April 28, 2014

Dear Family,

I cannot believe I forgot to say Happy Anniversary to Mom and Dad! In my defense, I knew it was going to be your anniversary, but when I sit down at the computer to sometimes I forget everything I am going to say! So anyways, Happy Anniversary! I love you so much! It sounds like you had a fun Spring break.

I have also had a great week. It wasn't what we were expecting, but we were blessed in many ways by Heavenly Father. That's what He likes to do-surprises us with what we weren't expecting! For example, we had more set appointments this week than we have ever had so far, and then almost all of them cancelled. So we had to have a bit more faith in order to find people to teach, and we did talk to lots of awesome people! And now hopefully we will be able to teach them this upcoming week. Yesterday, our mission held our first ever mission devotional. We had a missionary choir, which I sang in, and a testimonies from recent converts to the church, and some awesome videos from mormonchannel.org mixed in. It was a wonderful program about the Restoration of the gospel and how we can each receive answers from Heavenly Father through prayer. It was amazing to hear their testimonies of how the power of the priesthood has been restored. One man talked about how an academic understanding of religion is important, but knowing truth through how we feel is more important. Another man (who was just baptized into my ward by the elders!) talked about the role and mission of the Holy Ghost, and read Moroni 10:3-5, "...And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things." At his baptism he bore a beautiful testimony on faith. He is an awesome individual. Another lady, who is just a hoot, talked about how the power of the priesthood blessed her leaders to be inspired with the perfect things to say for her, including the prophet during General Conference. Because of the power of the priesthood, baptism can cleanse us of our sins, and we can receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. And another woman talked about her conversion story. She belonged to another faith. She had a daughter that struggled with drugs. The daughter went missing one day. While this mother was out looking for her daughter, the missionaries showed up on her doorstep and talked to her son. They ended up praying with him and asking that his sister would be found. Not longer than an hour later, his sister was found. The missionaries went back and taught them about the restored gospel. This woman bore her testimony of how, after being a member fro 4 months, she know that this is God's church, and that the priesthood, or God's power, has been restored to the earth. Once again, it was an awesome program!

We got to help our friend this week, Sister Hughes, organize her apartment. They just moved in a few months ago. Sister Hughes is one of the coolest people ever. She graduated from BYU, and is trying to join the Navy. We've been teaching her husband, Chad, some of the lessons. He's not a member. Sister Hughes is seriously so awesome. She has so much love and so much faith. She knows God hears her and will answer her prayers. You can just feel that she is close with God. I am so grateful to know her.

I have really loved being in anew area. It's nice to have a fresh start. And it's a neat experience to have to adjust to the way missionary work needs to be done in a certain area. Most of Auburn is completely different from Maple Valley, but I love both places! One thing that is the same between areas is that we must always be seeking to do Heavenly Father's will. The Holy Ghost will always tell us what we need to do if we will listen. Something I feel that I need to work on is to slow down and take the time to listen. So often, I want to go out and just get stuff done! It's hard for me to take the time to sit still and listen. I've been that way all my life-I just want to be busy doing lots of good things. But if we will take the time to go to the Lord and ask Him with sincerity of heart, He will tell us of the best things that we can be doing. He will lead us to people we need to meet, or to the job we have been seeking, or to the answer we need to find. He will lead us if we listen. It has been great working with Sister Evans-Bottoms. She has great strengths. She's been through a lot in her life. It's been a great learning experience working with someone who has already been trained and has a way of doing things. We are loving being in this area together. Oh, and I got to see Sister Kirschner and Sister Margaritis at the choir! I love those girls! Sister Kirschner and I had a great time talking about all the people in Maple Valley. Oh, and Riley and Devaughn, those little boys I taught there, are getting baptized on Saturday! So I will get to go see them. It will be great.

I love you all lots. You are in my prayers. Have a wonderful week! The greatest thing you can do to make it a wonderful week is to live the gospel! "But learn that he who doeth the works of ^arighteousness shall receive his^breward, even ^cpeace in this world, and ^deternal life in the world to come." D&C 59:23.

Love,

Sister Mecate