Okay, I really mean it when I say that I don´t have any time today.....in the morning we went to the center of Torreón to meet with the other Sister Training Leaders and plan a special conference that we´re going to have for the sisters in Torreón, Gómez, and Lerdo on the 25th. We´re going to speak on being true disciples of Jesus Christ, and how being a true disciple requires courage, and I am so excited. We asked the Assistants to speak on being constant, and the mission president is also going to speak. It´s the first conference that´s going to be especially for the sister missionaries, and I think it will turn out really well. A few weeks ago we had a meeting with the Zone Leaders and the Assistants and the APs told us that each zone was going to hold a special conference (aside from the zone conferences that we have every month) directed specifically to the needs of the Zone. My companion and I asked them later if we could do a conference especifically for the hermanas, and they decided to have it be for all of the sister missionaries here in the three cities close by. So today we planned out everything we´re going to say and made a powerpoint, and next week we´re going to make covers for the sisters to put on their daily planners. On front we´re going to put a picture of the temple where they received their endowment, and on the back we´re going to put this quote from the most recent general conference: "Once we enter into covenants with God, there is no going back. Giving in, giving up, and giving out are not options. In the kingdom of God, there is a standard ofexcellence for exaltation. It requires valian tdiscipleship! There is no room for average or complacent disciples. Average is the enemy of excellence, and average commitment will prevent you from enduring to the end." (Elder Kevin W. Pearson).
Like I put in the subject line, I really am so happy. The truth is, our area is really difficult, but we´ve also been able to see lots of miracles in this week. One of those miracles was when we were contacting on Thursday and we met a woman who was super nice but didn´t live in our area and didn´t give us her address because she´s going on vacation, etc. We kept contacting in that area and a few minutes later she came back up to us and gave us popcicles that she had bought for us. There are so many people in this area who reject us in a not very nice way, and her small act of charity really gave me hope that there are good people in our area who don´t dislike us for trying to share the Gospel with them.
I wasn´t able to read your emails very thouroughly Mom and Dad, but I´m going to print them and read them and ask my mission president what we can do tomorrow in my interview with him. Yes Mom, I forgot to tell you that I got the package from the company and your 4th of July package on the 3rd. Can you believe it got here so fast??
I love you all so much. Thanks for the emails, and I promise I´ll have more time to respond next week :) I love you and miss you, but we´re busy and the time is going fast. This is the Lord´s work, I know it.
Hermana Southard
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| The pictures are from when I was in the mission office on the 3rd for Leadership Council :) |
