New Opportunities‏

From 06/04/15

To All I Love,

Preparing for Elder Perry's funeral
in the Tabernacle

Well another week has come and gone! I am just loving it here! Being a missionary is just so special! Like usual I, of course, don't know where to begin. 

 

 

 

 

 

Teaching All Corners of the World (Liberia, Philippines, Arkansas, Minneapolis, etc. and soon to be Asia):

 

Sister O'Rielly from Corona

Teaching in the Philippines -- While our physical boundaries is closed off to just 30 acres of proselyting our teaching boundaries include the world. :) This past week we had the opportunity to pick up a 12 year-old girl from the Philippines! She is just the sweetest. We were sitting in out Teaching Center taking Chats when this person comes on asking "How can I be a missionary?" Sis. George and I were a little caught off guard. As we continued to chat with them they expressed to us just how excited she was to be a missionary and that she sees missionaries where she lives and it just sounds so exciting to be a missionary. This little girl mentioned how she watched a video about missionaries and how she really wants to do what they got to do. We asked her what she knew about missionaries and she gave us a little information as to what we do. We shared with her the responsibility that we have and mentioned that we could send local missionaries to teach her and prepare her to be a missionary. We then asked how old she was. She mentioned she was 12 and so due to being under 18 we needed to get parental permission to send missionaries. She gave us her moms number and so right then and there we called her mom, who is thousands of miles away in the Philippines. It was really neat as we talked with her because the mom was a little hesitant at first as she asked a little bit more as to what missionaries do and what would be required of her daughter. As we continued to talk with the mom we mentioned we would send missionaries to her home and they would talk with her and share with her the things that will happen. The mom asked if they would bring material on the church for her daughter to read. We mentioned they would bring pamphlets and a copy of the Book of Mormon (explained a bit about it). The mom said that wouldn't be a problem.  They were Roman Catholic but she was okay with the Mormon missionaries coming by. That, in itself, was really powerful, having a mom willing to allow her daughter this opportunity and experience, seeing this mom have a change of heart. We talked with the little girl again and explained to her what happened. She was really excited and then asked us "when are the missionaries going to come see me?" We tried calling again several days later but it didn't work. We called her and asked if we could just chat again and she said that would be better. We then chatted with her again and stated our purpose and talked briefly about baptism and what the missionaries will teach her and just what happens in general. We will teach her again on Friday. She is so sweet and just so precious! As we get off of chat she always says, "Thank you Sister Jennifer, you are so sweet and special. I will never forget you. I love you Sister Jennifer." I just pray that the missionaries will be able to see her soon. I just love the Lord, the gospel and the peoples hearts who are prepared to receive the truth of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. It's a tremendous blessing to have this knowledge of this truth in our lives!

 

Getting ready to announce!

Teaching in Liberia -- One thing that makes it difficult to teach in Liberia is the phone connection. It's really hard and sad because they are so prepared and anxious to be baptized but we can't teach them due to the phone connection and we are the local missionaries. We are praying the phone connection will work better. The missionary department and MTC are working on a new system to help us sisters out with the Teaching Center. We had a training on it today. They trained us today on things they have redone for our teaching center which should allow our calls to be much more effective and chats and calls to be much more effective. But anyways we got a hold of Morou last weekend!! He is doing great! He has been attending church and we even had his member wife on the line with us as a member present. It was really neat to hear them testify of these things. We called the branch president and asked if he could deliver pamphlets to them so we could use them while we teach. So while we taught about the Plan of Salvation the two of them had their pamphlet out and they would read with us. I just pray that the phone connection now with the updated system will work. They are so prepared. We talked with the Branch President last week and he was in contact with the Mission counselors who said that we can prepare them to be baptized now for the end of June. We just have one hurdle... THE PHONE... But with faith ALL things are possible! The Lord knows what he is doing and we just have faith in him that all things will work out.



My Mandarin Companion:

 

Sis. Hershey - she knows
Grandma Skaggs & taught
seminary with her!

Well, for starters she is just the greatest ever!! I feel so blessed to have such an amazing companion this transfer. I have a feeling I will be learning and growing way too much this transfer! She is coming inbound for the summer from the Oakland/San Francisco Mission. She is currently in her 10th transfer with 3 transfers left. She is from TAIWAN! Her entire family are members. She is already so diligent, loving, giving, and um, bold. I thought I was good at contacting on the square, yeah I'm horrible compared to her. We were told all of the sisters were visitor center sisters but only 2 out of the 10 are VC Sisters. Sis. Lin has been proselyting her entire mission. Oh yeah I should tell you her name. Her name is Sis. Lin, from Taiwan and family, you will get to meet her next weekend when you come and visit! She came in yesterday! She is so sweet. As we were getting ready for bed she whispers down "I love you." And then she is like, "Do you want to learn how to say it Mandarin?" And so she then taught me how to say "I love You." It sounds like this "Wo I knee". That's not how you spell it but that's how it sounds when you say "Wo I knee". We are going to have such an amazing transfer! It's going to be different training an already trained missionary. But we are so excited. She will teach me Mandarin and how to be better! And I will teach her Temple Square! It was funny last night at like 8 PM President and the AP's pulled us all together after like 8 hours of waiting to tell us who we would each be companions with. When we were told we were companions we were so excited. Sis. Lin was like, "I wanted you to be my companion. I'm so excited!" We just flew into each others arms. President then spent about 30 minutes doing Q & A and then telling us what he expects of us and just what is happening. He again mentioned that he would like us to learn Mandarin and repeated it about 3 times. The Zone Leaders weren't lying. I'm so excited! I already know how to introduce myself, say hi, say "I know the Book of Mormon is true", I love you and other little things we have to say to the guests in-regards to pictures with us. He made a comment to us that we don't recognize now why the Lord has us in this assignment and together here on Temple Square. But in the years to come, as China opens, we will recognize why the Lord had us together. As we get to be an instrument to thousands upon thousands this summer in being an instrument in the Lords hands in preparing the way for China to open. When he made that comment it really caught me off guard but it makes so much sense. I don't recognize why now but in the next 10 or 20 years I will recognize more why we have been together at this time during this exciting time.

 

The Gospel is true and it's a blessing to be an instrument to bringing it to the lives of those all throughout the world who are unfortunate to not have it.

 

Elder Perry's Funeral:

 

A cool picture of the temple

It was so sad hearing this past weekend of a beloved Apostles death. It just broke all of us when we heard about it. It wasn't that expected compared to others. I feel blessed having the knowledge that God has called these individuals to lead and guide us so we can prepare ourselves to return to his presence again. It's sad when one dies but I know that this is the Lord's will, his mission has come to an end here on earth. Tomorrow they will be holding his funeral in the Tabernacle and the older sisters in the mission received tickets to attend his funeral tomorrow, which will more than likely be a once in a lifetime opportunity to witness the memorial and remembrance of a beloved Apostle. They have been preparing Temple Square all week and it's going to be pretty remarkable. Temple Square will be COMPLETELY CLOSED till about 1 PM. ALL of the Church Campus will shut down at 10:30 till when the funeral is over. In order to go to the funeral you have to go through metal detectors and security at the gates. It will be a really powerful experience. They have had rehearsals this week as to how the hearse will get onto Temple Square and they have practiced driving it around Temple Square. It will be a really powerful experience tomorrow, an experience I will never forget. It's such a blessing to have a Prophet and Apostles on the earth today. I know this Gospel is true and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is truly God's church once again established on the earth today.

 

 

Friend's of Uncle Mark's from Colorado

Well, I love you all! Please be healthy and take good care of yourselves! Grandma Susan know that my thoughts are with you. I pray that all will go well!! I love you so much and I know the Lord has everything under control with what happens. Family, know that I love you! My prayers are with you all at this time. Grandma Susan I love you, more than you will ever know. I don't know if you read my letters or not but in case you do, just know that. My prayers are with you at this time.

 

I love you all!!

 

Love always,

Sister Skaggs

 

 

I finally made it on the
Birthday board!



Sister Ferguson - one of
my former comps!

I'm Adopting A Girl (Inbound Training)‏

From 5/28/15

To All I Love,

 

Welcome to China:

 

My Chinese family!!



One day I am going to live in China. I just LOVE people from China. One of my favorite stories from this past week happened yesterday. Sis. George and I were at EF Desk talking with the guests that came into the South Visitor Center when a Chinese family ages of like 16-80 walked into the building. When they walked in I got so excited. I tried talking to them but only like 1 of the 10 spoke English. The rest all crowded around and watched as I talked with this gentleman. I asked what we could do for them and then I asked how to say "Nice to meet you". Haha - he tried to explain to me how to say it, yeah I'm not even going to try and spell it. I kept trying to say it and after a couple of minutes they understood what I was trying to say. So all 10 of them crowded around me to teach me how to say "Nice to meet you". At one point I did pretty well and all 10 of them just started clapping really loud, while saying good job and giving me thumbs up. Then one guy pulls out his camera and gives it to someone and walks up next to me to take a picture, then the girl to my left in the pictures asks to take a picture. But then I decided I wanted a family picture so we all lined up to take a family picture. Haha - then they wanted individual pictures. They are just the funniest and most sweetest people ever! We ended up taking over the front entrance of the South Visitor Center. Good thing no one was around. They honestly are some of the sweetest people ever! And GUESS WHAT?!?!?! I get to serve them ALL SUMMER!! Why??? Well let me tell you what is happening this transfer!

 

INBOUND TRAINING:



 

What I get to see every day!

This will be the greatest part of my ENTIRE mission. For some reason I feel like this is going to be a huge stepping stone for after my life. I have never loved a group of people so much than I do people from China. You're probably wondering what in the world is INBOUND TRAINING. Yes, I am training but its different. Let me give you a background. Here on Temple Square we have visitor's from all over the world that come each summer wanting to take tours. To meet the demands of the guests we have to have their languages and enough sisters who speak that language to meet those demands. We currently have 49 languages offered on Temple Square from 52 countries - this is as of right now. As I have mentioned before, people from CHINA love coming to Temple Square it's like going to Yellowstone. We have heard that this summer alone our numbers, in regards to Mandarin speaking tourists, will be up by around 30%. Last year we had 30 Sisters to meet this demand and now we only have 11 but we will be up by 30%. With that President Poulsen has done all that he could to get Mandarin Sisters to Temple Square but we won't have any coming till September besides the one we got this transfer. What happened is he worked out a deal with various other missions and the missionary department to borrow 10 Mandarin Sisters from 4 missions throughout the country and in return we will send 8 Sisters to their missions. We are borrowing 8 Sisters from Visitor Centers (Oakland, Mormon Battalion, & Mesa Arizona) and we will send 8 sisters to those 3 visitor centers and then we will get 2 more sisters from one of the missions in Georgia. Which will put our Mandarin Sisters at 21 here on Temple Square which will be so helpful to the already current mandarin sisters here on Temple Square. Because these Sisters have never worked in the aspect that we do here on Temple Square, President has called 10 sisters from the Mission to be their companions and train them on the mission. But it will be different because one - we won't do 12 weeks with them, but we will get to do pretty much what every other trainer does. We just get the advantage of they have been in the mission for multiple transfers. On Saturday (May 23rd) the AP's called Sis. George and I into their office to call us to be 2 of the trainers for these sisters that are coming in. Several came on Tuesday and then 2 are coming today and then the rest will come on Wednesday. It will be really exciting!! I get to be with my FAVORITE people ALL SUMMER! When they get here next week we will have one week to prep them on everything and then they will have to pass off on Mandarin (which means take a mock mandarin tour with the Mandarin coordinator to see if they are balanced with their companion, history and teaching). If they pass they will then be given the go ahead along with their companion to take mandarin tours.

 

After that we will then have 1 week to pass them off in English which means to do the same thing but just in English. We had a meeting with our Zone Leaders this morning who gave us more of an in depth look as to what this is all about and what President's vision is, all of the protocols with Mandarin tours etc. It's really crazy! Why?? Well the sisters here now have never gone through this before. They have to pass off within 1 week of getting here and they have to understand all they can't and can say and do in regards to the Chinese governmental regulations that we have. Overall, it will be a VERY BUSY summer! We are already getting a lot of tours coming in. Yesterday morning in 1 hour we had 8 motor coaches of 50 booked for Temple Square and we aren't even at our peak months yet.  We have been assigned to just the Square this transfer which will allow us to be ready for the Mandarin tours we will get to take. Family, I can't express enough just how amazing these people are and how excited I am for this opportunity the Lord is giving me. It's funny how just a couple weeks ago I mentioned I was praying for a Mandarin companion this summer. Haha - it's funny how he answers our prayers sometimes... Haha gotta love him! But he honestly knows what's best for us. I think these people will bless my life more than I will theirs this summer. Something I have come to really enjoy is learning Mandarin. We were talking to the Zone Leaders in our meeting this morning and we asked them what does President Poulsen expect from us out of this opportunity. Their response caught me off guard they said, "He is asking you to learn Mandarin." They were being serious when they said that. Why the Lord is having all this happen I don't know but I do know he is calling me to this for a reason. I don't need to pray to have a love for the people, that is already done but now I must take this responsibility and magnify it to the fullest. Temple Square will be seeing more tourists from Mainland China than ever before this summer and he is giving me this opportunity to serve and teach them this summer. Many of them don't have a relationship with God and while we do have certain regulations, what a neat opportunity to help these brothers and sisters recognize that they have a Father in Heaven. Yesterday alone we came across two groups of people from Mainland China who are so prepared and ready to listen.



Meeting the Elect - We had finished taking an English Hospitality Tour around Temple Square and unannounced to us 2 couples from Mainland China joined our Tour. Afterwards one of the ladies walked up to me and said "I really loved how you talked about families, I love what you said about the sacrament, what is it really?" She started asking me all these questions and wanted to know how she can have this in her family. As I talked more I 

Me and Sis. George

realized she was from China and so I couldn't really share a whole lot. One of our sisters who was on the tour who speaks mandarin ended up talking to her. Afterwards she mentioned that the couples loved what they heard and wanted to go to church. I know they are flying to New York and so hopefully they will have an opportunity to attend Church and see what the Sacrament is all about before they head back to China. Later on that evening Sis. George and I were in the Tabernacle and this gentleman came up to her and just asked "I heard some people say God brings peace to us?" Sis George then went on to share with him more. He mentioned that he really wanted his children, when he had kids, to have God in their life. She talked about Eternal Families and what a blessing it is. I watched from a distance and you could just sense how much this meant to him. He ended up referring but then we realized later on that he is from a place just outside of Hong Kong. Family, whether we realize it or not, people are prepared! We shouldn't have to wait for them to come to us. As we walk the path Christ walked and as we keep our spiritual eyes open and alert the Lord will personally lead us to those who are prepared. I hope one day I will have the opportunity to serve a mission in China if I'm alive to see the work being hastened there. But honestly, we aren't prepared. When the doors are opened we won't have the means to meet the demand. I'm grateful for the this sneak peek the Lord is giving me of being in the presence of so many elect and prepared, to have this time to learn about them and to learn their language. 

Eternity Will Reflect Our Time Used on Earth:

 

This past week we had the privilege of having our Mission Tour from Elder and Sister Arnold from the 70. What a tremendous 3 days it was!! We learned a lot about things we must do now to prepare for the eternities and about how we don't want to regret the time we have to use. These are some of my favorite points that they discussed:

 

1. How are we sharing our Spirits with those around us? 

The Temple after a storm

 

2. When we are disobedient then we are focused solely on ourselves. Which is true. We are being selfish and are looking inward instead of outward.

 

3. We need to have a new writing everyday. Are we using our scripture study time to it's fullest or our we going through the motions? Are we really filling our spiritual tank or are we just barely filling it?

 

4. The only thing we have to give to God is our WILL to God.

 

5. If the Atonement is everything, then what does it mean to me?

 

6. We must use the atonement to keep going forward to not look back on past transgressions. Don't be like Lots wife!

 

7. We can't just marry to marry but we must marry our best friend. Someone who is steadfast and immovable in the Gospel and will help you to prepare to receive eternal life.

 

8. How are we being charitable? Are we looking inward or we using God's gifts for the welfare and benefit of those around us? D&C 46:10-25 and D&C 123:17

 

9. We have a Book of Life. All thoughts and actions are being recorded in heaven at this very moment. What thoughts and actions are you writing in your own Book of Life?

 

10. We must turn to God for value, for our true identity. We are made in his image.

 

This past week has been a marvelous week! And I look forward to all that lies ahead! Family, I will have Thursday p-day so you can come on either day. I would probably come on Saturday. Because we will have all sisters on the Square to take Mandarin tours at that point and so it will be okay to have a mandarin sister off the square at that time. I would come in the afternoon to evening. Mornings are just horrendous on Temple Square when it comes to Mandarin Motor-coaches. But let alone, its always crazy when it comes to Mandarin visitors.

 

I love you each sooo much! Oh and can you believe you're only like 2 weeks away until you have a 20 year old! Well more like a week and a half. It's kind of scary! But anyways I love you so much! I feel blessed to have you in my life. Oh, and mom, I did get my Drivers License renewal :) Thank you!!!!


Got to hold a cute puppy!

Love Always!!

Sister Skaggs

 

 

 



Do You Love God???

Note from Sis. Skaggs mom - I'm sorry I'm so behind on her blog posts! It's going to be rough keeping up with it this summer but have no fear - I WILL get all of her e-mails posted before the end of summer. Also, sometimes she sends home pictures but doesn't label them. I am just posting the pictures without any captions if she hasn't labeled them. She has asked that I post all the pictures as she sends them home so she can have them as a memory when she returns.
Happy reading!!!

P.S.  You will LOVE this week's blog post!!!

From 5/21/15


To All I Love,

Just another day in the life....

Okay, so before I forget, transfers are next week so I don't know when my new P-day will be. I may not be emailing for up to two weeks. I will find out on Monday my new P-Day so yah. I'm a little nervous for next transfer. The mission is soo young and there are so many things president is trying to figure out right now in regards to Trainers, District Leaders, Zone Leaders, etc. It's a little nerve wracking. If I have a particular assignment President will start letting us know within the next couple of days. Honestly, I'm okay if I stayed as a normal missionary next transfer. But I have a slight feeling that may not be the case. But either way we still get to do the Lord's work and that's what matters most right?? Haha yes it is! :)

What has been happening this past week around here on Temple Square?? Yah A LOT!! Shall I get started?!?! :D

Craziest Day of My Mission!
 

Smile!

Yep - that's just how we roll!

Monday was just a crazy day. I don't even know where to start. Early that morning we were talking with our District Leader and we talked about how we could be even more exactly obedient with our schedule. She had mentioned that we need to be on the Square the same amount of hours that our schedule has us assigned to be on the Square for. We had called San from Liberia and his son he would be back in 30 minutes. As we looked at our schedule we recognized that 30 minutes later we would need to be on the Square. We decided that we were going to leave the teaching center and go to the square for 30 minutes and then go back and call San. Our 30 minutes of being on the Square is just about finished when we walk past the West Gate and a sister starts waving us down. I started talking with Sis. Nogueria and she mentions that their 30 English Motor coach came early and no sisters can take it but her companion is in the bathroom throwing up and so she asked if we could take it. I started mentioning to her that we had an appointment in TC and so we couldn't take it. As I was telling her no I remembered that the guests take number 1 priority over anyone in TC. Which was a little hard because we have been trying for WEEKS to get in touch with him. We went on emergency exchanges in hope that Sis. George would somehow get to talk to San and then I would take the Motor coach with Sis. Nogeuria. The Motor coach was amazing!! They were all from Europe and no one referred but that is okay. The spirit was so strong in the tour and to be honest there was a decent amount of people where you could tell they had felt the spirit. Which is fine with me. We did our part we taught by the spirit and so they, of course, have their own agency to accept or reject the message we have to share. It was a really powerful tour!
 

Listening to the Spirit - During the tour we noticed the weather really starting to change. The wind started picking up and the temperature dropped, but that isn't the end. We were quickly walking back to West Gate to drop everything off and just talking about how great the motor coach was when I noticed this older lady walking next to us hiding behind her umbrella. I stopped and just said Hi. She, however, didn't hear me and so I said Hi again. She moved her umbrella and greeted us back and continued walking. I started to just ask how she was doing and then we recognized that she is serving a senior mission here at the Family History Center. I asked how it was and she said she just loved it and then a question that changed everything popped into my head. It was interesting because it was just a simple quick thought of asking "How her mission has blessed her and her family's life?" I decided to ask her that question. She then stopped and broke down into tears. At first I was like. "Great. What in the world did I just do? I just made her cry." She then said, "I came on a mission because I thought by me serving it would bless my family but it hasn't. My family is still struggling and it's only getting worse. Today has just been such a horrible day." We continued to talk with her and Sis. Nogueria started testifying to her about the atonement and how her Savior suffered what he suffered because he knew you would experience this and he wanted to understand what you were going through so he could succor you and be by your side. We could tell she was still struggling. A talk then came to my mind about going through our own spiritual wilderness "Choose to Believe". I mentioned it to her and bore my testimony of it to her. Sis. Nogeuria mentioned to her about how we can feel of his love through prayer and scripture study. As we continued to talk with her she recognized that she hasn't been doing a good job at it. And so we invited her to go home that night and to just pour her whole heart to Heavenly Father, to share with him everything she was going through. We talked a little bit more and then we went our separate ways. We asked if we could text her the following day to see how she was doing. She mentioned that she went home that night and prayed and told heavenly father EVERYTHING she was feeling and then she went to the Temple that day. She says I know I must continue to have faith and to rely on my Savior through these hard times. I can't go through those motions of praying but I must sincerely pray. From that experience I recognized more than ever that we truly don't know what people are going through. Honestly, when I first saw her I thought her life would be amazing, but little did we know this sweet lady was having one of the hardest times. She was hitting complete breaking points. It's a testimony to me that we must listen to the spirit, to be in tuned to the whispers of the Holy Ghost. Don't allow fear to override the unknown. We don't know what will come of something if we simply listen to whispers of the Holy Ghost.
 

Seeing Karly - Before the tour I had heard that a friend of mine from home was on Temple Square. It was interesting because as I was walking back to the South Visitor Center I was telling Sis. Nogeuria that someone I knew was on the Square and I wouldn't be able to see them now because we had to exchange back. Not even 5 seconds after I made that comment I looked up and guess who walked right in front of me? Karly Osborne. It was neat to just see that simple miracle occur. Even if it wasn't super big it was just neat to see that simple miracle. We were able to talk and catch up, since she just recently returned home from her mission. We didn't talk too long because we had to exchange back.
 

The Lord Works in Mysterious Ways (He is Aware) - As we were talking to Karly I noticed the sky in the distance was getting dark and the weather was still changing. Sis. Nogeuria received a text that our companions were back in the apartment because her companion was sent home due to being sick which meant we needed to go back to the apartment about a 5 minute walk to go exchange back. As we are headed down she receives another text that she is to meet with her Zone Leaders (she is a district leader) for weekly report right now. As she is meeting with them I decide to eat my dinner and literally as I was putting my dinner together one of her zone leaders walks into the kitchen and informs me that we needed to go take a 999 Japanese tour. This isn't unusual when it comes to just dropping your food and going. It's funny though because as we get upstairs the weather had completely changed! The wind had really picked up and it had started to rain. As we were taking the people to the Temple Model the storm came right through. It literally poured for a good 20 minutes - sheets of rain were coming off the Temple. You could see it just flowing down the sidewalk. The wind was really blowing. You could see the lightening striking the hill near by. The thunder was literally over the building, it was pretty crazy. It was interesting because if none of that had occurred, her meeting with the Zone leaders, the Japanese tour etc. Sis. Nogueria and I would have been caught right in the center of it. It just made me realize that no matter what, the Lord is aware of us and while at first it was a little frustrating as everything was occurring that was stopping me from not being with my companion and from getting back onto my schedule I realized that the Lord sometimes has other plans in store. He knew what was going to happen and so he put things in our path for a reason. The Lord, whether you realize it or not, is aware of each of us. He knows us and he knows us by name. While we weren't being exactly obedient to our schedule at that time I, for sure, know just how aware he is of us. We just need to trust in the Lord and recognize that sometimes we don't know why some things occur but the Lord does. I think about how if we didn't go on that emergency exchange we wouldn't of met that lady and who knows what she would be experiencing right now? We wouldn't have seen that simple miracle. The Lord is aware of you and I!
 

An Interview w/ Elder Arnold of the 70:
 

Sis. George - my companion

About 2 weeks ago I received a phone call from the Assistants informing me they would like me to interview with Elder Arnold of the 70 yesterday. Why me? I have no idea. We are having our mission tour today and tomorrow and so he wanted to meet with several sisters and so they asked if I would meet with him.

Meeting with him was truly remarkable. I met with him with 2 other Sisters and then we had individual interviews. He asked me what it was that the Sisters needed to hear right now. I mentioned to him what I felt the mission needed to hear based off of what was happening here right now. I haven't felt the spirit so strong and so recognizable before. He made some really powerful comments as we sat there. Something that really stood out to me was how we aren't filling our tanks! Which is so true. Our spirits are being deprived. When we aren't feasting upon the scriptures every morning and truly feasting upon them we are depriving our spirits of the energy it needs in order to get through the day. Elder Arnold talked about how since he was a mission president in Costa Rica he has gone through 6 SETS of scriptures!! SIX! It's because he feasts upon the scriptures. It's like our bodies - when we don't eat in the morning we are so hungry. Don't our spirits feel the same way?? Being in his presence was truly amazing.
 

But one part that, for some reason, I KEEP GETTING asked lately is "DO YOU LOVE GOD? DO YOU TRULY LOVE GOD?" My mission president outbound said that and now a General Authority asks me that same question. But do we truly love God??? Think about that... Because if you do you will be willing to do EVERYTHING he asks of you. You will be wiling to SACRIFICE all that is holding you back from really showing God that you love him. Are we giving him our all? Do we strive to hasten the Lord's work? I think about the leaders of the church...they LOVE GOD. Why?? You see it in their actions. They serve him with everything they have. They do all that they can to hasten his work and to testify of the truthfulness of this gospel. They don't allow the world to take power and clog their minds of things that aren't necessary in the eternities. As I continued to talk with Elder Arnold he mentioned that in order for us to love God we must get to know him. That's in all things. In order for us to love, truly love someone, and do all that we can for them we must get to know them. But how can we do that with God, and with our Saviour Jesus Christ?? That comes through spending our time studying and learning about them. As we study the life of our Savior, Jesus Christ, our love for him will increase and our desire to do all that we can will magnify. I ask this question again but just a little different. WHAT AM I WILLING TO DO TO LOVE GOD??
 

My zone

After we met as a group he asked us to wait outside so he could meet with us individually. When I met with him individually it was a really powerful experience. He looked straight at me and said "What is keeping you up at night? What is really bothering you?" It was interesting getting asked that question. He proceeded to ask about you, family, and how you were doing back home and so I shared with them about you and I talked about Michael. I mentioned how its hard to have my little brother get bullied back at home, but I know the Lord is handling it and it doesn't truly worry me but it's something that is still in the back of my head. He made some comments to me and then said to tell you, Michael, that he says Hi and will be thinking of you, that you can do it.
 

I feel blessed for the 30 minutes I got to spend with Elder Arnold for the things I was able to share with him to help me recognize what I need to become to show God I love him. I'm excited for tomorrow when I will get to hear from him and his wife.
 

I have to go but know I love you all!! Sorry for the million of typos this week!! [FYI - Sis. Skaggs' mom corrected those errors before posting to her blog ;) ]
 

Love you,

Sister Skaggs

More craziness!

My crazy zone sisters!