#Blessed

Our view from the Joseph Smith Memorial Building this morning.

I just wanted to share a sweet act of kindness that Uncle Craig did for the whole mission. We had a missionary leadership council today and we usually hold this meeting in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building where we have tables, a projector, and microphones all set up. Since today was a holiday, everyone is off work so normally there wouldn't have been anyone to arrange this meeting for us. However, Uncle Craig take cares of a lot of the techy stuff so he heard about this and knew that I would be there, so he took half of his day off to come and set up and later take everything down. Ahh. He is the best. I was so grateful for his sacrifice!

Happy New Year! What a wonderful year of growth and experience it's been. I will forever remember 2016 as the year I was a full-time missionary and in the Lord's service.

This morning we had a mission leadership meeting.This meeting consists of the leaders of the mission accounting for goals set for the previous month, what they achieved, and setting new goals for the coming month. We listened to trainings on Christ-like leadership, companionship unity, how to extend direct invitations, how to better manage the online areabook app, and how to set inspired goals. I love this meeting because it is all about accounting for our goals and then setting new ones to improve. President Thomas S. Monson said, “When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported, the rate of improvement accelerates.”

 

We have been able to see a lot of success in the mission and a lot of it has to do with being accountable in all things. It's how we are able to constantly change for the better and not be stagnant. 

We have come to a close of the Christmas season. It is an even faster pace than what we're normally used to due to the visitor's centers being opened until 10pm rather than 9pm. The sisters have all worked really hard to teach of our unique message and to find prepared souls. Sister Eging and I had an incredible experience a couple days ago. We were walking across the square, headed back to the mission office, but we were stopped by a man who said he was with his cousin who wasn't a member of the church. His cousin, who I will call Mike, said that he was visiting from out of town, and that he had such a strong feeling that he came to Utah to find out something. He already started learning about the church before we met him and he felt that it was true. We taught him the Restoration and asked to touch to help him keep on learning. We had our first lesson over the phone yesterday. We set a specific time to call and he said that he was waiting for it. We invited him to say a prayer over the phone and he felt the Spirit strongly, and we did too. We also invited him to start meeting with the missionaries in his area and pray specifically for a day to be baptized. We were so grateful that we were able to meet him and be the ones to help him progress towards this important step in his life. He is an example of how the Lord prepares his children.

We found out more about Anna and she has been meeting with the missionaries for the past few months. She called into mormon.org wanting a Book of Mormon. We sent missionaries to her and ever since then she's been progressing. She is in her teens and a big influence has been her LDS friends in bringing her into the church. She is planning for baptism January 21st! Yay!

Sister Eging has been sick these past couple of days and there is rarely any time to rest--though Sister Risenmay and I teamed up on her yesterday to at least take a nap. She is coming down to the last week and a half of her mission and she is giving everything she has. It's such an example for me to see that even when she's tired and not feeling her best, she still gives what she can to this work. 

I know this is the Lord's true Church. He stands at the head. I'm so grateful for the "perfect brightness of hope" that the gospel brings. We have reason to rejoice and shout glad tidings every second of everyday. Challenges come as it is an essential part of God's plan. I am learning to be grateful for them. :)

Have a Happy New Year and God bless as you strive to achieve your worthy goals to be better!

xoxox,

Sister Butler