couldn`t believe how much hugging and love there was coming out of that invitation! It`s been almost a year since we`ve seen stuff like that! Hahaha! But I adored their invitation. I hope wedding preparations are coming along okay. As for me, I`m just workin ;)

Love every single one of you people to the moon and back,

Sister Heimuli

Pics!

 Me & Sister Woods from Weber area. She`s like my best friend out here. Her dad hired Bo for an internship. Crazy, small world, right?

Got caught in a freak rain storm last week and didn`t have umbrellas or anything. Here's how we looked when we got home.

We  found this cute little old man who looked about 90 and spoke a little bit of English. We invited him to church and he said he`d come. Then he told us to `wait just a moment` and walked us out into his hatake and cut out flowers for us to take home. Besides my many flowers from dad and the boys, it was the best bouquet I`ve ever gotten in my life!