October 5, 2015

Wow - I have so many things that I want to write about. It was such an eventful week. I'll try to get it all in!!

EXCHANGES WITH SISTER DROGE: So I love Sister Droge A LOT. We actually came out together but I didn't know her in the MTC because she is from Germany and was in an international district. But she's amazing. She was baptized 3 years ago and her testimony is powerful. She lived in Idaho for a year and when she left Germany her grandma said, "Don't become a mormon while you're there." Well she did and now she's on a mission. Her family isn't happy about it but they sometimes write her. She's such a strong missionary and an amazing example to me and everyone around. I loved my exchange with her! 

CONNECTIONS: While I was in Hamilton with Sister Droge we were visiting with a member and randomly the mom asked, "Are you related to a Perry Dayton?" I freaked out. I told her he was my double cousin and how my family was super close to his! Perry totally served in that ward and this family LOVED HIM! I thought it was amazing that Sister Potters still remembered him. Obviously he was a bomb missionary! Super glad we share the same last name and she asked! Go Dayton family!!

MATTHEWS PRAYER: We invited our investigator to watch General Conference and he seemed a little hesitant about it. I asked if he would pray about it - ask God if it's something you should watch. Well, he said the closing prayer and asked if he should watch it then he paused and received an answer!!! 

MLC: This was my first time at this meeting and I was a little intimidated at first! But it was amazing! Anytime President and Sister Clayton instruct us it's amazing! There were so many things that I learned and took notes on but I'll share just a couple of them. So we were talking about the letter of the law vs. the spirit of the law. I've always been kind of confused about where you draw the line and President Clayton made it pretty clear. "The letter of the law is the the Lord wants and expects us to do. The spirit of the law is being led by the spirit to modify for specific and unexpected situations." Cool, right. Later on we were talking about what we can do as leaders to help other missionaries with the areas they are struggling with. He said, "Help the missionaries see how their strengths can help the areas they're struggling with." When we are on exchanges we are lift and motivate them to be better. But I love that we do that by telling them what they're doing well, rather than just focusing on everything they aren't doing well. OH something else I liked... We were talking about the difference between sacrifice and consecration. "Sacrifice - What do I want to GIVE UP to build up the kingdom of God. Consecration: What can I GIVE to build up the Kingdom of God." Man, I loved that! It doesn't really matter what I gave up to come on a mission... It's more about what I give while I'm out.   

SO SWEET: We were teaching an investigator and randomly he stopped and said, "Sister Dayton I can see the light of Christ in you." Isn't that so nice? I'm grateful that the Gospel makes us shine! 

ASHLEY: She was baptized right before I came into the area. She's awesome. She said that the other night she got so into her reading in the Book of Mormon. She read over 20 chapters and loved it! She said it was the first time that she's been trapped in it. She's doing so awesome. Such a strong recent convert. She comes to church every week and we're going to the temple with her November 7th to do baptisms for her family! Yay! 

DANTE THE CRAZY MAN: Well at first he wasn't crazy. We met him when we were on our way to an appointment as he was holding up a "Jesus Lives" sign on the streets. We talked to him for a while and he sounded so promising. He was so curious about the Book of Mormon and committed to read the intro that night! We invited him to come to conference and he said he would totally come. But that night something happened. I'm thinking he ran into some anti stuff online but he started to text us some weird stuff. I'll type us some highlights... "Do not be deceived by false prophecy. The enemy created these prophets to distract you from the truth. The sooner you realize that you are being deceived the sooner you will be a walking power in the body of Christ. I hope the Holy Spirit will deliver you from these false prophets." I was so sad when we read these texts. Poor guy is so confused! But when people talk negatively about our prophet and other church leaders it makes me realize how strong my testimony is of them! They are truly called by God. Each time I watch General Conference I gain a strong testimony of that. 

STILL SPACEY: You guys there were two things that happened this week that were bad. The first one was during a lesson. We were at the library and it was raining outside. We were teaching the Restoration and I accidentally started starring out the window. Like, the rain was coming down SUPER HARD. Well the next thing I remember was the silence. I guess it was my turn to speak. So I said something about the last point we made and asked if he would be willing to read a box. Then Sister Vance was like, "uh... we just read that box." AHHHH I felt so bad! I thought I was getting good at not spacing out in lessons but then that happened. I apologized like 2 times to our investigator who just laughed and like 5 times to Sister Vance who was so sweet about it. But man, it was bad. The other bad thing is SKETCHY. So Mom - don't read this! HA. One morning we were getting ready to leave and we couldn't find the keys anywhere. Guess where they were.... IN THE DOOR. Like... the whole night. I'm thinking that God protected us! I've been extra cautious of where the keys are when we go to bed. Anyways, I learned from both of these situations and will strive to not make the same mistake. Life is all about progression, right? 

GENERAL CONFERENCE: I LOVED IT ALL SO MUCH. Seriously we are so lucky to receive instruction from these amazing leaders! I think the main topic that stood out to me was the Holy Ghost. Well that's probably what stood out to me because it's what I was needing to hear. I loved Elder Lawrence's talk about how the Holy Ghost gives customized council and works with us at our own speed! And I loved President Eryings talk about increasing our desire to live more worthy of the spirit. And when we receive a prompting we need to act on it so we can receive more impressions of what God would have us do. I loved the story he shared about his dad being led by the spirit to find the church. I need to be better at recognizing and following promptings from the Holy Ghost. Oh - he also said something about how only through the Holy Ghost are we able to see people as God see's them. That's so important, especially as a missionary, so I need to get on that! ALSO - it was so cool to hear Brother Durrant!!! In high school I was really good friends with his son Ryan, and we would all hang out at his house. I remember talking to Brother Durrant one time and just thinking how awesome he was. So when he got up to speak I couldn't stop smiling! And I loved his talk! I am totally going to ponderize a scripture each week! Such a good idea! 

THE AMAZING CLAYTONS: On Sunday morning they called us, which freaked us out a little, but they just wanted to make sure our ward was broadcasting General Conference. When we said yes they asked if they could join us and stay for the baptism. "Nah. We're good." PSYCH. We said yes and were so excited about it. So Sister Vance and I got to sit by and watch the Sunday morning session with President and Sister Clayton. I felt so special. So during President Nelsons talk I totally lost it. The picture and the sweet words about Aunt Barbara killed me. Sister Clayton was so sweet and hurried and got a tissue out of her bag then she rubbed my back and smiled at me. President Clayton just nodded and smiled at me. AH - I feel so much love from them. I'm so blessed to be in this mission. 

JORDAN'S BAPTISM: YES! It happened and it was so happy! Everything was so smooth. It started on time. Lots of members were there to support. The talks were short and powerful. President and Sister Clayton testified. We sang. Jordan was baptized by a recent convert. The water was warm. Jordan bore his testimony. There was SO much food for everyone! It really was a perfect service. My favorite part was Jordan's testimony. He talked about how privileged he felt that he finally knows and is about to belong to the true church of Christ. He said he's going to work hard on earth so he can live in the Celestial Kingdom! He was so nervous about his testimony so he wrote it out but when he got up he didn't even look at his notebook once. And he got emotional. It was so sweet! Yay. He's awesome! 

It was an amazing week! And I'm excited for the coming week! Crazy that it's week 5 in this transfer!!! Time is going by fast!

K I love you all SO MUCH!! 

Sister Dayton 

MLC with Sister Arnold and Sister Droge! We call came out together! 

 super stoked for the baptism - just filling up the font! 

Mike Slade (far left) is the recent convert who baptized Jordan!  

 we made these for all of our sisters with a quote about our theme! The lid had a pic of sister missionaries. it was kind of cute!