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| The zone with Elder Gifford Nielsen |
This week we had a half mission conference, and Elder Gifford Nielson of the Quorum of the Seventy came and spoke to us. He played football for BYU and was the quarterback for the Houston Oilers back in the day. He talked about SO many good things, but here are a few of the golden nuggets of phrases that I took from my notes.
Repentance is sweet. Magnify your talents. Heavenly Father didn't send you to this Earth to be average. Blessings come from obedience. Celebrate each others differences. It takes sacrifice to truly come to know God and Jesus Christ. Growth can hurt. The more profound the obstacle the greater the miracle. Our time is now!
It was such a blessing to be able to hear from him as well as the Mission President and his wife. Also, fun fact, Sister Hess shared the story of Sister Phillips and I finding Pierre (Gramanuel) in her talk, that made me feel super cool. I felt so blessed to have been able to have experiences that can help other missionaries in the future.
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| An email wouldn't be complete without a picture of the party van |
By far the highlight of the week was Jade. She had some unexpected deaths in her family so it has been a few weeks since we have been able to meet with her, just because she was so busy with everything. However, she said that she has really been missing her "Sisters of Faith" (or so she calls us) so we finally got to meet up with her this week. We started out by asking how her Book of Mormon reading is going, she tells us that she is half way through....half way through the entire book. She then goes on this rant (like, a good kind of a rant) for 45 minutes about how incredible the book is and how it has answered so many of her questions. She THEN tells us that she gave her copy of the book to her friend Magdaline, and told her to read it!! Her friend is even further in the book than Jade was, and she said that the next time she saw Magdaline she couldn't stop talking about how much she loved it and that she couldn't put it down. She even gave Magdaline some of the pamphlets that we used to teach her with!! We were joking that Jade is doing our job for us. It was seriously the coolest thing ever to see the poweful effect that the Book of Mormon can have, and we were so excited that Jade is starting to feel the truth and divinity of the book.
My favorite Jade quote (she always has a lot of great quotes) from the lesson was "If everyone actually read it and understood its message and truly let it sink into their hearts, this book could literally change the world. And if people understood the power and truth of it, its influence would go off like an atom bomb.....except, like, a good kind of atom bomb". She was getting so pumped just talking to us about it!! She admitted that she doesn't fully understand everything yet, and there were some parts that were confusing, but she cannot deny the way she feels while reading it. She said that she knows it is the word of God.
She is currently on date for baptism for the middle of December, we are so excited!! She also told us that she made her friend pinky promise that if she finished reading the book then they would both get baptized together. Such an insane experience!!
GAH it is truly difficult to put into words the pure joy I felt while listening to Jade speak. This book and the truths which are found in it, is something that I've had all my life -- so I think I have often taken it for granted. It was so incredible to hear someone else talk so passionately about how much this book has blessed them and how much it has answered their questions.
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| The Cleggs!! Their kids are the cutest ever. My favorite quote of the night was from her daughter, whispering to us during our lesson. "You guys are going to FREAK OUT when I tell you this, but I don't like boys." Me too, me too. |
All in all, my life is good......REAL good. *Nacho Libre voice*
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| Another picture with Sister Klusey, just because anyone who feeds all the missionaries deserved recognition. She is the BEST!! Plus Giftyqueen helped, and it was Ann-Marie's birthday. So much love. |
But in all seriousness, I am in love with Maplewood and New Jersey and all of the people that I have met here. I can truly say that my life has already been so blessed in the short amount of time that I have been here, and I can't wait to see what is in store. Thank you for your thoughts, prayers, and love. I promise you that I can feel it!
Your Sister of Faith,
Sister Yocum
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| Zone 5! Sister Phillips and I planned P-day today, we had a mini turkey bowl (I caught the ball!!) and played thanksgiving version of signs. It was a blast |
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| Here is Paul! I am sure you all remember him. He is a HOOT and hopefully this picture helps to demonstrate that. |
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