The Adventures of Sister Pew(ny): Week 41

Hi everyone!

Life just keeps getting better. I'm telling you, I love where I am. It is theeee funnest. So fun. All the fun. I was kinda worried about going to the upstate because in Greenville (which isn't far from where I am) there is a college called Bob Jones which has a very large collection of anti-Mormon material on display and Bob Jones graduates tend to really hate us. But so far everyone I've met is just the sweetest human and I love it here. Also, Sister Graves is the greatest. It was she who said the quote that is today's subject line. It was hilarious. She is just so easy to get along with and we are already the best of friends.

Last Monday we didn't do much but today we may or may not have accidentally ended up in North Carolina...awkward. But it was really fun!!! We went to a little town called Landrum. It reminded me of Cedar City. We found the absolute best antique store ever. It was so awesome.

Tuesday was awesome. We had our first DDM and I got to meet los elderes de espanol, Elders P (district leader sir), H and C. H and C are verdes. They've been out 1.25 transfers. Elder P was in Charleston at the same time as me for awhile. Anyway. It was a really good DDM and Elder P had us all bear testimony of the Book of Mormon. I freaking love that book. It is the best book. Then we went and taught this cute lady named S who was basically like, "well you never know until you try so I guess I'll just have to read the ENTIRE BOOK OF MORMON AND PRAY ABOUT IT" Well, maybe she didn't say those exact words...but almost. Then we met the elders at an old folks home and sang. I had to play the piano. I have been practicing like a madwoman. Children. Practice your piano. YOU NEVER KNOW. That night we went back to see the A family and E was barfing all over everything so we called Brother R who lives down the street and is the father of J our MMA teacher so that he could give them a blessing. Ds medication has been making her crazy lately, so she wanted one too.(Side note, Brother R totally looks like Richard from Tommy Boy.) Also, Brother R's brothers-in-law just happened to be there and that was a miracle. The blessings were both given by Brother R and it was incredible how much peace was in that home after he finished. #miracles.

Wednesday we did service at a soup kitchen. Also, the zone leaders were nice enough to bring me 2 packages! Which was awesome. And also 2 letters! Which was also awesome. And also a phone! Which was awesomest. Also, we got to learn about the temple with the youths.

Thursday we went and did service at a farm with Brother W, Sister R, and Sister R's atheist son D whom we are kind of teaching. Also, I briefly stepped in a small anthill, but I got theeeeeeeeee worst ant bite ever. Seriously it itched for dayyyyys. After service we taught D. We emphasized testifying. That works best, usually.

The next day we met this really cool guy named E who said we could totally come back and teach him. We were trying to find a less active and we knocked on the house it said he lived at and nobody answered. As we were pulling out of the driveway, a car pulled into the driveway. We immediately got out and asked him if he was our MIA less active friend and he was NOT but he was super duper nice. And get this. He saw me and pointed and the first thing that came out of his mouth was, "You look super familiar." And I was literally about to say the exact same thing. He is really cool. We like him. He thought we were Jehovah's Witnesses but was still super awesome and then when he found out we were Mormons instead he was even MORE awesome. Apparently his mother is a convert to the Church in Colombia. After that, Sister Graves and I were both feeling like death. Hers was a stomach thing and mine was a cat thing. So we just went home and weekly planned until 6 pm when Sister R and J needed us to come over and help them decorate for J's wife K's baby shower. K happens to be a Bob Jones graduate. She used to hate us, but not anymore. She still doesn't believe what we believe, but she likes us as people now, which is good. Anyways, we decorated J's gym with ninja decorations for the "baby ninja" that's due in 5 weeks. I was all the time thinking about my SOON TO BE NEPHEW HECK YEAH but it was a good time.

Saturday we went to the baby shower for a lil bit, then studied, then got to watch General Conference. WHICH WAS SO BOSS MIGHT I ADD. For the first session, we and los elderes and the zone leaders went to the church to watch it. I did squeal when the camera pointed directly in my cute daddy's face. Props to him for not forgetting any of the words <3 and also the elders were super impressed. Also, the following account is true and I did not even make it up. Before the broadcast started, the whole district asked to see pictures of Daddy so that they could find him in the crowd, and Sister Graves sees my dad for the first time and this is what she said:

"Your dad kind of looks like Batman."

I am not joking. I am not lying. That is the first thing she said about him. Which was HILARIOUS, and so I died laughing for a good ten minutes while everyone waited patiently for me to recover, and then I had to try and explain the oldest of family jokes to them, and they all thought I was crazy, but I WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO MAKE THEM UNDERSTAND HOW BEAUTIFULLY PERFECT THAT WAS. Okay, that is all. (Note from her mom: Tim has said he was Batman since Taran was 4 so 20 yrs, long story but this might help a little).

And so, we Conference'd. It was cute to watch the lil greenies trying to furiously write down every single word that proceedeth forth out of the mouth of Elder Holland. They were literally scrambling and kept being like, "he's talking too fast! I can't get it all down!" After that, I asked the aforementioned greenies to give me a blessing for my allergies (they have been killer lately). It was Elder H' first or second or something cool like that. Anyway, it was interesting -- he barely talked about allergies at all in the blessing. He mainly talked about how God loves me and is proud of me. Sometimes that's difficult to grasp. But it was sweet that Heavenly Father just wanted to tell me that. I love that guy. After first session Sister Graves and I began fasting for inspiration as to what we could do to be better missionaries and help the members to join with us as full partners in this work. We went to see G again. We were able to testify boldly to him of his divine nature and invite him to come partake of the Spirit again. I know he felt something. He didn't come to Conference like he promised, but we'll see what happens. After that, we went to Bishop's house to watch the second session and priesthood. AND HOLY COW PRIESTHOOD. It was very inspiring for me. Never in my life have I been so grateful for the precious power the priesthood is. I am so grateful for my righteous father, who has always honored his priesthood and served quietly and powerfully. I am also grateful for my righteous, priesthood-bearing brothers, who may tease and occasionally torment but who all have very good, decent hearts, and who are a constant light in my life and in the lives of my mother and sister. I also felt a considerable and exciting paradigm shift come upon me. I felt so strongly of the blessing it is to be a support in the home to a worthy, covenant-keeping priesthood holder. I felt a strong desire to uphold and inspire those priesthood elders I serve with. I felt a call to repentance for not respecting enough their sacred office and the holy work they have been called to. Men are amazing! They have a substantial work to do, and we as their complimentary counterparts are best served by lifting them up, cheering them on, and being kind, gracious, forgiving and patient with them. We have no diminished position before God because of our sacred duty to strengthen the priesthood - it is a divine assignment that I feel anxious to magnify. Think of the good we can all do if we bless and serve each other! Think of the miracles that would occur if every priesthood holder or prospective priesthood holder had someone who believed in, cared about, and prayed for him and his success! I just have lots of feelings about priesthood session, okay? It was an awesome experience for me. #ldsconf

Sunday was no less amazing. We actually had our investigator J come to the morning session. J is Jewish, so the emphasis on the Savior was like, so inspired. It's like God planned it out or something. Afterwards, we broke our fast and had lunch with J and the H family. AND THEN, we went to Bishop's house and Bishop's wife made us dinner. Conference is just so good. Later that day we were able to go and plan at Lake Bowen park and it was beautiful.

I just love the gospel and the Church so much!

To close this here email, I want to tell you a story about my mom.

The giving of scriptures to a newly baptized eight year old is a common practice in the LDS church. My family isn't the only family that does this. However, my experience with the tradition is forever ingrained into my memory. I consider it to be the most important event of my childhood.
My mother is a champion of service and love. She tried relentlessly to impress upon her children the significance of spirituality from their earliest years. We always knew the scriptures were of paramount importance to her; we always read scriptures as a family, and it was not unusual for us to stumble upon her prayerfully studying them herself as we went about our morning routine. So it was with little surprise, but admittedly a bit of excitement, that I found myself in bed, with my mother sitting at my feet, holding a pair of scriptures that said my full name, embossed in gold letters. They were beautiful. I couldn't wait to hold them.
Before handing my scriptures over, though, my mom looked me right in the eyes. She has a way of sticking it to you. She looked me in the eyes, and she said quietly, "Emily, I want you to read these every day." So impressed was I by the Spirit in all of my eight-year-old, newly confirmed glory, that I'm pretty sure I couldn't say a single word. I distinctly remember her opening the Book and pointing to a page. "It doesn't matter how much you read," she said. "You can start with a column a day. But just read them every day. Okay?" I nodded - an anticlimactic reaction to that incredible moment that, unbeknownst to me and my mother, had just marked my course for eternities.
I definitely didn't know how impactful that was at the time. But I did make a decision that day, and that decision was that I was gonna read my scriptures, dangit. I definitely haven't been perfect. I have missed a few scattered days - but those days have been remarkably few over a nearly 12-year period. That habit of scripture study, catalyzed by my mom, has been instrumental in building the framework of my testimony. Think steel beams. The scriptures are what I fall back on, what I turn to in times of trial, and how I receive personal revelation from God. That decision that I made to read my scriptures has affected my past, is affecting my present, and will affect my future and my future family. I am on a mission because I learned from the scriptures how to listen to the Spirit. I have only made it on some hard days because of the little voice that comes into my head (It usually sounds a lot like my mom): "Have you read your scriptures today?" What I am finding in the scriptures, particularly in the Book of Mormon, is the joy of discipleship and the blessings of obedience to God's laws. The most important thing, though, is the knowledge of who I am, and who God is, and how He relates to me and my life. The most important thing is the reality of Christs's Atonement and the knowledge of why He did what He did. That knowledge is changing everything about me.
So if you're a parent thinking nothing you teach your kids will ever sink in, remember my faithful mom. Over time I have come to know that, like the mothers of the stripling warriors, I have been taught by my mother that if I do not doubt, if I hold on, if I keep at it, God will deliver me. And I do not doubt my mother knows it.

I love y'all!

Don't let the muggles get you down!

All my love, Sister Pew