To All I Love,
Guess what week it is?! One of my favorite weeks of the year! The week when on a particular day you get to eat as much as your little heart desires. Okay, well that is a perk of this week but it is a special week because we are able to give thanks for those things we have been blessed with in our lives. Even though we should be showing our gratitude everyday and not just one time a year. I'm excited for Thanksgiving this year! Sister Rodriguez has a senior couple who served their mission in her ward in Spain who has invited us over Thanksgiving. I'm really excited! We usually go to members home within a particular stake in the valley but President gave our companionship permission to go to their home which is crazy because it is about a 45 minute to an hour drive to their home. We are going to Alpine for Thanksgiving. Which is so weird because I have family that lives in Alpine but I wont be seeing them. It seems as if it was just yesterday that Sister Bryuzgina and I were getting ready to go to our families home in Bountiful for Thanksgiving!
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| Sister Fingerle and Skaggs |
In regards to this week, I don't really know what to type about Not a whole lot happened this week. A LOT will be happening in the coming weeks. Oh wait I know what happened now!
Christmas Initiative!
On Thursday for Relief Society the Missionary Department came and spoke to us on the new Christmas initiative that the Church will be releasing here this week. I love it! Did you know they are launching 2 VIDEOS this year?? The first one just focuses in on the Savior and in order to watch the second one you have to watch the first one. They made it hard to see the second one just because the first one preps you more or less for the second one. But I love the second one! It is all animation, but what they did and how it was created forces us to reflect on our life, reflect on the choices we have made, the mistakes we have made, how the mistakes and choices of others have affected our life and then we see why the Savior's birth would be so important and how, because of Christ, we can receive that peace that we seek in our life. It is a perfect set up for us as missionaries to then dive into the importance of following our Savior Jesus Christ and how the atonement and baptism tie in together. I strongly believe that if members really use these videos wisely the missionary efforts will really pick up. They are set up in a way that really forces you to stop and think. For those who have experienced those hard things in their life I feel will be more receptive to hearing the message that will be portrayed. But honestly how it is set up can apply to anyone, because at one point or another we have experienced one of the things, or the spirit will bring to your heart what you have experienced. I'm ultimately so excited for each of you to watch it and to really ponder over how our Savior, Jesus Christ, plays a role in our life and why his birth would be of importance to you. The videos will be downloaded in the Visitor Centers on Thursday so we can launch it and use starting Friday for the lights and then I read online everything else will be launched on the 29th but I'm not sure if that is actually true.
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| Sister Fingerle and Skaggs |
Christmas Will Be Soon Upon Us:
Well Christmas is starting to occur here on Temple Square. The lights are up and have been ALL the time for testing! We are so excited! About 80% of the mission wasn't here last year for the lights so they are each freaking out. We are really excited they have added some new assignments to our schedule - things we haven't done before and so the mission is excited about that. President Poulsen LOVES the Temple Model and he doesn't like it when he walks by and there are no sisters there but a lot of people. For the lights this year we will have a companionship every hour for an hour starting at 5 PM at the Temple Model talking to the guests and explaining to them what it is, answering questions etc. We are actually really excited for this new assignment. Many families will be coming which will make it a neat opportunity to teach and testify about how the Gospel blesses our families and how the families were made to be Eternal and through the temple that can be made possible.
Back in April the Church installed a new exhibit in the North Visitor Center called "8 Stories" which takes up apart of the first floor where we always had the choirs sing. This creates a slight problem because where is the choir going to sing now? Well.... the choirs will now sing next to the Jerusalem MAP under the ramp in front of the paintings next to the escalator. For those who haven't been here before it will be really interesting to see how this works. The crowds are always really insane for the Christus, it goes down the ramp to the MAP and then for the choirs we usually have a decent sized crowd that comes to hear them. And then the entrance is usually super crowded with family and friends coming in and out. It will be quite a feat this Christmas. But we don't care. We are really excited. More people to talk to!!! But it shouldn't be too bad because we will have Sisters all over and in certain parts of the visitor center. In order to make everything run smoothly we will be stationed at the Christus, stairs, ramp, theaters, desks, and God's Plan to make sure the flow of people is going smoothly. The lights will turn on this Friday night at 5 PM.
Building Our Faith:
Faith has been a principle that we have really keyed in on these past couple of weeks as a companionship. We recognized that in order for our investigators to really progress they needed to understand what it means to have faith and how it applies to their life. With it being the first principle of the Gospel they needed to recognize that repentance, baptism, etc. wasn't going to occur unless we recognize and understand what faith means.
Yesterday we called Opi from Liberia and were talking to him about what Faith means. It was the sweetest thing to see how the spirit worked through him. Opi is only 16 years old. When we first began teaching him he was really excited and happy to hear from us. We started by asking him, "Opi what does it mean to have Faith in Jesus Christ?" Let's just say we didn't teach it simply.... He was like, "What does Faith in Jesus Christ mean?" I said, "Yes." He said, "Faith means to believe in Jesus Christ." We asked him another question and he is like, "I just said faith is to believe in Jesus Christ. That is what Faith means." Sister Rodriguez and I recognized that we needed to really go back to the basics with him. We decided that the best way we could involve the scriptures and teach these key principles is through turning to the Book of Mormon. We had Opi open his scriptures to Alma 32:21 and we read those first couple of verses with him and helped him to recognize what it really means to have faith. At first he started quoting the verse. But I knew he didn't really know what it meant unless he could teach us in his own words. As we asked him certain questions he was then able to respond back to us with what the meaning of faith was. We had a short 25 minute lesson with him and were able to help him see more clearly what faith means and how it applys to his life.
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| Sister Skaggs and Rodriguez |
The above example is one of my favorite parts of being a missionary. The sweetest moments on your mission come from witnessing how the gospel changes hearts. And seeing how the others come to recognize and learn more about the Gospel.
People frequently ask me "what do you love about your mission?" What I love about my mission, is being able to witness peoples heart change because of the Gospel, being able to see how the Gospel really blesses their lives.
I want you to know just how much I love each of you! I know times get hard in our life but know that with our Savior Jesus Christ we can do anything. Family, I'm grateful for the knowledge I have that our family is an eternal family and that no matter what happens in our life we will be together in the life to come. Today we had the opportunity to testify of this principle to a young man from Oceanside, CA. As we stood with him we were able to bear witness to him that families are eternal and it is because of the sacred covenant we make as we kneel at the altar in the temple. As we seek to keep our covenants I can testify that we will be reunited with our loved ones. At the end of the tour with this young man I asked the question "If you love your family, then why wouldn't you want to be with them for eternity?" It is vital that we seek to do all that we can so we can receive that blessing that comes from being with our families for all eternity. I feel blessed for my family, and my extended family! Know that I love each of you!
Love Always,
Sister Skaggs
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