The Pioneer Children sang as they Walked and Walked

    I forgot to tell you! Last week Julio got baptized! Do you remember me talking about him? He was a referral from a friend who is a recent convert. I was able to teach Julio all of the lessons and set him with a baptismal date. And guess what! He made it! On October 11th he was baptized! Happy year to me! Haha I am also lucky because I am still in the same district that I was in for when I was in the T.O. ward. Because of that I was able to go to Julio's baptism and see him and congratulate him. Such a good day! Oh and get this! His confirmation blessing said he would be serving a mission! Talk about good news! I love hearing that!

       Ok, Meet the Mormons. How many of you have seen that? It is so good! Also the humanitarian Bishnu. There was a girl they interviewed who was American. Guess what. I know her. She grew up in California with me. I'm not saying I was her best friend but she hung out with all of my friends.

     Also I forgot a few weeks ago to give a shout out to a certain someone. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMIE!!!!! I am a few weeks late but yeah. He is so old now! Its funny to think that I knew him as the little punk from high school and now he is all growed up and in college getting ready for med school (yeah he is smart). Anyway, I am grateful that I have been able to know him and have his support. It has meant a lot to me.

     On to things from the mission again. Guess what. This area is still the same. We are working our tails off out here and we walk for a few hours every day looking for people and so far we have had little success. Don't worry spirits are still high but it has just been a change from the last areas I have been in.

    Funny story. Before I left on my mission a friend told me that I needed to know that "every thought was a prompting until proven otherwise." I get to the mission and I am talking to my trainer one day and I tell her that. Fast forward about 9 months. Sister Thompson and I are sitting in the car and she says "one of my companions once told me that every thought is a prompting until proven otherwise." HAHA! I asked her which companion and she said "Sister Clark." I then asked where she heard it. "Sister Ardnt" haha So I asked "do you know where she heard that?" She replied that she didn't. I told her where that quote came from and she started laughing. Now fast forward another 2 months. I am doing companion study with Sister Guthrie and I tell her that I feel like I need to tell her something and I don't know why. She then looks at me and says "Someone told me once that every thought is a prompting until proven otherwise." hahahaha! Ok I am dying at this point. Who knew that a tiny piece of advice given to one missionary to float around the whole mission. It is famous in the mission now and no one knows where it came from. Good times.

        Here is a piece of information that most of you don't know about me. I am obsessed with Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. I don't know why. I think it is because of the memories that I have had there or it could be because they make delicious chocolate and carmel apples. Either way I am. Today while we were shopping we saw a Rocky Mountain Chocolate CEREAL!! I almost bought it but didn't want to spend the money. One day.

          Here is my testimony for this week. Yesterday at stake conference I really loved the choir singing Praise to the Man. Since my mission I have really grown to love Joseph Smith and I have come to respect him so much. As the choir sang yesterday the spirit confirmed to me how important Joseph Smith was, and is, in helping others come to Christ. I am grateful for him and all that he sacrificed so that I could enjoy the blessings of the gospel. As President Olsen was describing what we would see if Joseph walked into the room I got the chills as I imagined him walking down the isle and the choir singing Praise to the Man. It was so powerful. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and he really did restore Christ's gospel to the earth.

     I also learned some cool things about Charity but that might have to wait until next week. Until then- what is charity to you? How do you gain more charity?

Love you all!! 

Sister Skeeter

Hi Mormons!

     Well lets be honest here. Not much has happened in the last week. We had a fun lesson with a fire-fighter and his wife this week. Well it wasn't actually a lesson. It was a dinner appointment that turned into a lesson. He isn't a member of the church and she is. They are so much fun and funny story her last name is Wood. Sweet! Anyway, they are some of the coolest people and we had a really touching experience. Just so you know when you see a homeless man on the street and have a strong prompting to go help him...GO DO IT! This fire-fighter was telling us how this happened and when he described the man I was in tears. It was really sad to hear about this helpless man who didn't even know how to beg for money. Brother Thomas told us how he could have had some handicaps and all he did was hold out a small cup hoping that someone would help him. SAD! If mom had been there she would have been in tears too. Its funny because sometimes I feel like I have this hard shell and I don't care enough for people but then when I hear stories about people begging for money I tear up and feel so terrible for them and want to help them so bad! In any case it turned out to be a sweet experience and we were able to teach some important truths to Brother Thomas.

   Also my time is basically up but I wanted to give you a scripture. I wasn't going to share this one but for some reason I feel like I should. It is in Matthew. Scratch that it is in Luke 23:43. It says "And Jesus said unto him Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with my in paradise." I don't know why but that one is so powerful to me. It is during the time when the Savior is on the cross and talking to one of the criminals. I love it. Also here is something else I learned in my studies today: 

        Today I actually had a really cool study. I read in 1 Nephi 11 and 12 which is all about Nephi having a vision and seeing what his father saw and the interpretation of it. Then I read in the bible in the last chapter of Luke. So today's study was completely focused on the Savior and his birth and hi resurrection. That wasn't on purpose but it worked out nicely. I loved being able to learn about how Nephi understood that the tree of life was God's love for us by seeing the Savior. I was trying to put two and two together when I first read that and the thought that came to my mind was that, when Nephi saw the Savior in Mary's arms he knew that that was the ultimate sign that Heavenly Father loved us. He sent His only son to come to earth to sacrifice Himself so that we could return back to Heavenly Father. I don't know if that is exactly right but that is what I learned today. I love studying the Savior and His life. There is always a new story that I didn't know before. I know the Savior lives and I know that through the Savior we can return back to Heavenly Father's presence. 

I know this church is true and that the Savior loves each and every one of us.

Sister Skeeter

Word To The Wise...

If you didn't get to watch conference this weekend you should go watch it. Best thing ever!! But before we get into those details here is what's happening in my neck of the woods.

1) We didn't go out to work until Thursday. My lovely companion got pink eye. Ew. At first she thought it was allergies. Good thing I have had pink eye way too many times to know that what she had was NOT allergies. So we went to urgent care got some drops and it cleared up in a couple of days. So what was her companion doing while she was resting? I was constantly wiping things down, washing my hands, and praying that I wouldn't get it either. And guess who is immune to the flu and pink eye. THIS SISTER! After being in for almost two weeks and breathing her air I stayed healthy and am so ready to give a full weeks worth of work.

2) Nothing in the area has changed. We are seriously at a loss for what we can do for the people here. Our area is prime for knocking. There are no apartments and SO many houses. The only problem is that we can't seem to be in the right areas. We are going to be lovingly chastening the ward this week in ward council so we will see how that goes. We had a good talk with out mission leader to know what we need to do. We found some of the problem so hopefully we can work out the rest.

3) In case you were wondering. Do NOT suck on candy that has citric acid on it. I ate sour patch kids while I was writing in my journal the other night and my tongue started to bleed because I was sucking on it instead of chewing it. Ouch!

4)  I need to do a quick shoutout to Sister Thompson's family. Hey guys! How is it going? Hope the wedding was fun! Congrats Thane and Caitlin (I am pretty sure I spelled both of their names wrong. Oops!)

5) GUESS WHAT I DID!!! (This is going to be my message portion for the week)

I finished the Book of Mormon for the 2nd time on my mission. Sweet! I am so stoked! My companion asked me today if I found any particular themes this time as I read it. I think the theme that stuck out the most to me was missionary work. I noticed how hard the prophets in those days worked to cry repentance to the people and how much they loved the people. They would be so sad if even one of their people chose not to come to Christ. But they didn't let the apostate people get them down either. They recognized that although there were those who didn't join in the gospel they were still successful and they still had done all that the Savior had asked of them. People still had their agency and could choose if they wanted to heed the words of the prophets.

And it is still the same today. We get the choice of whether or not we will pay attention to the words of the prophets. With General Conference this week we were able to listen to the Prophet of God and the other leaders of the church. Here are some of the things that I learned.

  i) In Elder Klebignat's talk he posed this question "What thoughts would come to mind if you had a personal interview with the Savior in one minute. The thought got me so excited! I would LOVE to have a personal interview with the Savior right now. It made me realize that I really am doing what I needed to be doing and that I was prepared if that did happen. But are we all prepared for that? Would we dread seeing Him? Would we run the opposite direction and hope that He couldn't find us? Or would we run to his arms prepared for what was going to come? It is so important that we are always prepared to meet the Savior. 

   ii) In Elder Chistofferson's talk he quoted a poet when saying "Every Subject's duty is the King's but every subjects soul is his own." God isn't going to live our lives for us. We choose if we want salvation. He can give us plenty of opportunities to learn and grow but it is up to us to take them and apply them and learn from them.

  He also went on to talk about how we CHOSE to be here on earth. I don't know why but the strong and powerful thought came to my mind that we really do want to be here. I don't know why but I thought of those who are ready and wanting to take their lives. Do they remember that they chose to be here? That they knew it would be hard? Do they know that they fought to come here and gain their own bodies? I want them to remember so they can see how much potential and worth they have. If they could remember this I feel like things would be so much better for them. 

Anyway, I know we have a prophet of God on the earth today and that He leads and guides this church under the direction of the Savior. I am choosing to follow him and Heavenly Father. I love this gospel and I know it is the truth.

Sister Skeeter