Missionary Newsletter #61 (Feb 16)

Christina's Family :)

Valentine's Day we ate a member's home and Darby, who always goes out on appointments with us, matched me! How fun is that?!

I love Valentine's Day and the sweet kind of holiday it is where love can be shared. :) It's so fun! It was so sweet to share it with my companion! The cutest part of it all was the day before, after a wonderful Zone Conference, we had an exchange. I stayed in Madison as she left with the other companion for Athens. That night, as I crawled into bed, I found a Valentine she had left for me! How cute is that?! (I am always finding cute notes she leaves for me.) It gave me warm and fuzzies to find it and first thing the next morning I read that Valentine! For my companion, I HEART ATTACKED her room. It was so fun to be reunited and thank the other for the friendship that we share. Later, at the end of the night, we were able to end the day right, with some cereal in the candlelight. :) It was so adorable. Valentine's day can always be a day we show love to those around. What a wonderful holiday we have to be adorable and celebrate! Muwah!

Our Candlelight Dinner (of cereal) ;)

Like I said above, we had Zone Conference this week. Once again, I was in the lucky companionship that got to train. Seems like every conference, I'm chosen. haha. That's ok, I am happy to do whatever I can to help. :) After training, we got to do some really cool finding workshops run by our assistants. They had us call numbers we didn't know in our phones, previous people taught in our records, and part-member families and see if we could come and share a message of Christ with them. It's was cool to have the conference be so hands on. 

Pic from Zone Conference: Sister Drummond, Sister Neufville, me, and Sister Zackrison.

Later, we were trained by President Hanks. It was really neat because he shared with us something that he discovered in his studies the day before. (Note: this is not taught doctrine, but his opinion, which I totally agree with and love, so I thought I'd share it with y'all.) In Moses 4:1, it states, "...That Satan, whom thou hast commanded in the name of mine Only Begotten, is the same which was from the beginning, and he came before me, saying-- Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one should shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor." Satan never says, "I will take away their agency or ability to choose," he says, "I will redeem all mankind..." So, Satan is telling the Father that he will save everyone, regardless of the choices they make. There are no consequences for their actions. After hearing that, it made a lot more sense to me. It sounds more like the Satan we know and understand: "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die;" (2 Nephi 28:7) Satan from the beginning, didn't believe that there should be consequences for our actions; however, God knew better. We have to have order and we had to have these guidelines so we could learn and grow and become like our Father in Heaven. We couldn't become like Him if we were doing the opposite with no consequences. Learning this strengthened my testimony of the love and wisdom of God. He loved and trusted us enough to let us go. He let us live our life, but advised us how and has been leading all along our way through parents, leaders, prophets, and the Holy Ghost. We are so blessed!

I love you all and hope y'all are having a fantabulous week! God is real. He loves us. And He wants us to return to Him. :) Take care and stay warm!

Lots of [Valentiney] Love,

Sister Salmond