10 Month Mark

Hi, Everyone!

Today, February 16, is my 10 month mark. I have 8 more months to go on my mission. My companion is right on how a mission can be compared to a toilet paper roll. The roll speeds up the closer we get to the end of the roll. 

I know for a couple of weeks I haven't made posts. I have been busy and I did receive a lot of email (which is actually quite nice!). 

Last Monday, we had dinner with the Wheeler family. We had Hawaiian Hay Stacks, and I enjoyed them. I don't think I've had them for quite sometime.

On Tuesday, The Jamestown sisters and my companionship left early in the morning to go to a Sisters' Conference. Here, our Mission President Spoke, along with his wife. There were a lot of sisters who attended the conference, and I got to see my past companion, Sister Putnam. I also got to see Sisters Averett, Hymus, Romney, Dalton, and others. 

In this meeting, there were a lot of great insights. The theme was "Write thy name upon thy heart". I liked this theme because as missionaries, we need to write the Savior's name on our hearts. We wear our name tags, but, most importantly, we also need to be converted to the Gospel, and to the Lord, as well in order to represent Him. 

There was a massive clothing exchange; all of the sisters brought clothes that they did not want anymore. My apartment found a lot of cute outfits, and I have this feeling that I am going to have a hard time deciding how many outfits are actually going to fit in my suit cases by the time it comes for me to arrive home in October. I guess I'll worry about that later. 

We had a great lunch and the gym was decorated with branches and hearts. It was beautiful. 

. . .

Lessons:

We taught a man named Cesil this week, two times. He also came to church. 

We saw Beth this week; I love watching her grow in the gospel. By applying Christ's teachings into our lives, we are able to find greater happiness than if we had not. 

We taught Riley the Law of Chastity, and Follow the Prophet. When we follow the prophet, we will not be lead astray. The Prophet follows God's council. We are able to come closer to God, and Jesus Christ, by listening to their words. The Prophets are a mouthpiece from God, to us. He says what God wants him to say, and he guides us the way God wants him to guide us. I know that Thomas S. Monson is the prophet on the earth today, and the Holy Ghost has testified to me that this is true. To go along with this, the Law of Chastity has been restored through Joseph Smith, a modern-day prophet. It mentions many times in the Bible to be sexually pure; the fullness of this truth has been restored. When we obey the Law of Chastity, we can be safe from emotional, physical, and psychological damage that can come from breaking the Law of Chastity. We stay away from Pornography, and we do not allow ourselves to dwell on unclean thoughts. We fill our activities with wholesome ones which invite the spirit into our lives, and others. We do all that we can to remain chaste. Not doing this, violates God's moral standards. We will not be as sensitive to the Holy Spirit. God has this high moral standard so that we can experience joy and that we can have a strong relationship with our spouse, for the family is ordained of God and so much is gained in a family when founded on the Gospel. 

We also taught Madison, and Hwasun. 

With Hwasun, we watched the Restoration DVD in Korean. She definitely understood the message a lot better than how my companion and I have been teaching in English. Hwasun said she felt a fluttering in her heart when she watched how Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ as two separate, distinct beings. We pointed out to her that was the  Holy Ghost testifying to her that what she had seen, is true. The spirit in that section of the DVD is undeniable. It is by the spirit that I have come to know for myself that the experience Joseph Smith had, is true. 

The Holy Ghost testifies of truth. Truth is defined as something that does not change with time. 

We wanted to go see Sharon (investigator) this week in the nursing home, but she was sound asleep. We went to go visit a member of our ward and I met her for the first time. She had a severe type of dementia, and her daughter was there. She said that she couldn't remember anything, and how her mother had forgotten how to swallow so she was on a feeding tube. For me, that is hard to see; I love them both dearly. I know that God loves each of them.

We had dinner with the Hagges this week. I haven't tried home-made tortillas before, and they were very good. I want to try and make some for myself sometime. They are a very nice, and loving couple. I am so grateful that I got to meet these people here on my mission. 

. . .

Updates on Transfers: Sister Smart and I are both staying in Williamsburg. Sister Parry, from the Jamestown ward, is getting transferred to Portsmouth. That was the area that Sister Smart came from. I am devastated to see Sister Parry go, but I know she will do well there. She has a powerful testimony and she is such a great missionary (seriously. She puts so much effort into her lessons and testimony and I don't think I could ever be as great and wonderful as her :p). 

. . .

Anyways, that is all I can write, for now.

-Sister Marshall 

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