Family!!

            This week has been great! It’s been a roller coaster but when is it not! I guess I will start with the sad news. Esperanza, who I just loved so much, called us last Tuesday and told us that she got a job offer back in Ecuador and that she was leaving:( She left Friday night and we got to say goodbye to her on Wednesday. It was so sad. I cried. It was hard because we became fast friends with her and connected with her so well! But I know she will get baptized in Ecuador and she will be able to receive the blessing she needs at this time.

But since Heavenly Father is so loving and amazing, He blessed us with Jose! We found him knocking doors this week! He said it was such a blessing that we passed by because he said he has seen our church and has always wanted to go! We prayed with him and he loved it and wanted to start learning more. So we set up a return appointment for the next day. We went over the next day with a member who we thought he would connect well with and they became friends right away! He didn't have a whole lot of time so we taught about the Book of Mormon and gave him a copy and committed him to read 3 Nephi 11. The next day we went over and we got to teach him and his wife the restoration. It was really good!! They both really liked it and the Spirit was super strong. We followed up with his reading and he gave us full run through of what he read and what he learned. He loves the book of Mormon and says he can just feel the power it has just by holding it. His wife said that she has started reading the Book of Mormon too. It was an awesome experience to see Jose just light up as he talked about the Book of Mormon. It’s such a testimony builder that the gospel really does change lives! I love watching investigators lives change as they come to know that the gospel is real! :)

Sister Moise's first time at an IHOP

            This week we had a bug going around our district and what do you know, I caught it. Yuck. I was out all Sunday. We went to church but I only got half way through sacrament before I needed to leave. I had a huge headache that was making me dizzy and I ached all over and had a cough and a fever. Being sick didn't help my back at all. It got very inflamed so I was in pain too but I was so spoiled by Sister Moise. She took good care of me and made me soup and everything! She is the best! That night a sister from the Relief Society brought us dinner and her husband and son gave me a blessing. That night my fever broke and yesterday I was able to go out and work. Recovering but I am doing good!! :))

              This week I was reading a talk called “You Were Born to Lead, You Were Born for Glory”. It was a super amazing talk! I loved it! Some parts from the talk that I loved were:

    ".....This is not new news. You have been told countless times that you are a chosen generation reserved for the latter part of the latter days. Just two months ago, in general conference, President Gordon B. Hinckley said once again: “You are the best generation we have ever had” (“An Ensign to the Nations, a Light to the World,” Ensign, November 2003, 84). It’s akin to being chosen to run the last leg of a relay, where the coach always positions his strongest runner.

You were recommended to help run the last leg of the relay that began with Adam and Eve because your premortal spiritual valor indicated you would have the courage and the determination to face the world at its worst, to do combat with the evil one during his heyday, and, in spite of it all, to be fearless in building the kingdom of God.

You simply must understand this, because you were born to lead by virtue of who you are, the covenants you have made, and the fact that you are here now in the 11th hour.

You were born to lead as mothers and fathers, because nowhere is righteous leadership more crucial than in the family. You were born to lead as priesthood and auxiliary leaders; as heads of communities, companies, and even nations. You were born to lead as men and women willing “to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places,” because that’s what a true leader does (Mosiah 18:9; emphasis added).

You were born to lead, and, in the words of Isaiah, you were born for glory (see Isaiah 62:2–3).

Now the glorious but sobering truth is that, in spite of your aeons of premortal preparation, the days ahead will at times “wrench your very heart strings,” as the Prophet Joseph told the Twelve (in John Taylor, JD 24:197). If you’ve hoped to passively, comfortably live out your lives, let me burst that little bubble once and for all. Now, please, do not misunderstand me: This is a magnificent time to live! It is a time, said President Spencer W. Kimball, when our influence “can be tenfold what it might be in more tranquil times” (“Privileges and Responsibilities of Sisters,” Ensign, November 1978, 103). The strongest runner wants to run the last leg of the relay.

But the last days are not for the faint of heart or the spiritually out of shape. There will be days when you feel defeated, exhausted, and plain old beat-up by life’s whiplash. People you love will disappoint you—and you will disappoint them. You’ll probably struggle with some kind of mortal appetite. Some days it will feel as though the veil between heaven and earth is made of reinforced concrete. And you may even face a crisis of faith. In fact, you can count on trials that test your testimony and your faith.

Aren’t you glad I came bearing such optimistic news? Actually, I am nothing if not optimistic about you, for everything about your lives is an indicator of our Father’s remarkable respect for you. He recommended you for now, when the stakes are so high. Now is the day when His kingdom is being established once and for all, never again to be taken from the earth. This is the last leg of the relay. This is when He needs His strongest runners.

The simple fact is that our Father did not recommend Eve or Moses or Nephi or countless other magnificent exemplars for this dispensation—He recommended you and me. Do you think God would have left the last days to chance by sending men and women He couldn’t count on? A common theme of patriarchal blessings given to men and women your age is that you were sent now because our Father’s most trustworthy children would be needed in the final, decisive battle for righteousness. That is who you are, and it is who you have always been." 

I not only love it because it talks about running, but how true it really is. It was a mind blowing experience to realize that Heavenly Father has saved US for these latter days for the last leg of the race. He didn't save Moses or Moroni, although they played a huge part in the church and they were saved to do a special work but as we grow nearer to the end of the battle/ race, Heavenly Father is counting on us. We have such a greater responsibility. We are the anchors and we need to do our part! This talk was very uplifting for me and helped me realize how important i am and how important my part is. I hope it does the same for you!! :) 

            I love you all so much!!! I hope you have a great week!!! Miss you all!!!! :)))

Briaunna