I hope you´re enjoying the ride to California :) I´m sure as you started Lindsey made some comment about how she has more leg room because I´m not there, or how she now gets to sit next to the cooler and has easier access to the food because my spot in the car is now being used for the snacks. Don´t worry, I´ll be back in the car squishing you all soon enough ;) Ha ha but I hope you all have a wonderful trip! It sounds like last week was great, and I can´t wait to see the pictures from this week´s adventures.
This past week went by so quickly, and it was honestly the best weekend I´ve had in a long, long time. Once a month we have a Zone Training Meeting, where the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders teach us about different topics related to the work. To prepare for the conference at the beginning of every month there´s a Leadership Counsel in Torreón where the mission president and his assistants instruct the leaders on what they want taught in the Zone Conferences. So every month, once a month we get to go to Torreón for the Leadership Counsel. We (the zone leaders from the two zones here in Durango and my companion and I) got on a bus this Thursday around 5:00 to head to the counsel and arrived in Torreón around 9:00. My companion and I stayed with the two older sisters who work as secretaries in the officies, Hermana Navarette and Hermana Garza. They are so sweet- they take really good care of us when we travel! We stayed the night in their house before heading to the mission offices on Friday morning for the counsel. I loved everything about being there. We heard from Presidente and his assistants on receiving revelation and finding investigators who have been prepared to accept the Gospel, and we got to help adjust some mission-wide standards of excelence that we have. The Spirit was so strong and I learned so much from Presidente and the other missionaries there. I was also so, so happy because I got to see my trainer, Hermana Leiataua!! She´s serving as a Sister Training Leader in Torreón. Her companion, Hermana Enciso, was also in Guadalupe with me for a while (you guys actually met her- she was there when I Skyped you on Christmas) and it was so fun to see her too. She´s a great missionary and a good friend. And, once the counsel was over we ate tacos al pastor, which is probably the most delicious Mexican food there is. It was a good, good day and a beautiful experience. I think my favorite part of being a Sister Training Leader are all of the additional learning experiences we have. So many wonderful opportunities to learn and be taught by the Spirit.
And then General Conference this weekend-wow!! I loved so many of the talks and felt the Spirit so strongly. And I got to watch all of Conference in English!! That was such a blessing. I could understand everything so much better, and it just sank in on a deeper level.
Yesterday was even more special because it was Easter. I know that my Redeemer lives. I cannot comprehend fully what He did for me, but I love Him for it. My testimony is something very personal and is what influences every part of what I say, do, and think. I am so grateful for this opportunity to be His representative, and His disciple always.
I love you all,
Hermana Southard
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| Hermana Martinez - my companion |
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| My Easter photo |
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| The two other American sisters in the zone |
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| The sister missionaries of Zona Durango del Valle |
