The Process of Humility

From 11/09/15



To All I Love,

Sisters that served outbound in VA

This past week was phenomenal! I'm so sad that Sister Gomes and I won't be together next transfer. I feel as if the mission is just constantly picking up speed. With the speed picking up that just means we need to make sure we aren't holding back and onto the past but making the necessary changes that allow us to move forward with the speed. But so much is being learned and together we have seen a tremendous amount of miracles together! My favorite miracle of my entire mission though occurred this past week!

Flavia... Miracle Baptism:

Some of the Sisters from the Square
that served outbound in Virginia

Sisters that served in VA

Flavia is an amazing example of someone who has her heart set on God. Sister Gomes received a Portuguese chat from this lady who was interested in learning more. We had to go and so Sister Gomes scheduled a time to call her. Well, when she called her later on in the day it became a 1 hour and 45 minute phone call. Flavia ended up sharing with Sister Gomes everything that had occurred in her life over the past month. Everything that Sister Gomes was saying to her she was soaking it all in. When she asked "When can we call you again?" she expected her to say in a couple of days, however, she said "Call me tomorrow. In fact, can you just call me everyday?" Everyday this past week we have called her and have taught her. She wanted to meet the local missionaries as well and so Sister Gomes gave her the number to the local missionaries. Tuesday night she called them and it was 10 PM - past the time we can answer phones - however, the next morning they called her back and scheduled a time to drive 1 hour the next day which is Thursday to meet her. Something that is really interesting is about the time we started to teach her the missionaries who are assigned to her area received a feeling that there was someone in their area who really needed them, they just didn't know who. Long story short, Sister Gomes invited her to be baptized. The local missionaries showed up Thursday to teach her and had a very strong feeling they needed to invite her to be baptized that Sunday, so yesterday. We didn't find out about this though until Saturday. As we called her Saturday she informed us that she was getting baptized on Sunday, she was driving an hour to church to meet the bishop and would be baptized. Sister Gomes talked with her yesterday and she said she could just feel that love that she had. It is a phenomenal example of how the Lord truly does prepare us and when we have the desire how our hearts will be prepared for what the Lord has in store for each of us.

 

 

Tabitha... Desire to Try Again:

 

 

Sis. Skaggs and former
companion - Sis.
Ferguson

Her story is something that makes us ponder. Tabitha, several years ago, had a desire to learn more about the church. She started to meet with missionaries and even though she had a lot of doubts, was baptized. After her baptism there were a lot of things she was confused about and eventually left the church. Towards the end of last week she came on chat sharing with us her story and how she wanted to try again. We started talking about The Book of Mormon and she mentioned how she never really got into it when she first started meeting with the missionaries. As we were talking with her we expressed to her the importance of The Book of Mormon in our conversion and how it plays a role to it, that all truth comes from the teachings established within the Book of Mormon. It is our keystone and so if the Book of Mormon isn't true then all other principles of the Restored Gospel would be taken away as well. We said that our testimonies need to be based and founded off of that. She mentioned that she would like to read it again and that she had been thinking that she needed to meet with the missionaries again. The other day Tabitha texted us and mentioned that she set up an appointment to meet with the missionaries and is planning on going to church this Sunday.

 

 

Julio... To Endure:

 

Leah - my investigator
from the MTC

Enduring to the end is something that must remain constant in our lives. It was interesting because I believe it was Thursday... Yah it was Thursday, we came into TC (teaching center) and I just had this thought "you should call Julio". We didn't have an appointment with him and I didn't know how he would take us calling him. Anyways, I decided to call him to see how he is doing and he actually answered the phone. At the start he gave me his typical response "uhhh I'm okay I guess, you know how I'm doing..." As we got talking to him I was really trying to think about what he needed to hear and how I could help him just act. To just do. We eventually got onto the topic of 'if people know what they must do then why don't they do it?'. Julio replied back by saying "well it's fear". In life do we lack faith due to fear. I can say that for myself, I will get to that later though. Julio started singing to me a song that has to do with faith being a seed and how we can move mountains through our faith. It brought to my remembrance Alma 32 and how what is stated in that plays a huge role in our life. Faith starts off by being just a simple belief and as we have the desire it can swell within us, from there it grows just a little bit more until it has completely swelled within us. Where is our faith really? When we have that true faith we truly trust in our Father in Heaven and most importantly our Savior Jesus Christ. This past week my own faith was greatly tested and made me see more clearly where my faith is and what I must do to get it growing. I invited Julio to go back to church to witness of the blessings that can come back into his life as he does so. The things he is struggling with can be rid of as he takes those steps of faith by just doing. Haha I feel as if I write this I'm being chastised. Because this is what I must do in my own life right now which is something I will share with you. Julio proceeded to mention that he knows he must do so and that he had the desire and thought to try and go back to church on Sunday. He never mentioned to us if he actually did get to go or not. But he took that step of faith of having that desire to do God's will instead of giving up. 

 

Learning to Humble to the Lords Will:

 

 

Sis. Skaggs and Becky "Kiwi"

Haha - you know how I mentioned to you the other week at - least I think I emailed it home about how sometimes we are held captive in our own bondage because we don't give our will to the Lord???? Yah, well that was me this past week, in a complete nutshell. When you're on your mission it seems as if every single weakness you have just stands out like bright colors. At first it is okay but then they just get brighter and brighter and during moments you just can't stand to see them and you get so annoyed because they are so bright you just can't stand it anymore but you don't know how to get rid of it. But its not a tangible thing. It is a trait or a piece of pride that isn't as easy to get rid of. Honestly, that is what occurred this past week in my own life. It caused me my own pain and heartache, well mainly because I kept myself captive and didn't really give my will, my internal desire, over to the Lord. What it is, is pride. My pride and not deep down accepting the Lord's plan. We can give our will to the Lord but have we been converted to giving every little will to him? Sister Ferguson shared with me some words of wisdom today, things that we all need to hear. She asked me to reread this paragraph in our call letter 'You will also be expected to devote all your time and attention to serving the Lord, leaving behind all other personal affairs. As you do these things the Lord will bless you and you will become an effective advocate and messenger of the truth. We place in you our confidence and pray that the Lord will help you meet your responsibilities in fulfilling this sacred assignment.' As I read it the first sentence really stood out, of the importance of leaving behind all other personal affairs. That doesn't mean the tangible but it is whatever thing will hold us back from doing the Lord's work. For me, that is who I was before my mission, letting go of my internal selfish desires. As I continued to read her email I really pondered over, well what is the 

Proof that "Kiwi" brought my mom's
homemade cookies and more New
Zealand chocolate

action step that we must take now in order to let go of those internal traits that don't allow us to become like our Savior. Something that came into my mind is are we truly centered on our Savior? One- we must pray and turn our will over to him, two - we must then focus outward, we tend to focus on me, or I do, whenever we say "us". We are a team, me and the Savior. If we are looking outward towards him when we are in a situation, do we say 'if the savior were here what would he do? What would he say? What would he think?' Then we seek for the self control to refrain from the natural man creeping back into our lives. It is a hard process but together this can be conquered. I'm sure that if it isn't this will hold us back from becoming what our Father in Heaven intends for us to become. It just really reminds me of Ether 12:27 right now.

 

Spending p-day in a nursing
home

Well I have to get going. Know that I love you all! Oh I forgot about transfer news. I will be a District Leader again next transfer. Which honestly, apart from being a regular missionary, is the best. It is just the best being able to just focus in on the sisters and to help serve them!! I will have Monday p-day, be in Westgate... Temple Square control center is the best way to explain it (tours, movies, lost children, etc.) and my new companion is Sister Rodriguez from Spain.



Fun ladies at the nursing home

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well I love you all and feel so blessed to have you in my life!! Be safe!

Love Always,

Sister Skaggs

To Be Humble

From 11/02/15


To All I Love,

Lots of amazing things happened this week in all aspects of being a missionary! But I don't have a whole lot of time to email because our P-day is packed today! We are only given 3 hours to use the car each preparation day and so we are emailing from 1-3 and then using the car from 3-6 and then have to leave promptly at 6 pm to go to zone activity till 9 pm tonight. We are going to do FHE at a retirement home down in Sandy tonight! I'm so excited it is going to remind me of my time in Woodbridge! Well let me start!

 

A Glimpse of Heaven:

 

Olive Garden catered Halloween
dinner

I will start with this one because you asked about it mom in your email to me today. Because of the way society is today, especially on Halloween, for security reasons they pull all of the sisters off of Temple Square at 5 PM. The buildings all get locked down and then security will go through and lock all gates going into Temple Square at 6 PM to make sure people don't do crazy things to Temple Square. You wonder what happens to all of the Temple Square Missionaries?? Great question. It is probably one of the neatest nights of the entire year.

 

Halloween dinner

As a mission we went to the cafeteria in the basement of the Church Office Building and had catered Olive Garden and then afterwards we did the 7 PM session in the Salt Lake Temple as a mission. Every seat but 3 we filled up with about 95% of them being the Temple Square Sisters. One of my favorite parts of this experience was the very end.

 

Standing in the corner of the Celestial room seeing all of my sisters dressed in white some crying, some giggling, some smiling, some praying, some just over joyous, allowed me to ponder over the life to come. A sweet spirit came upon me as I recognized that this is what it will be like as we prepare to enter the next life. It gave me a very real reality of the importance of doing all that we can in this life to make sure we have a secured spot in the Celestial Kingdom. As we were in the Celestial Room, Sister Chazen, George and I (2 Former Companions) were talking, hugging and crying with each other as we truly recognized that this is what life will be like. Each of us searching for those we love, greeting one another as we see our loved ones come to the other side. Some mourning as they recognize things they could have done better, others joyous for their reunion back home. The best way to describe the scene is 200 angels in the Celestial Room gathered together. It was a glimpse of Heaven. A Sister in fast and testimony meeting yesterday made a comment to us about this experience. She said, "Sisters, we each live in foreign countries and we may never see each other again until the next life. I want to see each of you again but it depends on how much you live up to the covenants we make in the Temple with our Father in Heaven." Ponder "how does that statement apply to your own life?" The blessing of being with those we love in the Celestial Kingdom and even seeing friends etc, depends on how well we live up to the covenants we make in the Lords house, the Temple.

 

Investigators in Africa:

 

They are doing very well. The best day to teach them is either Saturday night or Sunday night, their time but things were a little different this week. Want to know why???

 

Well they had a multi district conference in the Capital of Liberia Monrovia with Elder Curtis from the 70 and Elder Bednar from the Quorum of the 12 Apostles! Hearing from a member of the 12 Apostles trumps me any day. They were each very excited for this and every time I called they were like, "We have to hurry and get ready because tomorrow we leave at 6 AM to drive to Monrovia for the conference and we don't know when we will be back on Sunday." They are the sweetest and most humblest people I know! One of my greatest dreams is to be able to meet them at one point or another in this life. Who knows if the Lord will make that possible or not. They're so willing to accept the Lord's will in all things and to learn more about his gospel which is a motivation to me as to what am I doing to submit myself to the Lord's will.

 

Change in Season:

 

Halloween package from
home

Every season here is so different on Temple Square. When fall hits it means cooler weather and it also means less people on Temple Square which is never a good thing. The visitor centers have become very empty lately and its funny because the same person will get stopped by about 4-5 different companionship's now before they even leave Temple Square and even sometimes the building. We love the weekends because we are a little bit more busy. The weather is being really crazy here right now. Some days it will be in the mid 50's and we are in our winter jackets and then the next day I can be in just a cardigan. We have heard the snow is coming sooner than later. My wish is that it would come tomorrow!!! But I don't know if the Lord will grant that wish. We are going to be averaging the low to mid 40's of the next week and the temperature just keeps dropping. Our opening night of lights may be a little chilly.

 

What Does it Mean to Really Be Humble?

 

Over the course of the past couple of weeks this has been something that I have really had on my mind as I have pondered over what it means to really be humble. For me I always assumed that to be humble was to just not be prideful saying "I'm better than you" etc. But the other day I was reading and recognized that to be humble means to submit to the Lord's will. Do we submit ourselves to the Lord's will? It was an interesting thought to think about. Last week I pondered over this if I had truly submitted myself to the Lord's will and put his interests in me first or what I thought was best for myself first. I recognize that I hadn't, which was holding me back from finding that peace that I was seeking. When we submit ourselves to the Lord's will and give up our own internal desires that is when we see more clearly the plan the Lord has for each of us. We may not even recognize it at the start but we will come to see that it is easier to follow and submit ourselves to him than create our own path. Sometimes we don't recognize why but that is when we act in all faith. We have patience with him. It reminds me of a scripture that really came to my mind this past week as I was studying in Mosiah 24:15-16. As I pondered over these two verses the other day the impression came to my mind that sometimes the bondage that we are held captive to sometimes is due to our lack of yielding ourselves to the Lord's will. Which is something I invite you to ponder.

Made treat bags for some
of the other Sisters

Well, I have to get going but know that I love you each so much and feel blessed to have you in my life! Being able to serve a mission is a hard but yet rewarding experience. It is amazing how fast it goes. Later on this week we will receive word on what is to come next transfer. Can you believe next transfer is already next week. When I email you next week I will share with you who my new companion is and any change in assignment. Weird that we are already at this point! I love you and hope you each have a phenomenal and safe week! Continue to do what the Lord would have you do and all will work out!

 

 

 

 

Love Always!

Sister Skaggs

A Parallel to Our Day

From 10/26/15

 

 

To All I Love,

Describing this week and all that occurred would take an eternity! However, it was such an enriching and fulfilling week! There really isn't a whole lot of stuff to begin with so I'm just going to jump right on into the meat of things!

 

 

 

Understanding the Book of Mormon through an Apostles Voice:
 

In my previous email home I introduced to you a little bit about how President Poulsen has invited the mission to make this transfer our Keystone Transfer. President and Sister Poulsen have done a lot to really emphasize to us the importance of this being a Keystone Transfer. Last week I mentioned a little bit about what we were doing as a mission in order to really make it a keystone transfer and to learn all that we can about the Book of Mormon. Well, one of the things that happened was Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, from the Quorum of the 12 Apostles, was invited to address the mission this past Wednesday, Oct. 21st. Sitting here right now, I can't describe to you what happened during the hour and 15 minutes we had with him. But it was moments that have forever impacted my view of the scriptures and my testimony of this restored Gospel. Without a shadow of a doubt, this Gospel is true and it HAS been restored. What occurred in that room, the encounter we individually had with a disciple of the Lord, Jesus Christ, and his testimony of this Book that shapes the Restoration is a living witness that this is true and the hour is nigh.

Meeting Elder Holland

With Elder Holland

Before Elder Holland addressed the mission he asked that he shake every sisters hand, we tell him our name, and where we are from. This was a moment that has changed me and for certain reasons I will never forget. It isn't at all because I met an apostle but it is because of what happened in the short 20 second "one on one interview" I had with my Savior Jesus Christ. When it became my turn to speak with him there are only 2 things that I can remember, that has left a mark on my spirit. When I shook Elder Holland's hand and looked at him directly into his eyes something different occurred in that moment. His eyes changed and had this different glow about him and I remember this distinct feeling immediately come through my body and the only thing I remember thinking is who stands in front of me is my Savior, Jesus Christ. Of course it wasn't physically him, but through him the Savior was able to be there. I have never seen eyes like that before. Honestly, it is just impossible to describe at this point. When you looked into his eyes that is all you could see. As I walked away the only thought I had was "he just read my soul". I distinctly remember looking in his eyes seeing my Savior in the center of his eyes and having this overwhelming feeling come through me and this feeling and thought that my spirit was just read by an Apostle of the Lord. After he shook each of our hands he said, "Sisters, that moment with you means more to me than it will ever mean to you. But shaking your hands, I don't care where you are from, and I don't care what your name is but it gave me time to interview you. By those simple questions it gave me a short time to have a personal interview with you to see how you are doing." Reflecting on that moment how can he have a personal interview with us in a short 20 seconds to know how we are doing? It is impossible for the natural man to do so. But he has been set apart and ordained with the power to represent the Savior, Jesus Christ.

 

Shaking Elder Holland's hand, an
apostle of the Lord

A lot of what I learned and took from the time he had to address us is how the Book of Mormon is a Parallel to our time. Did you ever know that? At one point or another I believe we have known that the Book of Mormon is ultimately a preview for our day in age. I wonder where within the Book of Mormon we are actually at? Let me just give you an example of what Elder Holland pointed out to us and then share with you several examples I have found. Did you know the first vision starts out in 1 Nephi 1 which is the first book in the Book of Mormon? How did our dispensation start? Well, with the first vision. Let me just point out what I mean in regards to this parallel.

Let us take 1 Nephi 1:9-12:

"9. And it came to pass that he saw One descending out of the midst of heaven, and he beheld that his luster was above that of the sun at noon-day.
10. And he also saw twelve others following him, and their brightness did exceed that of the stars in the firmament.
11. And they came down and went forth upon the face of the earth; and the first came and stood before my father, and gave unto him a book, and bade him that he should read.
12. And it came to pass that as he read, he was filled with the Spirit of the Lord."

It is interesting how Lehi had the same experience Joseph Smith did and how he was given a book to read just like Joseph Smith was given the Gold plates to translate which of course then came to be the Book of Mormon. Hmm interesting right?...

Let us take Mosiah 21:17

 

"17. Now there was a great number of women, more than there was of men; therefore king Limhi commanded that every man should impart to the support of the widows and their children, that they might not perish with hunger; and this they did because of the greatness of their number that had been slain."



At the Pioneer Museum with
my comp, Sis. Gomes

Polygamy occurred back in the Book of Mormon time frame. Then didn't occur in our dispensation.




Being here on Temple Square we learn more as to why polygamy occurred in the mid to late 1800's and a big part was because of this exact verse. Many women lost their husbands traveling out west due to war, etc. And so this verse is a big reason as well.

And then we read of another parallel in Mosiah Chapter 22 about people being driven out due to persecution... Didn't that happen with the early pioneers?? One of my favorite things to do is finding the parallels in the Book of Mormon to our day and age. It really allows us to stop at the same time to ponder over how these verses apply to our own life at this time. Today I came across Mosiah 23:7-10 and was able to find how this personally applies to my own life now, in different moments. These past couple of weeks I have a deepened love for the Book of Mormon. It truly is our instruction book for life. Haha who needs those books like "Cooking for Dummies, or Sewing for Dummies, or How to raise a family for Dummies" when we have the ultimate book in our hands!?!?! The Book of Life!!!

Fit For the Kingdom:



Sunset pictures with Sister Gomes

15 1/2 months later.... And I survived!!!! Hahaha yah so your probably really confused right now by that. Well as a mission we did the 5k Challenge! Haha the Atonement is real even for a 5K! Family - remember when I used to do Cross Country? Gotta love the good ole days and how I had to train really hard everyday for 3 hours to be able to do like a 24 minute 5K? Well, try only having 30 minutes to prepare for a mission 5K! I never seemed to be able to physically these past 6 weeks get past a mile and a half. It seemed near impossible to do. Then with 2 weeks left, my body decided to get sick which meant I was unable to workout for a week and then the week before the 5K I was so out of shape, tired, lots of meetings and still in recovery mode. Which scared me for the 5k (which is 3.1 miles if you're not aware). Well guess what? I was able to run 90% of the way, did it in 32 minutes and with only about 15 sisters coming in in front of me! We started in different groups I was in the second group which was the Jogger/Walkers group. The Atonement is real even for a 5K. We ran behind the Capitol and then down through the canyon, through Memory Grove Park, and the finish line was Brigham Young Park. Can I say I'm sore? Haha - ohhh yah! Beyond belief. Some sisters yesterday said, "Hey Sister Skaggs, you walk like my Grandma now!" Good thing I thought it was funny and laughed with them. As a matter of fact, we all walk like that right now in the mission. It was a really fun event that was put on!

Beautiful sunset!

We had former Temple Square Sisters come and cover the square from about 9 AM to 12 PM on Saturday morning while we did it. We all want to do it more often but I don't know if we will be able to do so. We are aiming at having it every April and October, we will see though.

Witnessing Miracles:

In regards to the Missionary Work - things haven't really happened. Somehow we teach about 8 lessons a week but a lot of them are our Brazilian investigators. Life is busy. District leader life is busy and so I never seem to be able to call our investigators. A big thing I believe though now is I need to be more effective with my missionary work. That is something I have really thought about these past couple of days.



Beautiful!!

Anyways, I want to share with you a miracle we had on the Square the other day. I believe it was on Wednesday. I grabbed a Book of Mormon and prepared it to give it away to a guest that day. The opportunity never arose for me to give it away. On Thursday we met this lady who said, "I will pray for you Sisters that someone will walk up to you and refer." We were like, "That would be really nice." On Saturday I was standing at EF Desk and this Gentleman walks up to me and says, "Can I have a Book of Mormon?" Haha!! Well of course I'm not going to say no!! That is any missionary's dream! I was like, "Of course." I go over start talking to him and asked my companion to please get me a Book of Mormon (totally forgetting I had one already to go). She responds by saying we are all out. I'm like "great". Then I realized I had that one Book of Mormon right next to me that I marked and had already to go. I gave it to him and then asked if we could send local missionaries to where he lives in Johannesburg, South Africa to explain to him more about the Book of Mormon and how it applies to him. He gladly accepted and then I said, "In the meantime, could we call you until they are able to show up? Either myself or another South African sister?" He gladly and willingly accepted that as well. He just so happened, about an hour later, to meet a South African sister from his same tribe! The tribe with the clicking language. I have since given her all of his information and she will help him progress towards baptism. Over the past 2 days this couple has met just about every South African sister that serves on Temple Square - all 8 of them! The Lord works in mysterious ways!



Enjoying the sunset

Well I have talked a lot already! This past week was just a remarkable week filled with incredible blessings and simple
miracles from the Lord. I want to bear to you my witness that I know the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored in it's fullness for our time. That the Book of Mormon is true. It is a set of scripture that contains the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the only way we can truly draw even closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ. When we take the time to ponder over what is written we see more clearly what our Father in Heaven needs us as his children to know. My personal testimony of who I am as a Daughter of God and of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is solidified and confirmed each time I take the time to ponder over the messages that are contained within.

I love you each so much! And feel blessed to know each of you. I may not know you each personally who reads this but know that I love you! The Gospel is true. I hope you personally know that as well!

The Gardo House - by
Brigham Young

Love Always,

Sister Skaggs


Going through the car wash

 

Pondering the Teachings of Life

From 10/19/15

 

To All I Love!

Homemade cookies from Mom!

Being on a mission one thing that I have recognized is when you truly seek to forget yourself that is when it truly goes by. However, when that occurs that is when we, as disciples of Christ, are able to see even more the ways the Lord is able to use us in his hands only when we listen to the spirit. During this past week that is one thing that has been put to the test, but the blessings in return are remarkable. Last week my letter home was super short, which I'm sorry about. It is my goal to make it up though this week.

Listening to the Still Small Voice:

One thing I just love is the spirit! Think about it, if it weren't for the spirit would we be where we are today? If it wasn't for the spirit I, for sure, wouldn't be here on a mission. Thinking about how the spirit guides us is what I wanted to focus on today. There are several stories that I wanted to share with you about this past week in regards to that.

"Lets be an answer to her Prayers" -

On exchanges with Sis. Nivaldo -
she just had her wisdom teeth pulled

We looked over to see this lady, probably mid twenties, walking near us and I thought to myself, "I want to talk with her". But it was a little awkward because before we could approach her she had sat down and started praying on a bench. My companion whispers to me, "Let's walk back around and be an answer to her prayers." I started thinking, "Haha - yah right. How are we going to be an answer to her prayers"... 'O ye of little faith' is what I think now. As we walked back around it looked like she was still praying and so we really awkwardly were just looking at her and as I turn my head she looks up. We quickly did the whole small talk to get into talking with her. She seemed fine as we started talking to her. She is a school teacher and her husband and her live near by and that was really it. It was interesting though, because as we were talking I got the impression that something was wrong. I started to change the conversation and act like there may be something wrong (only because I felt prompted to). As we were talking we were discussing about how the Book of Mormon gives us direction in our life. In that moment I felt that I needed to share with her this particular set of scriptures that brought me a lot of comfort and direction last transfer, Alma 38:2-6. As I was reading those verses she just had her eyes to the floor and so I couldn't really discern anything. After we were done she looked up and looked me in the eyes with several tears coming down and sincerely said, "That was a direct answer to my prayers right now." It caught me off guard. But at the same time made me stop and reflect upon a lot of things. I don't know what she is facing right now but in that moment this lady needed comfort, needed direction, and those scriptures, in that moment, were able to bring peace to her spirit. I was thinking about it as well. The only reason I came upon those scriptures was because of the trial I faced last transfer. If I didn't face that trial would I have found those scriptures to be able to help be used as an instrument in helping that lady? It reminds me of what Elder Moore (Senior Couple) said to me last transfer after one of the Priesthood Blessings I received. He mentioned that the experiences we have give us the opportunities to be able to better help and serve those around us. But that can go in two different directions. That trial could have been put in my path but what would have happened if I chose my agency differently? Would the Lord still have used me, or even yet, would I have been prepared to help this lady who was at this point? The answer, I cant give an answer because I don't know. It is food for thought. How do we prepare or how does the Lord prepare us to help his Children? A lot of the time it comes in ways we don't expect or recognize.

"It is Time to Call him Again" -

Fun times with Sis. Nivaldo

In previous transfers I have mentioned the name Morou to you several times. Due to the fact Morou wasn't really progressing I didn't really focus a whole lot of my attention on him. I haven't really talked to him in the past 2 months. Earlier this past week I had the feeling that it was time to call him again and see how things have been going. Yesterday we had the opportunity to talk to him and his wife (who is a member of the church), who both, by the way if you forgot, live in Liberia. As we were talking to them Sis. Jallaa, the wife, says to me, "Sister Skaggs. We need to start fresh with teaching my husband." I was like, "Okay. How have things been?" They proceed to tell me that Morou really would like to be baptized and we need to prepare him for baptism and more or less put a rush on his lessons. The next big step for him is the consistency he has had lately with attending church! That was a huge step of progress for him. We were able to review the first half of the Restoration with him yesterday and will finish the rest of it on Wednesday. It was interesting though, with this whole situation how the spirit works.....that very quietly, like a still small voice, I had a thought to call him and was able to hear of the excitement and determination in their voices to really prepare. It will be hard as Satan will go to town but with faith and diligence all things are possible. We look forward to hearing more about how he progresses. It is just amazing the way the spirit can work in our life. This gospel is amazing and marvelous things occur when we take the time to stop, listen and act upon the whisperings of the spirit.

The Keystone to Life:

At the start of this past transfer President Poulsen announced to the mission that this would become the Keystone Transfer. I'm sure you know where I am going with this. Thinking about it - what should be the Keystone in our life and how do we make it the keystone in our life? The answer - the Book of Mormon. The reason we go less active, we waver, lose faith, lose hope, etc. lies on one thing....our testimonies of The Book of Mormon. When we diligently seek to ponder, pray and read The Book of Mormon and act upon it's teachings we won't waver.  We will have a renewed determination to stay steadfast and immovable in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. A survey was taken by recent converts throughout the Church recently about where their conversion was at and only 1 OUT OF 20 said THE BOOK OF MORMON. That is a horrible statistic! When the Book of Mormon is the Keystone of our religion that would mean the Book of Mormon is to be at the Keystone of our conversion and continued conversion to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. President and Sister Poulsen have done a lot this transfer at truly making the The Book of Mormon the center of all that we do. We have been invited as sisters to study for at least 30 minutes a day out of the Book of Mormon. My two favorite chapters recently have become Mosiah 26 & 27, which are phenomenal chapters to study and ponder! When we seek direction it should be from the Book of Mormon. They presented to us a formula (find the ISSUE, what are your FEELINGS, what are you NEEDING, now SEARCH the scriptures). I can testify that it works. Last transfer was a living example of such. That is how I found Alma 38:2-6.

On Thursday President Poulsen announced to us that 2 GUEST SPEAKERS would be coming to the mission for the next Relief Societies to speak with us.  And because of it, Relief Society was being moved from Thursday to Wednesday because they have meetings Thursday mornings in the Temple. I'm very excited for who is coming this week. Elder JEFFREY R. HOLLAND from the Quorum of the 12 Apostles has been invited to speak with us this Wednesday morning for Relief Society. We are so excited! The only downfall is we have to be in our seats by 6:45 in the MORNING! Relief Society is usually at 7:30 A.M. but Elder Holland has asked to shake each of our hands and so he is going to come earlier to have time to do so. When it comes to his testimony of the Book of Mormon there is nothing that will shake his testimony. I know the spirit will be undeniably powerful in the room on Wednesday as he witnesses to each of us of his sacred witness of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. This Book is true. There is no way anyone can deny it as they receive a confirmed witness of it's truthfulness after they take the time to ponder over its teachings.

The Vandenbrinks (from my home
town) stopped in to say hi!



Well I have to get going. But know that I love you each with my whole heart! I feel privileged to know you and to have you in my life. Know that I know that this Gospel has been restored for our time. That through a living Prophet our Savior Jesus Christ leads and guides this Church. And the way to draw nearer to him and to gain our own witness is through reading the Book of Mormon. I love you and hope you set the time aside each day to ponder on the precepts that are contained within this sacred book.

 

 

 

Be safe and know I love you and that Heavenly Father loves each of you no matter who you are! And with the Atonement of Jesus Christ anything can be made possible and whole.

Love Always,

Sister Skaggs