Hope all of the wonderful women in my life had a fantastic mothers day! I read a talk yesterday by Elder Holland called "Because she is a mother". I had never read that talk before but it was amazing (of course), and there was a powerful quote in it that I felt also applies to missionary work.
“Through the thick and the thin of this, and through the occasional tears of it all, I know deep down inside I am doing God’s work. I know that in my motherhood I am in an eternal partnership with Him. I am deeply moved that God finds His ultimate purpose and meaning in being a parent, even if some of His children make Him weep.
“It is this realization,” she says, “that I try to recall on those inevitably difficult days when all of this can be a bit overwhelming. Maybe it is precisely our inability and anxiousness that urge us to reach out to Him and enhance His ability to reach back to us. Maybe He secretly hopes we will be anxious,” she said, “and will plead for His help. Then, I believe, He can teach these children directly, through us, but with no resistance offered. I like that idea,” she concludes. “It gives me hope. If I can be right before my Father in Heaven, perhaps His guidance to our children can be unimpeded. Maybe then it can be His work and His glory in a very literal sense.”
What a blessing it is to know that God is there to help us succeed in every work He calls us to do. Many times it is beyond our own ability, but fortunately nothing is beyond His!
It was fun to be able to FaceTime my family yesterday! I was blessed to be able to see/talk with 3 wonderful mothers in my life. Firstly my incredible mother. I would not be who I am without her. Secondly my grandma Burningham. It was such a blessing to get to see her, I can't wait till I will be able to see her in person and give her a huge hug! And thirdly my aunt Julie. Love that woman more than I can say! I have gotten a letter in the mail from her almost every single week of my mission, and she has shown the same support throughout my whole life! Thank you!
This week was a crazy one, but good! My new companion's name is Molly Wood, but she has always gone by Maddy because of her middle name. She went to high school at Desert Hills in St. George, so far we have only been able to come up with one person that we know in common from St. George and that would be the lovely Kenzie Hawes! Sister Wood and I get along really well already, she is super sweet and a great missionary. She is only one transfer younger than me, so we are both getting toward the end of our missions, but determined to keep going strong to the end! We had a boatload of meetings this week, so we weren't able to get out and teach very much. That was frustrating, but just makes me excited to get out there and kill it this week!
We were able to teach one of our investigators, her name is Elyiah, I think I have talked about her before. She is a super smart, sassy 8 year old! Her cousin was there and is only a year older and it was fun to see Elyiah trying to explain things to her like how the Book of Mormon is different from the bible! We asked them how they would feel if they got to meet a living prophet and Elyiah said "I would be so excited I would want to jump off the roof!" Fortunately her cousin helped her clarify that she meant bouncing off the walls, but it was cute :)
I started the Book of Mormon over again in my personal study, and this time I am reading it with an emphasis on anything that has to do with revelation. What it is, how we prepare to receive it, the different ways it comes to us, what we are meant to do with the revelation we receive, etc... I spent like 30 minutes just going through the testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith over and over again trying to glean all that I could from it about revelation and it was incredible! I'm excited to keep reading with that focus. The Book of Mormon is legit!
Love yous!
Sister McConkie
“Through the thick and the thin of this, and through the occasional tears of it all, I know deep down inside I am doing God’s work. I know that in my motherhood I am in an eternal partnership with Him. I am deeply moved that God finds His ultimate purpose and meaning in being a parent, even if some of His children make Him weep.
“It is this realization,” she says, “that I try to recall on those inevitably difficult days when all of this can be a bit overwhelming. Maybe it is precisely our inability and anxiousness that urge us to reach out to Him and enhance His ability to reach back to us. Maybe He secretly hopes we will be anxious,” she said, “and will plead for His help. Then, I believe, He can teach these children directly, through us, but with no resistance offered. I like that idea,” she concludes. “It gives me hope. If I can be right before my Father in Heaven, perhaps His guidance to our children can be unimpeded. Maybe then it can be His work and His glory in a very literal sense.”
What a blessing it is to know that God is there to help us succeed in every work He calls us to do. Many times it is beyond our own ability, but fortunately nothing is beyond His!
It was fun to be able to FaceTime my family yesterday! I was blessed to be able to see/talk with 3 wonderful mothers in my life. Firstly my incredible mother. I would not be who I am without her. Secondly my grandma Burningham. It was such a blessing to get to see her, I can't wait till I will be able to see her in person and give her a huge hug! And thirdly my aunt Julie. Love that woman more than I can say! I have gotten a letter in the mail from her almost every single week of my mission, and she has shown the same support throughout my whole life! Thank you!
This week was a crazy one, but good! My new companion's name is Molly Wood, but she has always gone by Maddy because of her middle name. She went to high school at Desert Hills in St. George, so far we have only been able to come up with one person that we know in common from St. George and that would be the lovely Kenzie Hawes! Sister Wood and I get along really well already, she is super sweet and a great missionary. She is only one transfer younger than me, so we are both getting toward the end of our missions, but determined to keep going strong to the end! We had a boatload of meetings this week, so we weren't able to get out and teach very much. That was frustrating, but just makes me excited to get out there and kill it this week!
We were able to teach one of our investigators, her name is Elyiah, I think I have talked about her before. She is a super smart, sassy 8 year old! Her cousin was there and is only a year older and it was fun to see Elyiah trying to explain things to her like how the Book of Mormon is different from the bible! We asked them how they would feel if they got to meet a living prophet and Elyiah said "I would be so excited I would want to jump off the roof!" Fortunately her cousin helped her clarify that she meant bouncing off the walls, but it was cute :)
I started the Book of Mormon over again in my personal study, and this time I am reading it with an emphasis on anything that has to do with revelation. What it is, how we prepare to receive it, the different ways it comes to us, what we are meant to do with the revelation we receive, etc... I spent like 30 minutes just going through the testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith over and over again trying to glean all that I could from it about revelation and it was incredible! I'm excited to keep reading with that focus. The Book of Mormon is legit!
Love yous!
Sister McConkie