Tuesday, July 5, 2016

AND I'M PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN...

...WHERE AT LEAST I KNOW I'M FREEEE... AND THERE AIN'T NO DOUBT I LOVE THIS LANDDDDDD! GOD BLESS THE USAAAAAA!

Happy 4th of July everyone! I hope you all have an amazing time celebrating with fireworks and hotdogs and hamburgers and SUN! This week has just been a blur (pretty sure I say that every week haha) and super super fast, so I'll try to recount the highlights!

A car selfie for good measure.

This week we had the opportunity to hear from Elder Kearon of the Seventy. It was so great to be able to hear from him again just a few short weeks after we heard from him and Elder Oaks. This conference was so great! We began by hearing from Sister Stevens and she focused on lighting the fire of faith within ourselves. Then we heard from President Stevens and he talked about the power to baptise. Then we heard from Elder Kearon and he talked about... well... practically every aspect of missionary work haha! I think he had a solid three hours of talking to us (with a subway and water break in between, of course). It was just so good. Something that I loved that he focused on was that being happy is a part of our nature. In essence he said "I don't care if you say you're not a morning person, or you're too shy to talk to people. Because we have the gospel of Jesus Christ and a testimony of the Plan of Salvation, happiness is automatically a part of us. So show it!" He challenged us to "attack the day" from the moment we wake up to the moment we lay back down at night. He challenged us to pray more earnestly for the people we are teaching. He challenged us to "become the message." He challenged us to show gratitude for the hardships we face while in the field because that is what will make us grow and learn. He challenged us to overcome the natural man tendency to judge those we see, and to talk to everyone and to invite everyone to learn of the gospel. He said, "We WANT to smell the aroma of cigarette smoke on those who walk into our chapels. We want to see tattoos and piercings. We want to have people of ALL TYPES learning about the gospel message." This is only a fraction of what he went over with us. It was truly an amazing meeting and the spirit was so strong.

Me and Sister Mekonnen!!!!

We also had a ward 4th of July campout with the two wards at a campground this weekend, but of course, since it's light until 10pm, we missed the fireworks and patriotic festivities :(  BUT it was still great to talk with members and so many of them had invited neighbours and friends, so we were able to meet some new great people! On Saturday evening we went with a couple of recent converts to the celebration on base, but once again, because of the light, missed the fireworks, so it was a bit of a letdown, BUT we were still with great people!

A lady just casually walking her pony. It's the norm.

Each week of church I start to love going to two wards more and more. Fast Sunday was especially special because I got to hear two testimony meetings, and the spirit is just always so strong! I love having so much time to feel uplifted by the spirit with so many great people. Bring on 9 hours. Hahaha just kidding, that might be pushing it. Then we had a dinner appointment with a family and we got to have a legit Filipino dessert and it was sooooooo good. The ingredients were: plantains, sweet potatoes, tapioca, coconut gel, coconut sport (whatever the heck that is), ice, ice cream, and then the special Filipino touch: PURPLE YAM straight from the Phillipines. I have no idea what that is, but it's heavenly. So so so good. So good. The closest thing that can give you a small idea of the taste is something called "Ube" ice cream. If you find it, I suggest you try it right now!

Well, I'm sorry I don't have more exciting stuff to speak about, but we are on our way to go hiking (in this flat, flat, FLAT place hahaha) and have a picnic to celebrate FREEDOM. LOVE YA'LL!

Love,
Sister Syddall

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