Week 63: The Week I Got to Meet Jeffrey R. Holland an Apostle of the Lord :)

OKAY MY WEEK WAS SO GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So many awesome things happened!!!!!!! 1) We called this lady on the phone Sheila and she was super happy to meet up. We met with her on Tuesday and she said that God has blessed her so much and she just wants to show him her appreciation and she's been looking for a church. GOLDEN INVESTIGATOR!!!!!!!!! 

We invited her to be baptized and she said YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yay!!!! She came to church on Sunday and she just understands everything! it's amazing!! She has such a strong desire to strengthen her relationship with God and she'll do anything for God! Amazing :) 2) Another awesome thing....THE ELECTION IS OVER!!! Being an American In Canada this past week was pretty awful....hahaha 3) We met with another woman Louise and she became a new investigator!!!!!!!!! She works at DQ too so that's where we have our lessons...pretty awesome hahah 4) We had a roadtrip to VANCOUVER on Friday to see Elder Holland!!!!!!! A huge charter bus came and picked up about 40-50 missionaries from the  Okanagan and the North! There were only 5 sisters....we each got to have a whole row to ourselves :) The bus ride was 5 hours! Not too bad!! We were able to catch up on journaling, we watched a church movie, we got to catch up on some sleep :) It was pretty wonderful! We got to work in White Rock for the Night! It was so much fun!! We went to a Pho place and they had baby sharks :) We weren't allowed to take our cameras to the conference with Elder Holland, so I didn't snap any pics!! I got to see the ocean :) Yay! I miss the ocean so much!!! I got to stay with Sister Brimhall and her companion!!!!!! I LOVE SISTER BRIMHALL SO MUCH!!!! She hits her year mark this week!!! CRAZY!!!! 5) Saturday we woke up early and drove to the Richmond chapel and anxiously waited for ELDER JEFFREY R. HOLLAND!!!!!!!!! When he walked in the room.....THE SPIRIT WAS SO STRONG!!!!!!!!!!! IT WAS THE COOLEST EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE!!!! We each got to shake his hand and tell him our name and where we were from. I was tearing up a TON because it was such a special moment to meet an apostle of the Lord!!! He shook our hands talked to us for a second and looked into our eyes (he told us later he was interviewing us haha!) I had been praying to get something in particular out of his visit, but I got so much more. I didn't get that exact thing but I got it through his words. He gave me the tools I needed for the rest of my mission and really for the rest of my life, so that I could obtain that thing myself. It reminds me of the give a man a fish or teach him how to fish....he taught me how to fish. We heard first from President and Sister Burt...LOVE THEM!!! Then from Elder Murray of the Quorum of the Seventy and then Elder Holland spoke to us for 2 hours!!! IT WAS EVERYTHING YOU CAN IMAGINE!!! He testified of Christ's love for us...HE CHASTISED US. FIRE AND BRIMSTONE AT TIMES.

Then he said I can see a few of you are about to pass out, so I'll stop hahhahah It was the most uplifting and spiritual experience I've ever had. I've never been to General Conference, so this was my first time being in the midst of an apostle or general authorities. They truly are called of God. I know it and all doubts have been dispelled. I know that we have prophets and apostles today that lead and guide the church just like in the days of Christ. Christ leads this church and then to help us gain salvation and have happiness in this life. I KNOW IT. I KNOW IT. I KNOW IT.!!!! Some of my favorite quotes from him was: "IF YOU CAN'T DO THIS...YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING!" That was the fire and brimstone part! He was trying to help us see that we need to be more urgent in our work and that we are doing such good work but we're not anxious enough and that we're a smidge too comfortable in our work right now. SO I AM GOING TO WORK SO MUCH MORE HARDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE LORD EXPECTS MORE OF ME AND THIS IS PREPARING ME FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE!! I also liked this quote. "If that's the cup you've been given, you drink it" He was talking about the Savior and how he didn't want to do it. He asked if there was any other way...but there wasn't, so because he was obedient and loved God he did it and finished his earthly mission to be our Savior and Redeemer. It was amazing! I love that saying...I think this world is getting to good at just "getting out of it" we make up excuses, so we don't have to work hard or endure hard things. We are just cheating ourselves of life experience and soon enough all those things are going to come back to teach us a lesson.  In the middle of his talk he said he asked an olympic swimmer one time what makes a champion they said, "Kick when you don't want to kick, and stroke when you don't want to stroke, go clear to the end of the pool." That really stood out to me not because I LOVE SWIMMING, but because that's a life lesson that we all need to learn and me especially. I can't give up halfway through...I can't

shy away from the opportunity to learn and grow...what kind of life is that???? We will never progress....how will we EVER be successful in life...better yet how will we ever return to live with God again??? We won't if we don't do what's required and what God expects of us.  President wrote to us and said "try to imagine Elder Holland at the pulpit, he was so intense, fist pounding, finger shaking, and a voice to shake our souls...as he related this story "come to the edge he said, No, I'll fall. Come to the edge He said No I'll fall. Come to the edge he said, SO I DID, and he pushed me! And I flew!!!" This story showed me how inspired President and Sister Burt are...at our last Zone Conference they talked about this exact thing. They talked about how we all need to have the faith and we need to find our "push" so we can fly! IT WAS SO COOL!!!!!! THEY ARE SO INSPIRED!!! He gave us so much more counsel about how much we are loved and how he could feel how much Heavenly Father was proud of our mission. We got a picture with the whole mission!!!! All 200 missionaries!!! Or as Sister Burt says her 200 stripling warriors!!! hahaha  I am so grateful for this mission. I don't know what I did to get such a great Mission President and Mission Mom but they are amazing and I'm so glad they made this happen for our mission. It has really changed my life. My testimony has grown. I feel so much stronger and dedicated to work so hard for the remainder of my mission and have no regrets. On the bus ride home I was able to record all of this in my journal and re-live it again. As I read my notes I can hear Elder Holland saying it.This was one of the highlights of my mission that I will never forget. Amazing. 6) We got transfer news....the assistants didn't call us till Sunday, so we totally thought we were staying together!!! But NOPE!! I am staying in Kelowna another transfer!!!! My new companion is Sister Gartside from Maryland! Sister Steele Trained her and she's been serving in Richmond ward!!! I'm excited! It's going to be a great transfer!!!

Hope you all have a good week :) 

Love,

Sister Peterson