Okay so I honestly just don't know where to begin. This week has been by far one of the best weeks of my mission! I just can't express enough just how much I honestly LOVE being a missionary! I can't believe I get to be a missionary for 18 months. I kind of don't want to come home. Good thing I still have about 15 months to the day till I have to take the dreaded car ride to the airport and then to the Stake Presidents office and take off this badge. Anyways, let me share with you the MANY ADVENTURES/LESSONS that I encountered this week!!
HAPPY HIGH:
Lol - you're probably wondering what in the world this means. Well, so MUCH has happened this week! Yesterday as I was walking through the Square I just started thinking about everything that had happened, everything I have learned, the AMAZING miracles that occurred and it just brought a HUGE SMILE to my face. I have found that nothing brings me more happiness than being a missionary. But it's not even that. It's being given the opportunity to come into contact with so many of our Father in Heaven's children and being able to see the Gospel of Jesus Christ change their life as they realize who they are and that there is hope in life. It's funny because I feel soooo unqualified to be a missionary and to be trusted with these people. It scares me that I won't be able to be this happy when I get home, but I will MAKE IT HAPPEN because I ABSOLUTELY love it! My companion, last night, was almost crying as we were having companionship debriefing/daily planning because she is like, "I haven't seen you happy like this since we have been together, there is an amazing light in your eyes right now. I love it when your this happy!" I looked at her and was like, "I don't even know why I'm this happy. So many amazing things are happening right now I just cant stop being happy."
YOU KNOW THE CORRECT CHOICE:
Several weeks ago Sister Ferguson and I took an Investigator lesson. I think I told you about her Alissa. Anyways, her baptism was this past Saturday and Sister Ferguson and I were both invited to attend. I was beyond excited because it was something different. I was driving outside of Salt Lake. I was going to be able to attend a baptism etc. As we were trying to figure everything out I just kept thinking "Why are you going? You're giving up 4 hours of precious proselyting time. Did you really have that big of an influence on her? You're already going to be on exchanges. The weather isn't supposed to be good and you're going to have to get a 30 minute cover for Beehive House and it's near impossible to get a cover." As I was thinking this I kept finding EVERY EXCUSE as to why I should go to the Baptism. I guess you could say I was having a debate with myself. About 2 hours before we were scheduled to leave Sis. Ferguson informed me she was going to be watching someone else's baptism via Skype and that she wouldn't be going. I started thinking to myself that the only reason why I wanted to go was for selfish reasons and that while they were both good choices the better choice was for me to stay here on Temple Square. I called my Zone Leader's and informed them of my final decision to stay and they mentioned that because of my choice the Lord would bless me with a new investigator. I was like "Okay yah. We will see about that."
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| Sisters Skaggs and Orndal |
Let me tell you about Wendell. I was on exchanges that day and Sister Orndal and I only had about 30 minutes left in the day before we needed to head home. Well I COMPLETELY forgot what my Zone Leaders had said to me. Sis. Orndal and I were in TC (the teaching center) taking chats and this man comes on named Wendell. Lately I have had trolls and so I figured it's another teenage boy coming on to troll. Boy was I wrong!
We asked Wendell how he had been doing and he went on to explain he wasn't doing good. We dug a little deeper to see what we could do and he explained his story to us. We asked if we could call him on the phone and talk with him. As we were talking with him on the phone he started crying as he has been really trying to find God lately but he is at the point where he no longer believes He is there and doesn't feel there is a point to life anymore. It broke my heart when he shared this with us because we knew just how much he was loved. We continued to share with him that we knew God knew him and loved him and that He is still there for him. At the end he was super thankful that we were able to talk with him and took the time out of our day to meet with him. We invited him to read the Book of Mormon and shared with him the hope and direction the Book of Mormon could bring to his life and also invited him to attend church. Wendell said, "Well, a co worker of mine is a member and I'm actually going to church with him, not tomorrow but in a week, and I will ask him for a Book of Mormon on Monday. I will definitely read it." We called him Monday and he said he was getting ready to meet with his co worker to talk about the church and to have dinner together. We will call Wendell on Friday.
What amazes me is that here I'm this 19 year old girl with not a lot of life experience who has only been to 2 semesters at BYU-Idaho and then here is this 62 year old Salt Miner from Ohio who is trusting me with the things I have to say. But reality is I have done nothing. The spirit is the one who has done all the work, I'm just the middle man between the communication.
Several hours later, I realized Wendell was my miracle. If I would have gone to the Baptism I would have never met Wendell because the time I took the chat would have been while I was more than likely at the Baptism. The Lord does bless you when you do what He asks of you.
The Topping to My Happy High:
Fabiola and Franco! Okay I just LOVE THEM!! Yesterday evening we were at map because I left my planner there and had forgotten to get it. While we were there I really had to go to the bathroom. As I was walking out I saw this young couple about my age looking at the New Testament Paintings. They had "Laker" gear on and so all awkwardly I was like "Hey my family loves the Lakers! Where in So Cal are you from?" We started talking and the young man just COMPLETELY opened up to me and was sharing his life story. It's amazing what people have been through. I couldn't IMAGINE going through all that he did. He was mentioning about how he doesn't believe God can forgive him of his sins and why 2 of his family members were shot and killed, why God would allow that to happen? I started to explain to him that he can be forgiven. He mentioned he hadn't attended church in years because he feels guilty for everything. I invited him and his girlfriend to attend church with us Sisters on Sunday. They were totally okay with that. We continued to talk about EVERYTHING. It was an hour long conversation... in the end I invited them to read the Book of Mormon and they both agreed they would. I told them that I really wanted to continue to hear about their story and to share with them about how the Book of Mormon and Gospel of Jesus Christ can bring peace to their lives. I asked them if we would be able to meet up later on this week. Franco and Fabiola were like "yah. We would like that." Then right after, Franco looked me in the eyes and with sincerity said, "What is this feeling that I'm feeling right now, this like warmth? I have never felt this before." Fabiola was like, "I have never shared my story with ANYONE but it feels totally okay with you. Yah, what is this feeling?" I started crying because I knew EXACTLY what they were both feeling. I said, "When we meet on Friday can I share with you what that is?" They both agreed that they would like that. Franco said, "I wish I could have this all the time." I said, "What If i told you, you could feel this way all the time? I will share with you more on Friday about how you can." Then Franco said, "I have a friend who probably really needs to hear this as well. He is deaf." My ears perked up and I said, "I actually know a little bit of sign. Feel free to bring him on Friday as well. I would love to meet with him and share this message with him as well." Then Fabiola said, "Yeah and I have another friend who she probably needs this to." I said, "If they can they are more than welcome to both come with you on Friday if that's okay with you both." They are amazing! I don't know what will come of this, I have faith that things will progress.
Sometimes we aren't needed in that very moment of their life. But who knows? Only time will tell. I did learn one thing, and it's that the spirit really does testify to people of the truth! I would never have known that, but because Franco said, "What is this feeling, this warmth? I have never felt it before." It was a testimony to me that the spirit does testify to those of truth. That when we bare testimony of the things we know to be true the spirit will be bare witness to them that it's true.
Halloween=Mission Temple Trip:
Well it's true. The Salt Lake Temple can hold about 200 people. I have NEVER seen sooo many sisters in one session before in my life. We, NO JOKE, took up 96% of the seating. In the last room we only had just a couple seats to spare. That evening was just unbelievable. So many experiences occurred that I just can't describe. One thing is that I LOVE THE TEMPLE! I will DEFINITELY be going every week when I get home. Haha, I told my companion it was like a criteria for when I move to a new place. If I can't go to the temple once a week then we can't live there. The Lord will make a way for it to happen, well besides being on a mission. Family I will share with you everything when I get home from my mission. Sorry for the 15 months wait... :)
The spirit was so strong. I just honestly cant describe to you how it all went. It was just amazing.
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| Celestial room of the Salt Lake Temple |
When we were changing I was like, "I don't want to look at the time or else I'm going to have a heart attack." Yah, I did, and it was 10 pm which meant I had 15 minutes to change, get back to my apartment, get ready for bed and be in bed. We tried our hardest. That was by far the BEST HALLOWEEN ever.
Russian, Companion, Best Friend, District Monkey, and A MILLION EXCHANGES:
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| Sister Skaggs as the District Monkey! |
Sister Bryuzgina and I, after a rough couple of days, had over an hour long Comp inventory on Sunday. We decided by the end that we were going to be BEST FRIENDS by the end of these 6 weeks. Sooo GLAD communication was DRILLED into me my first semester of college. It's coming quite handy. I really do enjoy being with her, she is an amazing missionary! We already have a lot of fun with each other. So many miracle are happening with her as my companion. Haha - we have a little to much fun because Daily Planning is supposed to be around 30 minutes. Well, the past 3 nights Daily Planning has been about an hour and 15 minutes which then gives us around 20 minutes till we have to be in bed. I don't care. We manage to get it done. She is so amazing! I'm growing soo much with her as my companion. Since she is District Leader I'm her District Monkey, which means I'm her sidekick in everything that she does. The one thing I really LOVE about being District Monkey is being able to go on exchanges. This is the 1st day in a week that we have been with each other ALL day together and will be the last time for the next week. But I'm learning so much on how to be a better missionary/leader from going on exchanges. I'm learning a lot about how this isn't about me. It's about what the Lord needs me to do for others. Sister Bryuzgina keeps telling me that I need to be prepping myself for next transfer. I have no idea what the Lord has in store for next transfer.
PACKAGES & LETTERS:
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| Sis. Skaggs and her giant Rice Krispie treat! |
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| Sharing the love!!! |
Love you!! Thanks for the letters. I appreciate it! PLEASE BE SAFE!! I wasn't all that happy and jumping off the walls when I read about the alarm. I pray for you every night. I have only been gone for 4 months and it sounds like the world is only getting worse! Maybe I will just stay in my missionary bubble my whole life and never come home. That sounds like a plan. ;D [Over her mother's dead body!] But please be safe. Sounds like things are getting scarier by the minute.
I LOVE YOU!! SO GLAD I GET TO BE WITH YOU FOR ETERNITY!!! I'm luckiest daughter/sister in the world to have such an AMAZING family!
Okay, so I literally could write a 200 page novel about the MANY miracles from this past week, but I doubt you want to read that right now and quite frankly, I'm a missionary and time isn't something I have a whole lot of. Since I don't have a lot of it I better use it wisely. The Lord has only given me an 18 month shot at this.
Anyways, I love you all!! Please remember who you are! No matter what is happening in your life right now, if someone isn't being fair to you, you feel alone, you don't understand why something is happening, you lost a loved one, or you're just down on yourself. Remember the Lord loves you! Want to know a secret to having happiness....??? Should I tell you? I don't know, can you handle this secret? Okay fine. Sharing is caring right? Well the KEY TO HAPPINESS, TRUE HAPPINESS, aka JOY, is LIVING the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I promise you, it works. Being on a mission we have to strive our absolute hardest to live it. I'm DEFINITELY FAR FROM PERFECT but I have NEVER in my LIFE been so happy before than I am right now. I just love this so much! You should try it for yourself. It wont kill you, will it? Hey, the only thing that can come of it is you will either find yourself happier or it's not for you.
Well, I better get going. I love you all!! Have an AMAZING week!!!
LOVE YOU!!!!
Sister Skaggs
Thanks Sister Skaggs. From your favorite bus driver!! Ha ha!!
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