General Conference Rocks!

MY FAMILYYY <3

   Oh my mother of pearl can we just discuss how AMAZING General Conference was for two seconds?? WOW. Wow, wow, wow, oh my gosh, wow. Why can’t General Conference be EVERY DAY OF MY LIFE?! Elder Uchtdorf wrote his relief society broadcast talk for me. Seriously. He did.

 
   "...For some of us, obedience to God's commandments doesn't always feel very joyful...we grit our teeth and force ourselves to comply so that we can move on to more desirable activities....we might find ourselves asking: Do we really need to obey ALL of God's commandments? My response to this is simple: I think God knows something we don’t. Our Father in Heaven is an eternal being whose experience, wisdom and intelligence are indefinitely greater than ours." And then he went on to say "When we treat building up God's kingdom like something to check off a to-do list, we miss the heart of growth that comes from discipleship. Walking the path of discipleship doesn’t need to be a bitter experience. It's not a burden that weighs us down. It lifts our spirits, lightens our hearts...it gives us divine power and lasting joy."

     Heavenly Father has made it perfectly clear that THIS is where He wants me, this is where He NEEDS me, but gritting my teeth and forcing myself to comply has basically summed up these past four weeks. Why? Because I've been treating serving a mission like something to check off a to-do list so I can come home and move onto "more desirable activities". No wonder it's been somewhat of a bitter experience thus far! No wonder it's been weighing me down! Being set apart to build up God's kingdom is such a privilege! I should be grateful for this wonderful opportunity! I know that as I move "serving a mission" from my "to-do list" to my "count your many blessings" list, my spirit will be lifted. My heart will be lightened. I'll be given divine power and lasting joy. I'll return home in 17 months and say "Yup. God knew something I didn't."

     NEXT UP: BEST STORY EVER. Oh my gosh I get giddy just THINKING about it. We do this thing in the MTC called TRC. We go and teach someone a 15-20 minute lesson about whatever the junk we want (it's basically like home/ visiting teaching). ANYWAY. Our lesson was with this super sweet lady from Germany (she moved to the states when she was 20 or something) and we were talking about prophets/ apostles and asking her all these questions and at one point, she turned to me and said "I have a question for YOU...where did you learn to speak such good German?" IM NOT EVEN KIDDING THAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED. A GERMAN COMPLIMENTED MY GERMAN LIKE OH MY GOSH WHAT I MUST BE DREAMING EXCPET I WASNT. IT WAS REAL LIFE. WOW. I was on cloud nine for the rest of the day. Cloud ten, actually. Maybe even cloud eleven. I don’t know. It was wonderful.

     It was really great to talk to her, though. She gave us the low down on all things German. She said Punctuality is a HUGE deal over there, respect is an even bigger deal and, contrary to popular belief, people are very kind and friendly. So after that, we were talking to our teacher about Germany and how they perceive Americans and he said "They think Americans are...all a bunch of Sister Terrys." To which i responded "WHAT THE JUNK IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!" and he said "IT WAS COMPLIMENT! They think all Americans are super happy-go-lucky bubbly people who just smile and laugh and love life all the time." Ummm what? I cry like, every day here. Whatever. I'll take it. Rock on. 

   Progressing investigator update: JOSEF FINALLY AGREED TO A BAPTISIMAL DATE. AHHHHHHHHH YAYYYYYYYY!!!! We're still workin' on Ted...he'll come around soon enough. We're teaching him tonight, actually....WISH US LOTS OF SPIRITUAL LUCK.

   Anyway, I gotta go live my life now.
   Love ya’ll.
   See ya in 17 (yup! Today is my 1 month mark! HURRAH!)
   Love, Sister Terry

PS: If you haven't watched the songs from priesthood session....DO IT NOW. The missionary medley, in particular. There's someone from my zone in pretty much every shot. GERMANY REPRESENT!

PPS: I FORGOT TO RANT ABOUT MY LOVE FOR ELDER BENDAR'S TALK. Basically, I WANT THE WHOLE WORLD TO READ IT RIGHT NOW. The MTC was a madhouse after that one. Elder Bednar is a rockstar. The end.