Group Email October 28, 2013 "Unless you want to be teaching marsupials in Madagascar you had better get over there!"

This week was a good week, but again, nothing interesting happened. We visited some less-actives and got in contact with them. We have been having a hard time getting in contact with a couple of our investigators, and we have been working really hard on finding new investigators and coming up with ideas and receiving revelation on how to find new investigators more efficiently in this area. We have gotten some ideas, but we are still working on it. Sister Stepp and I were driving to try and visit a less-active lady and passed a neighborhood that we hadn't seen before. So we have gone tracting there a couple of times now. We really like it. It has a different Spirit about it that we feel really good about. We haven't found a new investigator there yet, but I have no doubt that we will find multiple people who are prepared and ready to receive the gospel, there. 

We had zone conference this week and it was really great, as always. We talked about our mission standards and how to find more new investigators. For some reason I can't think of anything specific from zone conference right now, and I forgot my study journal at the apartment. So I would love to tell you some cool stuff that was said, but I can't remember anything. Oh well.

For zone conference we each were supposed to prepare a short talk on developing one of the Christlike Attributes found in Preach My Gospel. I chose knowledge, but after zone conference I continued thinking about it and I was thinking about how I could develop more charity and love for God's children. I decided that one way I could do that was by trying to better understand the divine nature that each of us had and the potential that we all have as children of God. So I studied a lot about the pre-earth life and life after we die. I read a talk by President Uchtdorf that I believe he gave at the Young Women's General Broadcast this year. The talk is called "Your Wonderful Journey Home". I highly recommend reading it for everyone -- male and female, young and older. It is such a great talk. There are a few things I really like about it. 

1. At the beginning he shares a story about when he was 11 his family was living in East Germany and his father was under suspicion as a political dissenter so they had to flee to West Germany and him and his mom climbed over a mountain and into another country. He literally pulled a "Sound of Music". How cool!

2. He depicts what it might have been like when we were living in the pre-earth life with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ before we came down to this earth. They way he describes it is amazing. It makes it really easy to imagine yourself there. (I kept picturing the movie "Saturday's Warrior" while I was reading this talk, and it was so hard to get out of my head. And whenever I think of that movie I think of when they two missionaries are coming down to earth and the lady says "Unless you want to be teaching marsupials in madagascar you had better get over there!" So that line ran through my head a lot this week. It was pretty terrible :) ).

3. My favorite part of the talk is when he talks about how every single person on this earth was valiant in the premortal life. We each made the difficult and best decision to come down to follow Jesus Christ and come down to this earth and live by faith. Each of us, at one point, had a desire to live with God again and to follow Christ. Sometimes we forget that while we are here on this earth. We need to help those people who have forgotten. Help them feel their Father's love for them. 

I know that each one of us did live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ before we came to live on this earth. No wonder Heavenly Father knows each one of us so well and better then we know ourselves. He walked and talked with us and we each had a relationship with Him. Every. single. person. was brave and valiant in the premortal life. As we remember this, we can each have more confidence in ourselves and our divine nature and individual worth, and better see others as Heavenly Father sees them and see how much potential they have inside of them. 

I know without a doubt that we are each a son or daughter of God. He loves us more than we can comprehend. He knows us and He can and wants to help and bless us. Pray to Him every single day. I'm sure He loves it. My dad emailed me this week and said that Elder Russell M. Nelson was at their stake conference this weekend, and he said that our morning and nightly prayers are like saying good morning and good night to Heavenly Father. We love hearing those words from our family and loved ones. How much more does Heavenly Father love hearing from us every morning and night. God is our Father in Heaven. He knows how much potential we all have to become like Him. We need to remember how much potential is in us, more often.When we do that, we have  stronger desire to follow Christ more fully and truly be one of His disciples.

I hope you all have a great week. I love all of you!

Love,

Sister Sylvester