One month down!

September 2, 2019

Hiya it's Sister Henderson again.

This week flew by, like it really flew by. But I'm happy to write all of you again. Also, HAPPY LABOR DAY. Hope you all can rest well from your labors or is it the other way around? I don't know. So about this week, it's been a good fruitful week! I'll try and answer the questions a lot of you had.

Splits went great! On Tuesday night we had the lovely Sister Stotts come with Sister Kohler and me. Many people weren't home, HOWEVER, (long story short) the spirit led us to Renee Spearman. She's a member but hasn't been to church in a while due to some personal complications. We told her about Come Follow Me and she thought it would be very uplifting. The next day, we did a Come Follow Me discussion with her. We discussed Spiritual gifts and how we're the body of Christ in 1 Corinthians 12-13. You guys, Come Follow Me is a huge blessing, I've been slacking on my Come Follow Me but it feels marvelous to study out of it again. Also isn't it interesting when it says we're the body of Christ? The Lord need absolutely EVERYONE to bring their spiritual gifts to make the "body" (the church) fulfill its purpose.  My favorite part is charity (the pure love of Christ) is what brings all of the "limbs" together.  

Some of you are asking about Will (the guy I mentioned in last week's email). He met with us and the Elders together, last Monday night. He's a brilliant guy, he studies all kinds of religions and was curious and very open to hear about ours. The lesson ended up being two hours long, before we could give him an invitation, he enthusiastically asked us for a Book of Mormon so that he can read. I'm not going to say there wasn't a high pitched scream going on inside me. It truly is exciting when people realize how the wonderful the Gospel of Jesus Christ is. As far as other investigators we found five more people! Some of them agreed to meet with us this week Tuesday-Sunday. Very very exciting! They're such kind people. 

I had my first zone conference this week. It was pretty cool. My companion and I weren't able to make it to our own zone conference due to some of her personal medical matters, so President Barney and Sister Barney invited us to stay a night at the mission home for a night (because the zone conference is far away from our area) and make it to another zone conference.  This offer was so thoughtful because we didn't have to lose any sleep! I thought it was super awesome! I got to spend time with the Mission President and his wife, they're AMAZING people. It doesn't surprise me when people say that your mission is chosen largely depending on who your mission president is. President and Sister Barney are wonderful and are great counselors! The zone conference was fun and very spiritually uplifting. We discussed the Iron rod and how we're all susceptible to falling away. It kind of gives me perspective how we all NEED to be converted to Christ. When we casually go to church or the temple, we can have a testimony but it won't be strong enough to get by the "cloud of darkness." The saints who partook of the fruit felt the joy and happiness that came with it. This was their testimonies of God's love. But some still fell away ashamed because of the mocking from the world. When all we have is a testimony we need to make sure we are constantly nourishing it because a testimony is only a pathway to conversion to Christ. Your conversion to Christ is like going up a "down" escalator, you need to always need to keep progressing.  

Anyways, so after zone conference the Eau Claire Elders, Sister Kohler and I have been having wonderful dinners with member families and giving them lessons. Two nights ago we ate with a Hmong family. They seriously know how to cook I mean WOW best fried chicken in the world. The parents are extremely determined to make sure we were well fed haha! My stomach felt like it was stocked up for a week. 

HIGHLIGHTS

That fried chicken was sooooo good.

I learned the art of stilt walking. It. is. hard. 

I've met soo many wise people on my mission already. One of which in particular really opened my eyes on looking for God's hand in your life. 

That same little girl Dauphane came up to us again (the same one that said she's an "Elder Princess") and said that she's a "Sister Elder" I'm sensing a future missionary sometime in her future. She's adorable.

Investigators are coming to church! Scott seemed to really like church! (The Elders are teaching him but it still makes me happy to hear stuff like this). There were a lot of members that went out of their way to meet him. I wish I was better at this before I was a missionary. Not being afraid to introduce yourself and greet new people truly goes a long way. 

Not a ton of success this week, that's ok. One evening, we were out in a public place passing out pamphlets with our numbers on the back and were hilariously unsuccessful (we couldn't even be given the chance to talk sometimes haha!) being a missionary, you are definitely odd to the rest of the world. 

Sister Kohler and I like to goof off (of course, within the boundaries of obedience). We pulled a mild prank on the Elders (see picture below). 

DAD JOKE OF THE WEEK

What do you call bike that falls down?

(I'll let you think about this one) 

God LOVES each and every one of you. Look for the small mercies from him in your life. 

With all my love, 

Sister Henderson

P.S. Read the sticker on the first picture. The second one is just the prank. Also forgive me I always forget about pictures. The last one is me attempting to take a decent picture of the sunset in a moving vehicle. Enjoy.