10/20/14 Week 32

Elder Craig A. Carden

Elder Carden of the Seventy came and visited our mission this week! It was soooo amazingly awesome! We had conference with him from 9am until 4pm. In my pre-mission life if someone would have told me that I was going to be in a church meeting for 7 hours I probably would've passed out and then skipped anyways and gone swimming, but I could not have been more excited to be in this meeting! He is without a doubt a man called of God:)  The spirit was so strong it even made me shed a tear..which for me that's a pretty big deal. 

In preparation for this meeting we all had to write a short talk on recognizing the spirit and then Elder Carden was going to call on some of us to give our talks - ahhh scary! So of course guess who do you think got to give their talk? Yep, me!  Ahhhh!  But it went super bueno:)   Then afterwards President Ames picked a few missionaries to go and have interviews with Elder Carden and guess what?! He asked me! Yayayayay! It was one of the #1 most amazing experiences in my whole life.  The things he told me are changing the way I do missionary work.  For reals.  He is called of God! 

Sisters Carden, Limon, Bonny, and Ames

In other sad news....Maria is not getting baptized...YET! We aren't giving up on her. She knows it's true, she just decided to go to the wrong source for answers and came across tons of anti-mormon stuff online and it scared her:( Satan does not make these things easy. From the day this amazing girl decided to be baptized I have never seen the adversary working so hard! It has seriously been a battle, but Hermana Limon and I are NOT letting him win!

Being a trainer is still challenging.  Hermana Limon and I have had our ups and downs.  She is a great missionary.  Some of the most spiritual times I've had on my mission have been when she's sharing her conversion story to investigators.  It's powerful stuff!

The other day we were brave enough to stop a party going on downstairs full of big black guys so we could sleep.  ...scariest thing I've ever done!  We went and prayed for bravery in the bathroom, because it was the only place the music wasn't pounding.  Then we marched downstairs and pooped on their party.  Haha!!

Feliz Cumpleanos!

The Skyhawk 5!  One high school, one mission.

I feel like I am finally learning how to listen to the spirit.  It's about time right??   I've realized  that growing up in Utah definitely has it pros and cons.  When you grow up in a home with the spirit and friends that are always doing good things, its harder to recognize the spirit because you never really had to learn how.  Many of my choices were kind of already made for me most of the time.  That's why its so amazing to see these people we're teaching, many of them kids or teenagers, WANTING to be at church.  I don't think I had that attitude when I was their age.  They inspire me!  We seriously live in a bubble in Elk Ridge/Salem, not realizing what it's like to live without the gospel around us!

Anywho I'm just gonna send a bunch of pics because I don't have tons of time today!  But pretty much this week was AMAZING! THE CHURCH IS TRUE!

Love Hermana Bonny

Tacos de Lengua (tongue tacos) - Yum!