Week 34

March 31, 2009
Well another week has come and gone. I am thrilled that it is general conference weekend. I can't believe it has already been 6 months. The time truly flies! That is why it is so important to enjoy the time that we have been given. We miss out on life if we don't take time to be grateful for all that we have been given. This week has been a busy one. We had another lesson with Alyse. She is a great girl! We helped her friend move in on Tuesday night and then taught her a lesson Friday afternoon. We taught her the plan of salvation. She was full of questions and was so excited to learn more. She asked us what she needs to be doing to be a part of the church. We told her that we will ask her to do some things when we teach her and that if she does them she is doing what she needs. We told her that her testimony is already growing because she has a desire to learn and is doing the things that we ask. I love that she is so prepared and ready to learn. It is such a blessing to teach someone that is truly interested and wants to learn. You don't find that everyday. We taught Cesar english lessons. It is so fun to listen to them speak english. I am sure they enjoy listening to my "gringa" spanish. I truly know how they feel. Cesar asked Sister Hart why she wasn't talking and she told him it was the same reason he wasn't speaking to her in english. It was pretty funny. He is making great progress. He is very different than he was when he left. He came to church Sunday with Osvaldo. It was great to see him there. It was a wonderful Sunday! I just loved every minute of it. In our meetings with the priesthood President Marcum was there with us. He talked about the ships that we have been commanded to build. There are four, 1. friendSHIP, 2. fellowSHIP, 3. temple worSHIP and 4. discipleSHIP. I really liked his insight. These are the different levels of ships that we need to build in the church and as we do we not only prepare ourselves but those around us will follow. He talked about how the less active members will be our biggest help. We never know what their story is and it is not our place to judge whether or not they will accept our visits. Most of the time people are just to scared but we may be just the visit they need. After he left we gave our report and interestingly enought our last 2 referrals came from less actives. Melissa and Alyse both have inactive boyfriends who introduced them to the church and the missionaries. We never know what kind of influence we can have on people. A member of our ward bore his testimony on Sunday. It was beautiful. He has been inactive for 13 years and started coming back a couple of months ago. It was so great to see the light in his eyes. We had a lot of less actives at church. It was a miraculous Sunday. We went to primary again. I love being in primary and hearing their testimonies. It is blessing to be able to play the piano. We had great lessons Sunday evening with some members. Our Stake President is working on comprising a list for the missionaries in every ward. This list will be families who will let the missionaries come and teach their families at a moments notice if all of our appointments fall through. He wants us to be teaching as much as we can and so he is providing a way for us to be productive in the late hours of the day by teaching members of the ward. I think it is brilliant! Sister Hart and I have set a goal to leave a thought with every person we visit. It is going to be a great thing. We have done pretty well before but there is always something to improve. I pray that we will all have an uplifting experience with conference this weekend. We are so blessed to have a prophet who leads and guides us. I know that as we prayerfully and spiritually prepare for this conference we will receive answers to the questions we have. It is a blessing to have someone lead us by the hand back to our loving Heavenly Father. I love you all and appreciate all of your love, support and prayers. It is a great strength to me. Love Sister Mickelsen