Sorry no new pictures!

How are you? :) 

Today I was wonderfully blessed to see a prophet of the Lord, Elder Neil A. Anderson. He spoke at a conference with the Brazil Fortaleza mission and Brazil Fortaleza Leste Mission. I was so impressed with them :) They talked about how they were grateful to be here to talk with us, and I was like ?? are you kidding, WE`re the grateful ones for you to be here!! They´re so humble. I felt the spirit´s confirmation that they were servants of the Lord Jesus Christ and through their testimonies saw how their diligent service had prepared and developed them into what they are now. And who they´re yet to become. I see grand examples like them and thing, wow. You were born a normal person and because of your righteous choices and faithfulness to the Lord´s gospel you´ve become wonderful. There is a true transformation that happens with each of us when we experience repentance and feel the effect of the Savior´s atonement in our lives. Elder Anderson asked to take a picture with each mission and complimented each of us with a handshake afterwards :) I shook his hand! :) This last week I have been teaching people we meet about prophets and apostles and telling them that there are men here on the earth with the same authority and power from God that Peter James and John had, and inviting them to find out from Heavenly Father asking Him in Prayer if its true that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was restored. 

I have a testimony that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was restored and these men hold the Priesthood authority of God to lead Christ´s church on the earth. Christ gave us everything He had during his earthly ministry and didn´t leave us empty handed when He ascended back to His Father. I know that the leaders of the church are called of God to guide us and perform the ordinances of salvation like, baptism and temple work so that we can prepare to return to our Heavenly Father.

Elder Massagarde was at the conference and talked to us about eternity for a bit. He used the following example. Time without end, imagine 1000 years.  Imagine if a bird picked a single piece of sand every 1000 years, by the time he had picked every piece of sand from the sahara dessert and all the beaches of the world, eternity would just be getting started. THAT is the time we´re preparing for. That is the time that what we learn here now and do here now, is leading us to. That´s why we have to be obedient to the commandments of God and submit to God´s will for us, so our life can have meaning. We really need to learn the scriptures to get an idea of God´s plan for us. I´m humbled to think of how little I know in the scriptures. Imagine a treasure hunt where you´re given a map and when time runs out the game leader asks why you had so much trouble finding the treasure. n reply, well i didnt know how to find it? umm... we have the map in our hands. its really gonna be a sorry excuse not to find the treasure at the end. I made a goal today to learn the scriptures. It was wonderful seeing Elder Anderson talk with missionaries. He asked questions like, whats a scripture that talks about the atonement, and missionaries would say a reference, and he´d be like, yes! who is the speaker in that chapter? and people knew :) and Elder Anderson knew what the references were saying without opening to it. I think about how much he must have studied the scriptures in his family and personally to have that kind of mastery of the map we´ve been given. I bet a large part of it came from his wife too ;)

His wife shared her story about how much general conferences meant to her, when the prophets and apostles of the church would talk every 6 months and she´d receive the church ensign magazine that had their talks published, it was very special for her. She made copies for each member of the family so they could study a talk each week as a family, and see how they could follow the counsel given in their lives. When the cashier told her how much all her copies had totalled she got that feeling in your stomach when you´re about to spend way too much money you know? and then got the impression, `what is it worth to you and your family to have the words of God´s prophets? 

She testified that through personal experience, being married to an apostle, she has seen how the Lord reveals to his servants the prophets what to say to us. It made me realize that I need to prepare with a humble desire to be an instrument of the spirit when I´m going to give a talk at church or teach so that I can share His words for the people and not mine. Elder Anderson told us to be careful that we don´t baptise too quickly before someone understands and has felt the transformation that happens when we feel the atonement of Jesus Christ in our lives, so that they can be prepared to make sacred covenants with Heavenly Father, or we´ll miss out. 

One sure way that I can tell I learned by the spirit is because I come out of a meeting lifted, wanting to improve. I want to live for my Savior Jesus Christ and work for him. Imagine going to work for Jesus Christ right? But we were actually hired and accepted the salary when we were baptised, (congratulations :) ) I feel like as a missionary im getting training in the field, literally but also long term. Something that he reminded us of is that the problems and hardships are coming. We need them to grow and be happy actually, but to make sure that we´re founding on the foundation of Jesus Christ so that when the hardtimes come, we will be steadfast. Testimonies come in all sizes. I have had a testimony for a really long time, but my testimony now is different than it was at other points in my life. Testimonies really come from obedience. Sometimes I think the word ``obedience`` doesn´t sound all that attractive to be honest, but its the only way we can trust in the Lord is by following him and seeing what happens. 

Its really interesting for me to see how for a lot of situations I passed through in my youth, if I had obeyed my parents and the speed limit, I wouldnt have gotten into trouble or pulled over :p How these things REALLY are in our lives for our own good. I´m grateful that I have the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life, and that you all know about it too :) I love you and hope you have a great week! 

love, Sister Miess