November 23, 2015

HAPPY AMERICAN THANKSGIVING!

Yeah, I hope you all have a fabulous Thanksgiving. Eat lots, OK?? Oh man! I don't even know where to start. This last week was awesome!!! On Sunday we'll find out about transfers... I think Sister Arnold and I will both be staying!! And I really hope that's the case. She's awesome and I'm loving this area! I think I might die in Brantford. Mission terms... sorry. I think Brantford might be my last area!! And I'm OK with that! I love it a lot. 

ELDER PERKINS: The main highlight of the week was our mission tour with Elder Anthony D. Perkins! He's amazing!! The way he reads and interprets scripture is so great! I learned so much from him and left the meetings just feeling so spiritually overwhelmed! It was the best. I could spend like hours writing down the things I learned from him and things I leaned from the spirit in the meeting but I'll just share a couple of thoughts.
-He talked about coming prepared to meetings or "revelatory experiences." We are able to get a lot more out of them when we come with questions. So many revelations in the scriptures came to prophets in response to questions that they had. Then he talked about how our prayers can be more powerful and effective when we make it to me more of a conversation. Prayers really are two way communication. We ask questions and we allow time to receive answers. My prayers have been so much better since I've done that! YAY! 

-He also talked about how when we don't open our mouths as missionaries we are putting out trust in our fears, rather than putting our trust in Christ. And we're also talking away their agency. Because we aren't allowing them to chose to accept our message! I really like talking to people but it has made me aware of literally talking to everyone in my path! I love it! 

-Elder Perkins talked a lot about the spirit and how crucial it is to plan, find, and teach by the spirit. He said, "you can baptize without the spirit but you can't convert without the spirit." And we aren't wanting baptisms. We are wanting people who are converted to Christ! 

ROOKIE MISTAKE: I was so excited to play the piano at the meeting!! I practiced all the songs during a dinner hour and felt prepared! So I was at the front playing and there was a whiteboard that was blocking my view of the conductor and well everyone... So I'm playing and we get like half way through the first verse and people start singing slower and quieter... I'm confused but I keep playing. Then there is like one person singing so I stop and the one of the assistants gets up and moves the white board. I guess President Clayton stood up and told everyone to stop so we could sing with more "gusto" and I just kept on going! BAHAHAHA 

ROLE PLAY: We got a text a week before the mission tour meeting that told us that every companionship needed to prepare to role play the Restoration in 10 mins and prepare a 3 min talk on our purpose as a missionary. Well during lunch Sister Arnold was like, "Sister, I think we are going to be picked for the role play." And I was like, "no way! We are participating way too much." I love to comment in meetings! :) But sure enough Elder Perkins looked through all of our pictures and called, "Sister Arnold and Sister Dayton, we would love to have you demonstrate a 10 min role play of the Restoration." Wow - my heart totally started pounding! HA. Just being it was in front of like 100 missionaries, and President and Sister Clayton, AND ELDER PERKINS. No pressure right. Oh and we totally didn't practice because we were on exchanges the two days before we had this meeting... Anyways, I prayed really hard inside and it ended up going really well!! We taught the whole lesson super simply, invited them to read, pray, and be baptzied! And finished in 9:48. PHEW!! It was a cool experience because Sister Arnold and I both felt the spirit was strong when we were teaching and we were super unified! After the role play everyone commented on the role play. People made way nice comments. President Clayton said it was awesome because we were sincere. He felt the spirit and saw the love we had for the Gospel and said that's what made it powerful. It was a cool experience for us! 

MLC: We were lucky enough to have Elder Perkins attend our MLC! We started the meeting talking about the Christmas initiative this year, "A Savior is Born." The video is being released this weekend but because Elder Perkins has crazy connections he emailed the people in charge and asked if we could have a special viewing of it. A couple mins later he got an email with the video attached!! We were the first group out of Salt Lake to see this video!!! Isn't that amazing. And yes, the video is amazing!!! It's a lot different than the "He is the Gift" but it's so sweet!! I'm so excited this Christmas!! This time of year is so perfect for missionary work because people are way more open to learn about the Gospel and hear a message about Jesus Christ! Elder Perkins talked about how people notice that around the Christmas season there is something special in the air but they don't know what that is. We're here to tell them there is a special spirit because we're celebrating Christ's birth! The season brings out Christ-like attributes in people. Like service! People are more aware of others and their needs this time of year! It's awesome. The whole meeting was awesome! 

TEMPLE DEDICATION: The Montreal Temple dedication was beautiful! A couple of the talks were in French so we listened to a translator but the Spirit was so strong! 3 of our recent converts were able to attend and they absolutely loved it! I love the temples so much and I can't wait to come home and go to all of the temples in Utah! YAHOO! 

SHOUT OUT: To the Daytons!!! I can't wait to meet Divia!!! She looks perfect! 

There were so many other things that happened but I am running out of time. I'll send some pictures! 

Sister Clayton and all the sisters in the London and Kitchener zones! We get to go on exchanges with all of them!!! Aren't they all so cute!