This week was great, yet again. We found some more investigators and are continuing to teach them. None of them are on a date yet though, but soon! :) Hopefully.
We also had Zone Conference this week, which was great. We've been talking a lot about how we can better work with members and help them with their missionary work. Being a missionary has made me want to be the BEST member missionary, because I can now see how vital they are in full-time missionary service. So so SO important! It's a little tricky though, because it's hard to meet with many of the members in our ward. They are all you families who have very time constraining jobs. We get fed maybe once or twice a week, so it's been a little difficult to work with them and get to know them. But I still love this ward! It's really growing on me.
Funny story: So while we are not taking tours at the VC, we are online chatting with people and making phone calls from mormon.org. This guy named Lee came on and said he was looking for a ride to church--specifically to the Poet Smith building. When I saw him typing that, my heart skipped a beat. "Poet Smith as in the one in Auburn?!" Then next thing ya know, he adds, Auburn, CA. I DIED!!!! So then I looked up his address to see which ward he would be in and he lives in the AUBURN SECOND WARD BOUNDARIES!!!!! What in the world. I died. So crazy. So we had to call the Bishop: Bishop Gary Jenkins. Holy smokes. I KNOW HIM!!! Is this really happening? What's going on? Can missionaries call people they know? Am I even allowed to do this? So many thoughts were going through my head! I told Sister Beck to call him just to be safe, so she did. But I was still on the line listening. So I hear Lisa answer, then say she's going to go get Bishop Jenkins, then I hear him say hello. Then Sister Beck introduced us and said we were serving in Ohio, and Bishop Jenkins says, "Who am I speaking with again?" "Sister Beck and Sister Livingston" I started to laugh. So freaky. "And where is Sister Livingston from?" He knew, and I knew. But I remained quiet. SO weird! So then Sister Beck tried to explain what was happening with Lee, but she didn't actually know the whole story, so I had to jump in. "Hi Bishop Jenkins! It's Sister Livingston!" Laughter. Then we chatted. And it was wonderful. That was the first time I had ever gotten to speak with someone from home, other than on Christmas and Mother's Day. It was so fun. It actually made me a little home sick afterwards, but I smile whenever I think about it. It was definitely a tender mercy. Bishop Jenkins, thanks for the chat. :) It was great speaking with you. So yeah. That was really fun. And weird. And probably a once in a lifetime opportunity. Jealous? Jkjk.
This morning we got to take a basement to bell tower tour in the Kirtland temple. Usually that costs $25/person, but the Community of Christ let us do it for free! It was so cool. So we started in the basement of the temple and got to see all of the original beams/stones/nails, then we went onto the main floor and got to walk all around, even sit on the original pulpits. Usually people don't get to do that. The we got to go into a crawl space between the lower two levels and see everything there, then up through all of the other stories until we climbed a ladder and got to see all of Kirtland from the Temple bell tower! SO AMAZING! It was so neat. It's so real, people! This truly is Christ's church, restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith. I know this for two main reasons. First, because I get to serve in a place where so much of the development of the early church took place. That is physical evidence. No one would ever create the sites that our church has, had these events not taken place. No one would go through all of the events that the early saints had to go through, had they not known without a shadow of a doubt that it was true. And no one would make up all of the stories that these men and women went through, unless they were really bored and really smart. Because it all makes sense and ties together. It's true. I know it is. But my second reason for knowing that it is true, is because I have felt the Spirit whisper to me that it is true, and nothing can take that away. It is amazing to be in this place, to get to walk where not only Joseph Smith walked, but where Christ appeared. I get to be here everyday--there is nothing better. But it's not the historical facts that make it so amazing, it really is the spirit that is felt here. I am grateful for the opportunity I have been given to serve in such a sacred place. I'm not sure what I did to deserve this call, whether in this life or the life prior, but I sure do love it with all of my heart and wouldn't trade it for a thing. So thank you for all of your support! I really appreciate and love all of you.
I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Love,
Sister Livingston
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