"Lovest thou me more than these [fish]?"

SO MUCH HAPPENED THIS WEEK.  I'll do my best to make sense, but as you all know, my brain goes faster than my fingers, so bear with me...

Last Monday, we drove to Edmonton for Mission Tour/Conference!!!  It's crazy how different people here in Canada are about driving.  It's a 5 hour drive from Grande Prairie to Edmonton, and it's so common for people to just go down to Edmonton for the day....We're spoiled back in Utah where everything is so close together.  The ride was good, AUTUMN HERE IS ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!  Also, we ate the best donuts I've ever eaten in my life at Crooked Creek, this little gas station on the way to Edmonton.  My life is now complete. 

Mission Conference on Tuesday was INCREDIBLE!  Elder and Sister Martino spoke to us as well as President and Sister Manion.  The Lord is truly hastening His work, it's so exciting to be a part of!  At the beginning, Elder Martino talked about our devotion to the Lord. He referenced John 21, when Christ asked Peter 3 times, "Lovest thou me?"

"Lovest thou me more than these [fish]?" It really got me thinking.  Do I really and truly love the Lord more than these "fishes"?  Do my actions show my love for Jesus Christ?  He then tells Peter for the third time, "Feed my sheep."  If we truly love the Lord, we will feed His sheep, because that is the most important work on the earth.  To spread the Gospel light to those around us.  We don't have to necessarily go out of our way to share the light with others, if you pray for the experiences, God will place them in your path.  All you have to do is act on them when He gives them to you.  I learned so much from Elder Martino, it was SO POWERFUL! 

President Manion also said something super awesome that really struck me.  "See opposition as opportunity."  SO COOL.  I've really been trying to  remember that this week. 

Sister McEwen and I are planning what we are going to call, "Becoming More Christlike By Christmas".  For the 4 weeks leading up to Christmas, we will be having a fireside/activity one night a week and learn about how we can apply certain Christlike attributes from chapter 6 of Preach My Gospel.  The members are going to help us and we're going to invite basically everyone in Grande Prairie to come to this event.  It's going to be strictly focused on Christ and how we can become more like Him.  We're hoping that as nonmembers come, they will be able to realize that Christ really is the center of our religion, in hopes that they will feel the spirit and want to learn more. :) It's going to be amazing! 

Wednesday night, we taught Griffin and Alora.  They're 11 and 9 years old, and their mom is less active.  They haven't been baptized, so we're trying to get them there.  We've been teaching them since I got here and they're finally comfortable with saying prayers in the lessons!  Griffin said in his prayer, "thank you for the missionaries, and please please bless that they will keep visiting us and teaching us." they're so precious!!!  

Thursday was Sister Campbell's birthday, so Sister McEwen, Sister Rush and I got up early to decorate the apartment. :) It was super great!  Then....Sister Campbell got a fun birthday present....Sister Rush comes out of the washroom and says, "umm...the toilet is exploding."  yep.  Toilet water ALL OVER the washroom floor...So we spent our Companion Studies cleaning it up. :)  Sister Campbell decided to use the tiny spots in the middle of the rugs that were dry to hop over to the bathtub and try to plunge the toilet to stop it from overflowing...I could not stop laughing.  And crying.  At the same time.  it was probably the most hilarious thing that's happened thus far in GP. Pretty effective use of our time I would say. ;)  We were laughing so hard...oh my heavens it was ridiculous.  Happy birthday Sister Campbell! :)

Now for the miracle of thew week...

Yesterday after church, ALL of our appointments besides supper fell through...Dahh!  It was such a bummer..so we decided to text a few of our investigators in hopes that maybe one of them would be able to meet.  Shauna texted us back and said she could!  FINALLY WE GOT TO MEET WITH SHAUNA!  We brought Hannah, with us.  She graduated high school last year and is planning on going on a mission, so she's GOLDEN to bring to lessons.  We met at the church and showed Shauna around a bit, but it was already 8:30 so we didn't giver her the full tour.  She brought her friend, Josh, with her, and we taught them lesson one, the Restoration.  I LOVE teaching the restoration so much, mostly because we get to teach the first vision.  I never knew before my mission how powerful the message of the restoration really is.  Reciting the First Vision in Joseph Smith's words brings the spirit like nothing else.  Shauna really wants to change her life around, she said she knows she's doing things that are wrong and she really wants to change, but she doesn't know how.  We committed her to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it, and when she knows it's true to be baptized!  I just lover her so much!  She said she would come to the General Women's broadcast on Saturday and then church on Sunday!  The gospel really is the only thing that brings everlasting light into our lives. 

As we live the principles of the gospel and keep God's commandments, we will have a bigger desire to be better.  The spirit can dwell within us and help our hearts to change.  There is no other way to have lasting joy than to accept Jesus Christ and live by his teachings.  As we act on the faith we do have, he will bless us with more and more faith than we thought we could even have. 

Ether 12:4 <------- SO SOLID

Onward, ever onward.

love
sister jones