February 11, 2013

Happy Valentines Day my LOVELY family!

I hope you all have a great week. :) It sounds like everyone is super busy with life, work, sports, and everything else. I hope you still get some family time. I miss that! Any fun plans for Valentines day? We will be out teaching the gospel. :)

Man, so much good stuff happened this week I can't wait to share it with y'all. The only bummer thing is that I'm getting Sick AGAIN! AGH! I think it's the same thing I had a few weeks ago but it's come back worse, so keep me in your prayers if you will. No worries we'll still be out working and teaching!

So last week we had sister conference on Wednesday. It was soo good! All the sisters in the mission get to have a conference with President and Sister Ashton about 2 times a year, and they always make them really special. This conference was focused on the Atonement of Christ and how it can help us overcome our weaknesses. I feel like the Atonement has taken on completely new meaning for me throughout my mission, but it really became personal last week during the meeting we had. I felt like everything that was talked about was for me. Sister Ashton had us write down what we needed from the Atonement in our lives right now, and I wrote down something I've been trying to get over from the past few months. Literally I felt like my burden had been lifted as we talked throughout the day of the ways the Atonement can heal us. My heart feels different, and I feel a lot better! The Atonement is real, it's not just for sinners but for Saints as well. and the best part of it is that it doesn't only make bad men good, but it makes good men better through the enabling power of the Atonement! I'm so grateful for the Atonement and for the Love that God has for us each individually to know EXACTLY what we need to feel better.

Anyways, so at the end of the conference President and Sister Ashton were talking to us sisters about how we can keep our mission culture good because we are going from 35 sisters in the mission to 70 by June! He is going to have to have almost every sister training, so he had us talk about the things that will keep our mission the way it is, or to even keep improving it with all these new people coming in. It is getting me so excited to see how many areas are going to be opening and see the work expanding!

I got special permission to go back to Maplewood last Saturday to go to Celestines baptism! He is Paula's son who got baptized in December. He is 12 years old and it was so fun to see him be so excited about it. I only got to teach him 2-3 times, but he will be a strong leader one day. :) It was so great to be back in Maplewood again. Noo, Paula, and Daniel were all there and guess what?!?! All three of them went to the Temple on Saturday morning to do baptisms for the dead for their first time!!!!!! I can't tell you how excited I was for them. :) They loved it! It is so much fun to see these people progress in the gospel. I can't wait to come back to Texas for the endowment. :)

I'm jumping ahead of myself a little. So we've been working with a part member family named the Romero's. Sister Romero and her 16 year old daughter are members but her husband isn't a member, but he comes to church pretty often with the family. The missionaries have worked with him several times over the past 17 years, but he has been a hard headed man. Well he got brain cancer a few months ago which he is still struggling with now. We did a lesson with him last Sunday about Faith proceeds miracles and if he has the faith to follow Christ down into the waters of baptism he would be healed. He told us that he would think and pray about it but he wanted to get his results back before he made his decision. We told him to pray about it. So when we went back on Saturday before the baptism in maple wood he said he prayed and the Lord told him, "Why are you hesitating? just do it!" So he knows he needs to be baptized!!!!! We are so excited for him after 17 years of being taught it took him to be humbled by his cancer to finally follow our Saviors example. After the lesson with him, he and his family came with us to the baptism in Maplewood. Please keep Brother Romero in your prayers if you will.

Sister Workinger is doing awesome! She is really helping take on lots of the responsibility and she loves teaching in the lessons so I love it cause lots of my other comps have been quieter, so it's really nice!

Things are going great! I love you all and pray for you!!!!

LOVE YOU!

Sister Avery