Don't Take Lightly the Feeling You Get of Love for the Prophet of God

Didn't you all just LOVE General Conference! Oh My Gosh, AMAZING! I wish I could just send you all the spiritual enlightening I received from conference via email, but I can't, so I'm going to just send you a whole bunch of notes I took that I loved. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

This week we had Zone Training and my companion Sister Bench and I taught about making commitments in Preach My Gospel Chapter 11. It was super fun and we had a lot of fun planning it. We gave our mini-missionary the assignment to bear her testimony and it was just awesome. I love zone training now. 

I got to eat more ice cream this week. That's always a plus. So, on tough days when no one is letting us in, Sister Bench and I get ice cream and pray lots... so we had extra ice cream this week. There was some discouragement, but those days are to be expected and they always pass :) There was a hurricane on the east coast and where I am in West Virginia, we got lots and lots of rain. We hadn't seen the sun in a whole week. Today we see the sun and both Sister Bench and I just started singing "There in Sunshine in my Soul Today" as loud as we could! I like sun. It makes me happy. And my feet aren't as wet or cold when it's sunshiny. 

So, a member told me this joke and I have to share it with you... "How do you leave a blonde in suspense?".... I'll tell you the answer next week ;)

Who knows what the Saltine Cracker Challenge is? It’s where you try to eat 6 saltine crackers (and swallow them) in under a minute. Go ahead and try it. I know it sounds easy, but it sent our mini missionary, Sister Cline, running to the bathroom at Chick-fil-a... I won't go into details haha. It's a blast and we got one of our investigators to do it. Haha, he thought it would be easy, too. Boy was he wrong. Oh, the adventures of a mission. 

So, our investigator is praying about baptism! We had a sweet lesson with her about the Plan of Salvation and she's seriously considering baptism! We have another lesson with her this week and I'm so excited to see if she got her answer as she watched General Conference! 

Speaking of General Conference, this year was the first year I physically wrote down the questions that I had and I received an answer to EVERY SINGLE QUESTION (There were a lot...) within the four sessions of conference. Most of them were even answered within the first session! It's crazy how inspired these prophets are. They truly are speaking the words of God and our Heavenly Father knows and loves each and every one of us. He knows what we need and He provides us with ways to receive answers to our questions and comfort for our doubts. Isn't our Heavenly Father the best!? I think so! So, I'm going to try to type up some of my written notes from conference, but I'm not going to separate them by speaker, only by day, because I have little time. Sorry if it gets confusing; I'm just SO EXCITED to share all that I learned! 

GENERAL WOMEN'S SESSION:

"We have come to this Earth to help build His kingdom and prepare the world for His second coming."

"One of the sweetest messages the Spirit will relay is how the Lord feels about you." "Because you are His child, you not only need Him, but He needs you."

"We cannot play with Satan's fiery darts and not get burned."

The internet cannot promise eternal blessings.

No matter what we have done, He has promised that He would atone. And that was that.

Let me ask you this: How much are you willing to give and suffer to live with our loving Heavenly Father again? I don't know about you, but I'd do anything.

"We are the cause for which Jesus Christ suffered, even bled from every pore."

"Thank you for the sunsets and the stars" (I just loved that because I love the stars and the sunsets ;) ) 

Oh, and did anyone else notice the vendetta Elder Utchdorf has against cats? I sure did... 

"God didn't design us to be sad, He created us to have joy."

God will wipe away all the tears from your eyes.

NOW is part of eternity. Happiness will come in the eternities (remember how NOW is part of that?). Forever is composed of "nows." Faith gave me the hope I needed to live joyfully now.

Everything in this Gospel leads to love and that is what makes us happy.

SATURDAY SESSIONS:

"When we chase after shadows, we are pursuing something with little substance." The Gospel of Jesus Christ is SIMPLE.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to improve, but, remember, our weaknesses allow us to be humble.

"Exaltation is our goal. Discipleship is our journey."

"It will all work out."

In order to have a healed and grateful heart, we must first have had it broken.

We don't just try and try on our own. If we work with God, He'll take us as we are and make us into someone greater than we can ever imagine.

Ask yourself, "What lack I yet?" and Heavenly Father will help you know. The Spirit can also show us our strengths. Our direction is more important that our speed. We will not reach perfection before the grave, but it is our duty to work hard every day to improve. 

The challenges and temptations in this life WILL come, but if we are prepared we will have no need to fear.

"Fly right in the gathering storms of the last days."

"Seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel."

No love like the Savior's comes close to the love of a mother for her child. Maternal love HAS to be divine. 

"You are doing better than you think you are."

"No matter how intense the darkness of doubt, we choose its influence on us."

"Doubt not the Lord nor His goodness for we have proved Him in days that are past." (Yes, I know that's a Hymn and I love it!)

NEVER forget when God has been by your side. NEVER forget the miracles and love you see and feel from God. Never Give Up! 

"Mortal life is not easy for any of us."

If trials seem more than you can bear, "Turn to Him."

God is mindful of every people, no matter what land they reside in. One can feel Christ's love “even in prison's walls”.

SUNDAY SESSIONS:

We stand out! We are different and that's OKAY because we are following the Savior. Stand up and Stand out. Be an example of the believers. 

"Our fear will be replaced by the courage in our convictions." 

As we follow the Savior, ours will be the opportunity to shine our light to others.

"Focus not on what I can't do, but rather on what I CAN do."

The fullness of the Gospel will be proclaimed by the weak and simple (Thank goodness because if it wasn't, I definitely wouldn't be able to be out here on my mission haha.)

"To effectively serve others, we must see them through a parent's eyes, through Heavenly Father's eyes." 

Basically, WOMEN RULE! That exclamation comes from my mouth and the mouth of Elder Russell M. Nelson. A prophet said it, so it has to be true (even though those weren't his exact words). The Kingdom of God could not be built without women.

"If you quit now, others will need to painfully learn what you already know."

Speak UP and Speak OUT.

"We need women who have a bedrock understanding of Christ and will teach children how to be sin-resistant."

Step forward. Take your place. Rise to your full stature to fulfill your purpose of your creation.

One man or woman can make a difference; when we have the courage to stand up, something changes within us.

"True disciples represent the Lord when it may not be convenient to do it."

Okay, that's enough for now. If you made it this far, I commend you. I have so much more to say, but I'm out of time. I want you all to know that I love you. God loves you. He's just waiting to answer all your prayers, but He won't just answer curiosity. Remember that. He always answers. I'll try to add more notes next week from Sunday's afternoon session. I myself have decided to take on the 20 year challenge of "ponderizing" the scriptures and the first scripture I chose this week is Moroni 7:45. Go look it up :) Remember to smile and I hope you all have a great week! Email me your favorite parts about conference!
P.S. apparently I haven't been getting some emails. They've been getting lost in cyberspace. If I haven't responded to any of your emails, or very few of them, let me know (or my mom know because most of the time I get her emails), and we can try to fix it. Love you! Oh, and sorry I don't have pictures this week! I'll try to take some for next week :)

Love, 

Sister Humphrey