Week #12

Guess who finally ate balut?! This girl! It wasn't that bad the second time. It's really all just a mental thing. So most of the time I bring my journal with me so I can remember what happened during the week and I can share my experiences! Unfortunately I forgot my journal today. So we'll see what I can remember about the week as most of the time it's a blur. My mission really has flown by so far! Crazy.

This week was awesome! The best thing about it was Skyping my family on Christmas (of course). I miss them lots, but I have to admit I don't miss the cold weather. Christmas was very interesting. We spent the morning trying to find an internet cafe that was actually open so we could Skype our families. It's so weird to spend Christmas without the snow. It still feels like August to me and I'll probably think it's August for the rest of my mission.

Christmas night, our district had a potluck. The elders aren't too bad at cooking! Not great, but not bad. I'm actually really grateful for all they do for Sister Ganzagan and I. I love my district and I'm going to miss Elder Young and Elder Robles who are being transferred this week!

This week marks the halfway mark of my training! We had our interviews with President Reeder and I think it's safe to say I have the best mission president and mission mom ever. President and Sister Reeder are so hospitable and they have helped me feel so welcome here! 

Our district and the ward also pulled together a church tour/open house on Saturday. The members are so awesome and I have loved getting to know them. We wouldn't have been able to put it together without their help. It wasn't as successful as Elder Nebeker would have liked (because he did one in his last area), but I think it was successful considering church was full yesterday with people who came on Saturday! And not to mention, Rose and Jessica are becoming more excited about their baptism in January and they've enjoyed coming to church.

One thing that's been on my mind this week is temples. I've had some very special personal revelation given to me and I wrote that in my journal, but I'll share some of the other thoughts I've had. I love how Heavenly Father teaches me! This week Sister Ganzagan and I taught a lesson on celestial marriage at the beginning of the week, and even though that's a long way off for me, it got me thinking a lot about temples. If there's one things I really miss, it's going to the temple! As the week continued, we had a combined lesson yesterday at church about family history and I obtained a copy of the General Conference talks from the October 2012 session. That's the same conference they changed the mission age and probably one of my favorite conferences. There's a talk by Elder Scott D Whiting titled "Temple Standard." I'll put the link on here. He talks about how the Lord requires the very best for His temples. In an excerpt from the talk, Elder Whiting says, "As we moved through the temple, I watched and listened to Elder Walker and his associates as they inspected the work and conversed with the general contractor. On occasion I observed one man running his hand along the walls as we moved from room to room. A few times after doing this, he would rub his fingers together and then approach the general contractor and say, “I feel grit on this wall. Grit is not temple standard. You will need to re-sand and buff this wall.” The contractor dutifully took notes of each observation." He continues to tell his journey of how he came to understand that we build the temples with the finest things we have because it is the House of the Lord! As I was pondering that, I thought about how important it is that we give our very best to Heavenly Father in all that we do. We have such great potential to become like Him. I'm trying to figure out how to put all of my thoughts into this email. It all makes sense inside my head but I'm not completely sure how to explain it. Just go read the talk! I was just reminded that we really do need to give the best we have to the Lord. I'm so grateful that there is such great carefulness in building the temples of God and that because we have temples, I can be with my family forever. I can find peace there that can't be found anywhere else. It's such a blessing that Heavenly Father has giving us a place to go where we can be completely free from the world and become closer to Him. Here's the link, now go read!http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/temple-standard?lang=eng

I love all of you so much and I hope that you have enjoyed this holiday season! Just want to wish everyone a Happy New Year.

Love,
Sister Stettler