Hey Hayley!
I think you get the family email this week. :) So... guess who came to speak to us last Tuesday..... ELDER HOLLAND! He's such a powerful speaker! And his talk had a HUGE impact on me. The first thing he talked about when he came was how his Mission meant EVERYTHING to him. He got a little emotional talking about all of the many wonderful blessings it had brought him in his life. He said that it has been the cause of every good thing that has happened in his life since that point. WOW! Then he talked to us a lot about how Preach My Gospel is designed to help us become converted to the gospel first so that we can teach others. Then he got REALLY fired up. He told us that we better not ever ever ever leave the church after our missions. We owe it to ourselves, we owe it to him, we owe it to our investigators and we owe it to God to personally work our hardest every day of our lives and stay faithful to the covenants we have made. (None of this is organized... so I hope you can all get the spirit of everything he said and the impact it had on me) He then told us that we need to be a little persistent!! He said that we can't give up on people when they turn us down! He then said that Sister Holland's Avon lady is more persistent than most missionaries and she's selling makeup. He told us the three areas that most missionaries don't do so well in: Studying well (especially companionship study), Planning or preparing well, and teaching for commitment. He taught us a bit about those as well. He talked a lot about being the missionary that the investigators deserve. He said that the people out there deserve the hardest working and the most diligent and the most spiritual missionaries in the world. Then he talked to us (and this is the BEST part!) about the bible. He talked to us about after Christ died and the Apostles don't really know what to do. (This is in the end of John) They ask Peter, the new President of the church, What to do and he said, I'm going fishing. After 3 years of spending every minute with the Savior... and then all of a sudden it's over and the Lord is gone and he really has no idea what to do... he goes back to stinky old fish. Then after a night of no success, they see a person on the shore. The person tells them to cast their nets on the other side and they pull in sooo many fish that their boat almost sinks. Then wonderful, sweet, impulsive Peter (after John realizes and says that it's Christ) jumps into the lake and swims to the master. Then at this point the Savior kindly and wonderfully makes them breakfast after a hard night. And then asks Peter, do you love me more than these fish and that boat and those nets? And Peter says OF COURSE! Then Christ tells him to feed his sheep. Christ asks him again, do you love me more than all of this? And Peter once again emphatically says, yes Lord... you know I love thee. And Christ tells him to feed his lambs. And then Christ asks him a third time. (At this point Elder Holland said, now... at this time Peter was a bit sensitive about the number 3) and tells him again (and Elder Holland yelled this part) Then feed my Sheep! And then Elder Holland said, "When I asked you to serve me it was FOREVER! You need to be in this until the end, not just until I leave." Then he got emotional and said that it is NEVER EVER EVER over for him. We can never go back. We are called for eternity. It can never be over for us.
At this point I was sobbing. I was filled with an overwhelming love for my Savior and all that he's done for me. I'm even crying now. I LOVE my Savior more than anything. I pictured myself in Peter's shoes and the Lord asking me, Lovest thou me more than these? I can honestly say that I would emphatically answer, YES! Of course I love you! More than anything else and I will leave behind everything for you! And I was just SO FULL of the love of my Savior to the point where I felt like I, Lauren Jones, did not exist. I knew in that instant that all of my talents and all of the things that make me who I am have only been given me to make me a better window to the Love of my Savior. Every person NEEDS to feel this way about their Lord and Redeemer. And I am going to be the one to tell them. I only want to be a window. I want to work so hard and develop every Christlike Attribute so that every person I encounter can know and feel how much the Lord loves them and wants them to be fully and completely happy. How could I EVERY go back to stinky fish after having been so filled and blessed by the Lord? I WILL NEVER go back! I, like Elder Holland, am in this forever and ever. I can't go back to fishing.
Ok... I could go on forever. Buuut... there are other things to say!
Poncho is getting baptized!!! We have been teaching our teachers and each companionship is on a different playing field and working on different things with each one and this Friday Hermana Daniels and I had the chance to teach Poncho! Well... we talked to him about the Word of Wisdom and he expressed his desire to come closer to God and do what is right and I jumped right in and said that in order to come closer to God and truly feel his love is through baptism. And we explained it and talked about it a little. And he expressed apprehension and said that he doesn't even know all the commandments and we said, well, we'll teach you those and we'll get it done in 3 weeks. And we committed him to be baptized in 3 weeks! And he said yes! And I'm so so so excited! I know that he's my teacher and that he's not really getting baptized... but to know that I can have the spirit testify so strongly to a person that after only a few meetings they have that desire to make that covenant with their Father in Heaven... I just feel so happy! I feel like even though I'm not a great teacher and I have flaws and whatever... the Lord is making up for them! He knows what will touch the heart of every person and if I follow those promptings... people will find happiness and joy! I'm so excited that "Poncho" is getting baptized!
Hmmm... what else. The food here at the MTC is killing me! My poor little body can't take anymore processed food! Haha. But I love it at the same time. I have a week a 6 days left here! I'm freaking out a little! I don't know how to be a real missionary yet! But... my goals are coming along well. In the past week I've read over 200 pages in El Libro de Mormon and I'm able to think in Spanish a little!
Ok... I'm out of time. I love you all and I want you all to answer the question: "Lovest thou me more than these?" and really decide if you love the Savior more than anything in the world. Leave your fish behind and serve him!!
Love you!
Hermana Lauren Jones
