Meeting Linda K. Burton

Hello!!

  The longer I'm out on my mission, the less desire I have for worldly things. The Spirit is the BEST! And the things of heaven and of God are way better than anything the world has to offer. Ok, let's get to the highlight of this week...the Jordan River Temple! So on Friday us Sisters got a preliminary tour of the Jordan River temple in preparation for us to help out with the open house. Wow I love the temple. It was so powerful. And it was just powerful to simply be with many other sister missionaries. So Sister Burton, a general authority for women in the church who has spoken in General Conference (see "Certain Women" and "I was a Stranger") was there directing things and she spoke to us!! I got to say hi to her! Whaat. She's amazing. Her husband was the one who led us through and he stopped us in the sealing room. He said the temple president said the Spirit was strongest in that room. It's true, and I am so grateful for my eternal family!!

 We got some awesome training from the missionary department about how to better interact with people. I've been working on patience and charity lately, and I realized that I've been worrying too much about things I can't control, namely the decisions of other people. Here's something that really helped me from a talk from President Eyring "Walk with Me": "The second lesson is that the Lord’s work is not just to solve problems; it is to build people. So as you walk with Him in [missionary] service, you may find that sometimes what seems like the most efficient solution is not the Lord’s preferred solution because it does not allow people to grow. If you listen, He will teach you His ways. Remember that God’s work and glory is not simply to run an effective organization; it is “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39). This is, after all, why He gives His priesthood authority to flawed mortals like you and me and invites us to participate in His work. Our progress is His work!"

   So true! We had a pretty rough day on Saturday feeling inadequate and getting rejected, but naturally the next day we had miracles finding some amazing investigators! Our investigator [M] referred us to her friend and we went to visit her and began teaching her and her friend. The Spirit was really strong and when we asked them how they could know the Book of Mormon is true, the mother said she felt like it was true! We were like whaat and then we talked about the Spirit and it was awesome and then the friend there said he felt like we were messengers of God. Afterwards Hermana Garbett and I were like we found the elect!! :) Loving those missionary reward moments. I'm glad for all the ways God is willing to refine me and others in my mission.

Also a huge congratulations to my brother Anton and my cousins Sydnee, Megan, and Sam who all got into BYU!! Woo! So happy for you!!

Mucho amor!

Hermana Alley