kahuna!

    We made THE coolest message this week. The four of us Sisters have been working together to create a message that is going to get the members motivated to read their scriptures and pray together. Something that has been lacking with almost all the families here. So we made Kahuna! He is a life sized cardboard man who has a shield of faith breastplate of righteousness sword of the word of god truth girded about his loins and the shoes of the gospel of peace. He is so cool looking! So our message is on the armour of God and how we need ALL of the pieces to be completely protected. We read from Ephesians 6:11-18 and discuss each piece but focus on the sword and shield. Think about it. Without those two pieces you really have nothing. I love that the sheild is faith because it is through faith that we pray to Heavenly Father knowing that He will answer our prayers. So we talk about D&C 10:5 which says that as we pray we are protected from satan and his followers. It makes sense that the shield would be faith. Anyway it is a fun message that took hours to prepare.  After we share the message we are taking a picture of the families with Kahuna and we will be making a big poster with all of the families to help the members see they are all in it together and can strengthen each other as they go. Pictures of Kahuna to come after the mission :)

 This week was a weird one for me. We did 10 hours of service which was fun and we were able to see miracles because of it. But first fun story. We were at this lady's home and it is not very sanitary to say the least. Mold and cat hair in places you wouldn't imagine. Anyway while we were there I was just picking things up off the floor and all of the sudden I realized I couldn't breathe very well. Of course at this point the lady comes in and starts telling us these long stories. The whole time I am trying not to be rude but eventually I told her that we just needed to go have our lesson outside. Don't worry mom! I am fine now I left in time so I wasn't weezing and my breathing went back to normal. We have face masks that we will be wearing now so it won't get that bad again. Anway, on to the miracles.

    On Tuesday we went to Thurley's house and while we were cleaning she says that her neighbor would like us to come serve her. Thurley told us that she has loved having us there to serve her and has told others about how great we are. The only problem is that this lady is in the Mesa Vista ward so we will have to see how that would work with the elders. That was just the small miracle. After we cleaned on Tuesday we were having a lesson outside and a lady came up to us and asked if she could talk to us. She has seen us around the apartment before and wanted to get some things off her chest. She told us some problems she has been having with her boyfriend and that she was scared to stand up to him. We told her of Heavenly Father's love for her and how He would give her the strength that she needs to do what is right. We were able to set up a return appointment and meet with her on Thursday. Just minutes after we started talking about doing how to begin teaching she looks at us and says "It feels like he is healing me already." We explained that was the spirit and that the healing she felt comes from this gospel. We were able to teach her about the Restoration and had a great lesson with her. She is excited to continue learning and really wants to know the truth for herself. She has a lot of great potential and we are excited to continue teaching her.

    As for my testimony: This week my testimony of keeping the commandments was strengthened. One of my biggest fears is going home and not having changed at all since I left for the mission. This week when my sister told me about the decisions of my other sisters I realized that I have changed. I was frustrated because I wanted them to know how important it is to keep the commandments and to desire to keep them exactly. I realized that when I get home I will still be trying to be consecrated to the Lord and keeping the Spirit with me always. I realized that I need that companionship all day every day. I was reading a talk by Elder Oaks called "The Challenge to Become". He talks all about how we need to be striving to become something and be truly converted instead of having a testimony and not letting it change us. I realized that I have changed. I have learned this week that we will still need to be consecrated when we go home. It will be in a slightly different way but it will still be drawing my nearer to the Savior and staying in the world but not being of it.

Ok, I think that is all I have to update you on. Love you all! Make good choices and make me proud!

Sister Skeeter