Apr 8, 2013

Promised Blessings

Hey family!

General Conference was amazing, wasn't it? I felt like I had so many of my questions directly answered. It is neat how that happens.

The family we were teaching was able to come to the church for conference, and it was neat to see her reaction. After the session, we asked the mom what she thought, and she just kept saying, "Wow... this really is a worldwide church, isn't it? I just didn't realize it was so big... wow!" I never realized how amazing it is that this truly is Christ's church filling the Earth. I mean, the church is in almost all the countries of the WORLD! How incredible is that? It is neat re-learning things through the people we teach.

For the Sunday afternoon session, we were called out on tour. It was neat that I was chosen for the tour, because it just so happened that they were all couples from the YSA bishopric in Queen Creek (there aren't that many people from AZ that come to Kirtland) and also, one of them was my long lost great cousin once removed!!! OK, I am actually not sure of our relation to her, but she is related to Heber C. Kimball through Alice Ann Gheen!! As soon as we made the connection, she grabbed me up in a hug and we got a bunch of pictures together. Kind of like a Disneyland celebrity! It was pretty cool. We talked a lot to them, and they gave me the info to their YSA ward, and told me to call and come to church in Queen Creek sometime. It was so fun! I love how inspired tours are- and it is amazing how many connections you can have with people once you get talking to them.

Almost out of time, but I have a cool story to share! This week we were teaching Kenia the Word of Wisdom. Before we got into the lesson, she was telling us about how her week went, and how she had experienced a ton of blessings that week. I listened to it in amazement, and then flipped open the pamphlet to where it talks about the blessings of keeping the word of Wisdom. I had studied it that morning, and EVERY SINGLE blessing she had mentioned was specifically described in that section. I had her read it line by line, and she was freaking out because she was so amazed how well all the blessings lined up with her week. It turns out that she 'just so happened' to be living the Word of Wisdom all along! She had alcohol, coffee, drugs, etc, before, but she had just felt they they weren't right and she shouldn't have them. ISN'T THAT AMAZING?! The Lord is preparing people to receive the Gospel!! It helped me have more confidence in the commandments of God and the promised blessings that come with them. It gave me a whole new perspective in having faith, trust and relying on Him.

I love you family!!

Sister Mahrt