Birthday Bash

I’m one month in!! Where has all the time gone!

It’s been a pretty normal week, nothing extremely out of the ordinary has happened although people keep getting sick in my district. Here’s a picture of our district leader in the process of mummification:

On Monday we had the opportunity as a district to clean the Provo temple. It was my first time cleaning the temple and it was really interesting to serve in the temple in this capacity.

On Wednesday it was Sister Kimball’s birthday. We decorated our classroom for her and had a mini party at night in our residence where we all ate snacks and said our favorite thing about Sister Kimball. Hers is the only birthday in our district that is during our time at the MTC but Sister Scott, Elder Freeman, and Elder Sagala all have their birthday on September 10th. It was also my sister Michelle’s birthday on Friday!

For our TRC member lessons on Saturday morning we taught a man who served his mission in HK around 50 years ago and a female student from HK that studies Fine Arts at the U of U. Basically TRC is where volunteers who speak Cantonese come and listen to us give a 20-minute this lesson and to practice our Cantonese with us. This week I really tried to pray for love and to be able to teach on what our TRC volunteers needed to know. Sister Scott and I decided to base our lesson Alma 36:17-21. The scriptures were inspired because we had a really sweet experience with Brother Ngai. We read through the verses with him and immediately after we finished reading out loud he became emotional as he asked us how we had chosen those scriptures for our lesson this week. He didn’t mention the reason why he was emotional after reading but I was reminded from this experience that part of my purpose as a missionary is to invite and help others come unto Christ and to provide ways for them to feel the Spirit. I prayed for love and I was able to grow and to feel love for someone I had never met before. It was a special blessing to Sister Scott and me.

I’ve been studying a lot about the Holy Ghost this week and his role in conversion, my own and that of investigators. I love how the fruits of the Spirit are peace, joy, and love (Galatians 5:22-25). I found the following quote somewhere this week and I felt like I should share it:

“Tell the brethren to be humble and faithful and be sure to keep the spirit of the Lord, that it will lead them aright. Be careful and not turn away the still, small voice; it will teach them what to do and where to go; it will yield the fruits of the kingdom. Tell the brethren to keep their heart open to conviction, so that when the Holy Ghost comes to them their hearts will be ready to receive it. They can tell the Spirit of the Lord from all other spirits – it will whisper peach and joy to their souls; it will take malice, hatred, strife, and all evil from their hearts, and their whole desire will be to do good.” (Quoted in Juvenile Instructor, 19 July 1873, 114)

I know that if you keep your heart open to the spirit of the Lord he will help you come closer to Christ and to the peace that the Atonement brings.

I love you! Carry on!!

Love,

Sister Cook

Pictures