Letter #8 - Ready, Set, Go!

September 12, 2016

Dear Friends and Family,

I hate coming up with subject lines, it's probably the worst part of P-Day. Anyway, my companion and I had a really good day yesterday, because we finally have figured out what we are supposed to be doing here. It only took us four and a half weeks to do that. Luckily we should be here for another transfer because she is still training me. We met with the bishop and the spirit really thrives when we counsel with one another. Ward council, zone council, I love it. We had both this week and I learned so much from each one. The bishop told the ward council of the question that the stake president had asked him. In essence, it was "What is the desire of my heart concerning missionary work in this ward?" It was something that I hadn't asked myself and so I took the time to do so during church and throughout the day. We had dinner at the Bishop's house (tacos-my favorite) and afterward talked to him about what his vision for the work in this ward was. While he was talking, I found that my desires lined up with his own. I think a lot of what we are going to be doing in this area is to strengthen the ward and really reach out to the less active families here, a lot of which are part member families. There is so much we can do with what we already have. Of course we will continue to find and teach new investigators, but we are planning on shifting our focus quite a bit. 

Another opportunity we had this week was to attend a regional conference that was on Religious Freedom and what we can do to protect that. Elder Oaks was the keynote speaker (unfortunately he was at a stake center other than our own and we just watched the broadcast)  and he spoke on some of the doctrine/principles and then we heard from various other leaders who gave us more practical advice in how to have conversations with those around us about religious freedom and what that means and why it is important to protect. They also launched a new website that day: https://www.lds.org/religious-freedom. It was two hours long, but they talked to us about some good stuff including what currently is and isn't threatening our religious freedom. 

This week I've seen God answer my prayers, maybe not in the way that I expected Him to, but he has all the same. He also will give us multiple chances to learn the same lesson if we don't learn it the first time, haha. He makes up the difference when we try to do his will, but sometimes fall short. I know that He loves each and every one of us and is aware of our struggles and pains. He wants us to be happy, but getting there isn't always easy. I love you all and hope you're doing well. I love hearing from you :)

Love, 

Sister Prue