Hola Hola!!!
The subject of this email is courtesy of Sister Rogers :) She is an
older black lady in our ward and always says the most hysterical
things. She is so great. All of these members and their sacrifices and
devotion is so inspiring to me. Hopefully one day I can be just as
faithful and wise and crazy as some of these members are. I have so
much floating around in my brain in what I want to tell y'all I don't
even know where to start!
Well we had many many meetings this week. We were down in Tupelo
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Friday for zone conference and Saturday
and Sunday for Stake conference meetings. To say that we have been
spiritually fed would be an understatement. There are so many great
things happening in the Lord's vineyard! And can I just say I will
probably never complain about long car trips again. With being Sister
Training leader and traveling all over Alabama, and now being on the
outskirts of the mission and having to go to a gazillion meetings, I
would say I have had my fair share of car trips. Anywho, There were so
many great things we learned these past few days with trainings on
baptism, the holy ghost, strengthening the ward, the atonement, and
tenacity (president loves him some tenacity.) President and Sister
Hanks are amazing and we are so blessed to have them in our mission.
Due to the fact that we had stake conference this Sunday all the way
down in Tupelo, we didn't have any investigators at church this
Sunday. This is the first week since I've been here that we haven't
had anyone at church. We truly have been blessed! And it has nothing
to do with us, but always the Lord. We do however have one of our
investigators getting baptized! Shay has officially committed to a
date! We saw her this week and she was all, "I'm ready." She just gets
it and I love it. She's going around telling everyone that she is
getting baptized :) She still needs to come to church one more time
and she will be out of week this coming saturday due to Thanksgiving,
but we set a date for the 7th of December and she is ready to prepare
for that.
Rey and Jesus.... I don't even know what to say about them. I just
love them and I am always so happy when we get to talk to them but
they will not commit! They're a bit frustrating to say the least! We
saw Rey last night and I seriously wanted to cry. I just wish that all
these people could understand what a blessing all of this could be in
their lives! It just makes so much sense and not only does it have
sense, it's all about hope! Hope for a better tomorrow, hope for a
better you. But, president shared a quote this week that I thought
applied well, "A man convinced against his will, is of the same
opinion still." Just read the book. The Book of Mormon. It changes
lives. Nuff said. Agency is frustrating. But I love it! OH! and one of
our members who took us down to Tupelo on Saturday, Sister Cartwright,
said something that I really liked. "God wants us to choose him."
Doesn't that just sum up why we have agency?? I thought it did :)
Our meeting on Saturday night was all about "Hastening the work of
Salvation" and it was the adult session. One of the speakers talked
about having our homes be the way we do missionary work by being an
example and teaching the children early on to be missionaries. I
realized that Mom and Dad, y'all did a pretty darn good job at that. I
didn't realize that we had been doing all of these things on a regular
basis and what a blessing it was until I got here and realized that
not every family does it! FHE, scripture study every night, daily
family prayers, etc... I love y'all. And I'm so grateful.
Other goodness that happened this week and things I learned. One of
the spanish people were teaching is a member! She was baptized when
she was 9. She's so cute, she said she would always tell her parents
they needed to go after they stopped going, but to no avail. Just a
testimony builder to me that the Lord is aware of his Children! I love
all of these beautiful missionaries, they help build my testimony. If
you are ever put in jail, fake crazy because apparently the regular
cells are cold, but if you're crazy they will give you a straight
jacket and put you in a warm room ;) Being a missionary is awesome!
Came across a scripture this week and sent it to president,
Alma 2:30 And it came to pass that Alma, being a man of God, being
exercised with much faith, cried, saying: O Lord, have mercy and spare
my life, that I may be an instrument in thy hands to save and preserve
this people.
That being said, it would be great if my “missionary life” could be
spared, “that I may be an instrument in [the Lords] hands to save and
preserve” these wonderful southerners ;) extension??... No I'm just
playing! I wouldn't do that to you mom! Plus, I'm quite positive they
don't let anyone extend anymore.
Mom and dad, the floors look amazing! I miss y'all and love y'all!
Thank you for the prayers, keep sending them! Grams and Gramps, I hope
you are enjoying Russia!!! Brayden, I have a letter for you but it
got sent back because I didn't put enough stamps on it... I'll send it
again! And tell Eli, I miss his non-filtered voice ;)
Love, Hermana Decker
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