Carly Helton (Sister Helton): Missions aren't supposed to be this fun! 10-16-14

This week! Ah! This week has been so good. Lots of learning happening. This week just had a lot of ups and downs, I guess is the best way to put it.

Sister Isaksen and I were talking and she said something that I love so much:

Ether 12:27 (obviously, you all know this one) but it says if men come unto Christ, he will show unto them their weakness that they may become strong.

(And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them. Ether 12;27)

I had heard this verse, too, a million times but we were talking about it more and thinking about how it says "if men come unto me."
Sometimes I think to myself, I was a way better person before I came on my mission because I didn't know all the areas I needed to improve on and it would have been so much better to be blissfully ignorant of my inadequacies!
Not really, but I just love how Sister Isaksen said this. She said, "as we come unto Christ and really try to live our lives in a way He would be proud of, He will make it very clear to us the areas we need to improve upon in our lives."
If we come unto Him, He will show us what we need to work on. It's only if we are striving to draw closer to Him that we will receive that blessing and that humbling knowledge as to how we need to change our lives and our actions.
So, even though we struggle, it's God's way of showing us that we are coming closer to Him and becoming better, even if we don't always feel like it. Just a cool little personal epiphany.

Anyways, this week we have had so many amazing things happen!
I met this guy named David last Wednesday and he has the coolest story ever. I'll just try to tell it briefly.
David is a French chef, he's cooked all over the world. He is superrrr intelligent, too. A year ago he was living somewhere (I don't remember) and he had just decided that he didn't want to be a Jehovah's Witness anymore. He had been a member for 12 years and given conferences all around the U.S. for them and said he studied their religion in-depth and talked himself out of it.
So he's praying to find a new church and watching TV and a commercial from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints comes on and gives the number you can call (mormon.org) for a free Book of Mormon.
Answer to his prayers? He thought "yes," so he called, talked to a sister here on Temple Square, she sent him a Book Of Mormon, it came, and he read. He liked it. But he didn't think anything more about it and a few months later moved to Arizona - Gilbert/Mesa area and was cooking at a restaurant there. One of the chefs he worked with was Mormon and invited him to the Easter pageant they have at the Temple.
He went and started to become really interested in learning more. Thennn a few weeks ago, he decided he wants to move to Salt Lake City to be immersed in Mormon culture (even though there's really not as many Mormons here as you would think) to see if this religion is really what he wants in his life.
A week ago Monday he lands in SLC, gets on a bus, comes to Temple Square is thinking in his head, "OK now what?" All of a sudden his phone rings and he looks down, sees it's a 877 number and ignores it. The number calls back right away and he said he noticed it was 877-801 (801 is the area code here) so he answers it and it's Sister Isekia, the sister he talked to 1 YEAR AGO on the phone.
She asks him if he ever got the Book of Mormon she sent him!!
He says "uh yes, I'm actually in Salt Lake right now on Temple Square" (he had no idea this is where she was) and of course she was like "I'M SERVING ON TEMPLE SQUARE!!" So she runs out and they meet and she's been teaching him everyday and he tells us about the miracles God gives him everyday and he is seriously amazing.
Talk about following the spirit and your heart! Such an incredible example to each one of us. He's getting baptized in November. I haven't talked to him since Tuesday but it's just so cool. I love being able to see/experience miracles. God really does give them to us every day if we'll just look for them.

So... I shook David Archuleta's hand AND made eye contact!! He came and sang/did a Q&A fireside for us on Sunday night. I love serving on Temple Square. Mom, he sang "Glorious" and yes, it was glorious!!! He such a humble person it was really cool to hear him talk about his mission and how it truly changed him.