Family & Friends!
Guess what?! It's conference weekend! And even better, I am at the heart of it all. I couldn't have asked to serve in a better mission. We get to see so many people from all over the world join together to listen to our Prophet. The one thing that has been going through my mind all week is "Come, listen to a prophet's voice." I don't think I have ever really thought about how amazing it is that we are blessed enough to live in a time where we have a living prophet on the earth. I mean he talks to the entire world twice a year, if that doesn't scream this church is true then I don't know what does.
Another wonderful thing that we are able to do is to prepare ourselves for this conference weekend. Preparation is key in almost everything, if we are not willing and open to the words that will be spoken then it won't mean anything to us. During personal study a few weeks ago I read the account in Mosiah about King Benjamin. Everything about his sermon just reminds me of general conference, but the one thing that stood out to me the most was found in verse 9 of chapter 2: "For I have not commanded you to come up hither to trifle with the words which I shall speak, but that you should hearken unto me, and open your ears that ye may hear, and your hearts that ye may understand, and your minds that the mysteries of God may be unfolded to your view" I don't know about you but I would love to have the mysteries of God unfolded before me, but it's not going to happen unless I have done the work to prepare and open myself up to it. So, I'm sure you all know as a missionary we love challenging people to do little things that will strengthen their relationship with their Savior, so I'm challenging you all to pay special attention this weekend to make sure you have opened yourself up to listen to our Prophet. That you have already committed to yourself that you will follow his counsel and do what he asks us to do, no matter what it is. "Come, listen to a prophet's voice, and hear the word of God, and in the way of truth rejoice, and sing for joy aloud. We've found the way the prophets went who lived in days of yore. Another prophet now is sent this knowledge to restore"
It has been a busy week as always, but I couldn't have asked for a better one. It is beginning to get a little chilly, I'll admit I didn't think it would get cold so soon. That's what I get for being raised in California. This weekend is supposed to be super nice though which I am so grateful for! One thing that was a little different this week than other 'normal' weeks was that we had 'Operation Deep Clean'! haha Elder and Sister Moore, the new senior couple who is serving here has been put in charge of the apartments. And well who knows how long these apartments have been used for sister missionaries, probably forever, so they are not exactly the cleanest. So they divided the week to different apartments so each of us had a day to deep clean EVERYTHING! Oh my goodness we were cleaning from 10 am to 8pm! I was so happy though, the status of our apartment was finally getting to the point of bothering me so really it was perfect timing. I'm sure my roommates thought I was crazy because when they announced deep cleaning on Sunday after church I got so excited and well, I think I was the only one. So we did everything from de-cluttering to rid our apartments of past sisters to cleaning behind the oven and fridge. There was a lot of scrubbing involved. I'll admit my arms and shoulders are still sore from it all. But I can now say that our apartment is a little offshoot of the temple :) clean and celestial.
We also had exchanges this week. I love exchanges, you learn so much when you get to be with another sister for a few hours because everyone teaches differently so there's always something that you can learn. I was with Sister V (CA), my district leader yesterday and we had a blast. She is seriously the best. She was my district leader last transfer as well and I am so glad I was blessed to have her another transfer. Exchanges always go by so fast though, we had west gate in the morning after Relief Society and then we literally had desk assignments for three hours straight. I thought I was going to die. Desk assignments are usually only an hour long but we then had to cover for the next two hours because the sisters were doing deep cleaning. Standing and talking with every single person who walks in the doors gets so exhausting, who knew. We did get to meet some amazing people who were so prepared for the gospel. Love it when that happens! That evening we had TC time which was really needed. I got to call one of my less actives and help her get ready for conference. She is the sweetest and I love her so much! One of the miracles that happened this week happened in the TC last night. I was just calling and contacting my investigators and setting up times for us to teach them. Right before leaving I really wanted to try and contact a referral we got from the conference center, Ms, well she answered! And even better she has a baptism date for the end of this month. I didn't get to talk with her long but she has been meeting with local missionaries every week for the last little bit and she is not excited to get baptized. It's amazing how you can really hear someone testimony when they talk, I love it. I was able to help her with a few questions she had about some things that came up when she was with the missionaries last. And she wanted me to keep calling her to help her prepare for her baptism! Yay, She is amazing and I can't wait to get to know her even better and hear more of her conversion story. Our other investigator, M, is doing great! We called him this morning and he knows the church is true. He is already such a strong member and he's not even technically a member yet. I loved talking with him (he's a bit of a talker haha) he has been able to share some amazing experience. This last week he has been able to see the adversary working harder in his life. For that reason I wish we were actually near him and able to talk with him face to face but it was wonderful to hear how the experiences he has had, both good and bad, have strengthened his testimony even more. He even brought up baptism himself, he wants to get baptized it's just a little tricky because of his girlfriend. He is already planning on proposing to her but not until sometime next year. So things are a bit complicated with that, but just listening to him you can tell that he is sad that he will have to wait until things get sorted out and really cannot wait until he can be baptized. We are hoping and praying that he will decide to be married sooner rather than later, we didn't press it but I feel that he will make that decision all on his own without us having to say anything. It was cute though because he made a funny comment on how by the time he finally is married and able to be baptized he will be 'ridiculously ready to make the covenant' and hes' right He is already so ready and he will just keep progressing and strengthening his testimony.
Fun story of the week: President Utchdorf was walking around temple square a few days ago! I didn't get to see him and it killed me. We were in the Assembly Hall when a sister who was reporting to the MTC this week came in and I was just talking with her when she told me that they were eating lunch up at the Garden where he and his wife were also having lunch so she went over and talked with him, shook his hand and gave his wife a hug. Crazy lucky right? Well I guess after lunch he came and walked around the square because a few minutes later a sister came in with a tour and told us that he was in the Tabernacle. We basically ran over to the Tabernacle after our assignment was over. Unfortunately he wasn't there anymore but we talked with a lot of sisters that ran into him and were able to talk with him. So funny, one of the sisters who met him was from Germany and was actually giving a German tour to some members when he walked into the North Visitor's Center. So they all got to talk with him in German. So cool! So I guess the general authorities do come walking around temple square every once in a while. My eyes will now be peeled until I finally get to meet someone :)
Love you all and I hope you have a fantastic weekend listening to the Prophet! Let me know what your favorite parts are!
XOXOXOX
-Sister Fluckiger
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