My testimony of apostles and Conference is this week! 9-29-2015

So much has happened this week! 

Last P-day we had a little district activity and brought food to this big game room. We played ping pong and pool. Our district is sooo close, I'm so sad to not be with them next transfer. 

Last days with my comp Sister Revoredo

  BUT, I have a new companion!! Her name is Sister Linares and she's from Mexico. I'll send a pic next week! She's one transfer ahead of me and I can't wait to be with her! 

  I feel like Sister Revoredo and I are literally sisters, so it'll be weird not to be with her anymore, but I know that everything happens for a reason. 

On Wednesday, we got to go through the new, remodeled Church History Museum!! It officially opens tomorrow. If any of you are in SLC for conference or will be coming to Salt Lake City any time soon, you HAVE to go to the church history museum. It is incredible. 

  Everything is super high tech and there's this presentation they have all about Joseph Smith's first vision. You go into this room and sit on these logs and then everything around you gets dark and then there's a screen that goes all the way around the room (like surrounding you) and you feel like you are in the sacred grove. 

  There's so much art work on the 3rd floor and everything is original. It's paintings of the Savior and stories in the Bible depicted in ways I had never seen before. Everyone has to go!! It's going to change hearts. 

  It also answers a lot of questions people have about how the Book of Mormon was translated, polygamy and lots of other rumors that get spread about the church. I hope people will go to the Church History Museum first and then make their way over to Temple Square because it will spark so many questions and give a much greater perspective of the history of the church.

Sunday was our day of miracles! Everyday we write down our focus for the day, our goal and a miracle that we want to happen. 

  On Sunday, we texted one of our investigators who we hadn't talked to in a while and it turns out that the local missionaries set her on date to be baptized in 2 weeks!! She invited us to go because she lives about an hour away from Temple Square, so hopefully we will get to go. 

  Anyways, our miracle for Sunday was to find 2 new investigators. We took a scheduled Temple Square tour and it was these 2 guys around our age. They had so many questions but by the end of the tour, one of the guys asked if he could meet the local missionaries where he lived! His friend wasn't as interested so we gave the guy who wanted to meet with missionaries a referral card to fill out. 

  On the card you write down your name, address, phone number, email and then underneath there's an option that says, "Refer a friend." The guy referred his friend who was in the tour with us who didn't want to give us his number. hahaha. It was hilarious. We assured the friend that we wouldn't bother him or be calling him, but it made our day. 

Something that was so special to be a part of was Elder Richard G. Scott's funeral service. I was outbound for the other two apostles' funerals and so I had no idea what to expect. 

   I don't know why but the past couple times I have heard the apostles speak, I just start have this overwhelming feeling of God's love. 

   I've been thinking a lot lately about why I was called to Temple Square and why I've been so blessed to have so many incredible, life-changing experiences this past year. 

   I am beyond grateful to be a missionary. It's just changed everything in my life. It's changed who I want to become and my understanding of the gospel. It has changed my understanding of Christ's grace, His mercy, and God's love. It has changed my understanding of the temple and the reason we make covenants with Him, and the restoration of His church, and priesthood authority, and the beauty and simplicity of the plan of salvation, and ugh, the list goes on and on. Being a missionary is the greatest gift God has ever given me. 

I found a scripture that I just love! It's 3 Nephi 9:13-14:

 "Will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you? Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me."

 This is how Christ feels about each of us. All of us are continually striving to become reconverted to Christ. I just love the visual that these verses give of Christ's hands stretched out. He knows perfectly how to heal us. He can fill every hole, every gap, every weakness, every imperfection. I am so grateful for His infinite atonement and His invitation to change daily. I'm grateful that through His atonement He helps me be better and strengthens me to never give up on myself. 

Love you so much!

Sister Helton 

P.S. Watch every session of conference you can this weekend. You won't regret it.

What a great district!

Christ is on our side & singing in the Tabernacle 9-22-2015

Hi!

Sometimes I feel like when I sit down at the computer my mind just draws a complete blank and I can't remember anything from the week - but I do remember what happened yesterday! 

 So, we were having TC Pump-up which is where you call all your former investigators and see if they want to be taught again. During the middle of this, we got a text "999 3 Italians." We called and said that we could take it and it was a miracle tour. 

 The people were from Perugia which is exactly where Sister Revoredo is from and they are literally the only Italians we've met from there! 

 I love Italians. They have such great questions are just always really into the tour. So we went to the Assembly Hall and then took them to the Tabernacle. The two ladies told us that they have sung in their church choir for 15 years. 

 I was like, "You should sing right now in the Tabernacle!" They were a little hesitant but after the acoustic demonstration they said they wanted to. So we took them up on the platform right next to the organ (it's actually against mission rules to take guests up that far for liability reasons) but they just kind of went and I didn't have the heart to tell them to come down. 

 But it was totally meant to be because as they sung in Italian, they both just started crying. After they were finished they told us they had never felt anything like that. Even in their churches that they sing in. It was amazing. We were able to testify that that is the Spirit of God and that they can feel this exact same way at home in Italy and there are missionaries there who can share even more about Christ and the love He has for each of them. 

 This week has been the week of Italian miracles, seriously. We found a new investigator who is an exchange student from Italy so she speaks English and Italian which was a bonus for me!

We had a training from the missionary department this week as well. They are incredible. I am so grateful that they come and speak to us! They really helped our mission understand how to more fully help people receive eternal life. 

Something they really focused on was helping members do missionary work. I think, sometimes, we see member missionary work as inviting our friends to meet with local missionaries. But it's so not that. 

 They talked about how asking members for referrals is not the way to help members do missionary work because when they give you their friend's name, they are no longer really a part of the conversion process for their friend. The reason we invite members to do missionary work is because it strengthens the members' faith and helps them become more fully converted. 

 What they had us do was a role play. I just was my normal self, Carly, and my companion was a Temple Square missionary. They had me think of someone who I wanted to share the gospel with (in my actual life) and then my companion, had to help me come up with a way to do so. During the role play, my companion just asked me, "Who do you want to share the gospel with?" I told her and then she said, "What is the next step for this person?" I told her and then she said, "What can you do to help them come a little closer to Christ?"

 It just blew my mind because it was a really simple act that I came up with, but I just thought this whole process was genius because we're helping members come up with their own invitations on how to do missionary work and help their friends! Sometimes, I think as missionaries, we think we need to fix everyone's problems and have all the answers, but members know their friends the best and they know how to help them the best. 

So, my invitation this week is to think about someone you want to share the gospel with and talk to your husband or whoever about it. Try to figure out what you could do to help them feel their Savior's love and come one step closer to Christ even if it's just a simple phone call from you telling them you love them.

I just want to share a scripture that I read in my studies that I've never noticed before. It's Jacob 3:1. It says, 

"Look unto God with firmness in mind, and pray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will console you in your afflictions, and he will plead your cause."

 He will plead your cause. That's my favorite part. Christ is on our side and He is there to help us become who we want to be. I love Him. I'm grateful to be a missionary. I love how personal the scriptures are. Jacob uses the word "you." This scripture is a promise to every single one of us. 

Love you so much!

Sister Helton

Doterra gifts came in the mail! 

This is Christ's living church 9-15-15

Hi!

This week Doterra had a convention in Salt Lake and so the Square smelled like lavender allllll week. Not that I can complain, they have me sold on the product. When I get home, I will definitely be investing in these oils sent from heaven. These ladies told us they'd send us a starter kit!!! Hopefully they follow through....anyways, we met some of the sweetest people on the Square. 

  What they do is actually really similar to missionary work and so we were able to relate with a lot of the ladies. All of them have stories about why they use the oils. Mainly, it's because of health. They said that the essential oils make them feel better and they want other people who are going through physical or mental pain, to be free from that. It was a perfect way to bridge to Jesus Christ and how through him, we can have peace that not only lasts for this time, but for all eternity (it's even better than the oils. haha). 

  The reason I'm telling you about Doterra is because we had Doterra miracles! We met this lady who was from the East coast and she had a friend in her oil group who's a member. Her friend asked if we would take them through God's Plan (the 12-minute movie we show all about eternal families and the temple) and so we did. 

 At the end of the movie we talked about God's love and about the authority to bind on earth and to bind in heaven has been restored. The lady who wasn't a member all of a sudden was like, "Can I keep in touch with you girls? Like, do you have Facebook or a cell phone or email or anything?" I think my mouth literally dropped and both Sister Revoredo and I were like,"yes of course! We do all our teaching over the phone anyways!" It was a huge miracle because we hadn't been able to get a member present all week and so we got our member present lesson and found a new investigator. 

Another huge highlight this week was Russell M. Nelson came and spoke to our mission on Friday morning. No one had any idea he would come and we just got a text during companionship study that everyone needed to be on Temple Square in 20 minutes and to leave any assignment we had. He shook everyone's hand and spoke to us for about an hour and a half. 

I walked away knowing with my whole heart that there is a living prophet on the earth and living apostles whom Christ directs. This is Christ's living church. I've never felt the spirit in the way I did that morning. It was like pure amazement and I just felt the love of God more than I ever have. I've had a testimony of course that there are 12 modern apostles and a prophet on the earth, but this just solidified everything. It was incredible. 

Another cool little miracle was Simone. About 3 weeks ago Sister Revoredo and I were talking to these RMs who served in Italy and we asked them if they had anyone in Italy that we could teach. 

One of the guys said he did and he told us a little bit about Simone. He had a baptismal date and wants to be baptized but his parents won't allow him to be baptized until he's 18. Sister Revoredo and I were like, "Well, we can't teach him if his parents aren't OK with it!" But we called Simone anyways just to examine the situation and see if we could help in any way.  So, we were only able to talk to him once and then he hadn't answered the phone since. Welll, 2 days ago Sister Revoredo took an Italian chat from mormon.org and it was a man named Tom. 

 As she kept talking to him, he told us his real name was SIMONE!!! The same one we had spoken with 3 weeks earlier and hadn't heard from since. So we were able to talk to him and figure more about his situation and it turns out his parents are fine with him meeting with missionaries, they just don't want him to be baptized yet. It was just so meant to be and now we're in contact with him after these weeks of not knowing how to help him. 

The flowers are beautiful here

One last little thing, yesterday in personal study I was thinking about the temple. I was having this little internal conversation with myself because I realized that I don't explain the temple well enough. 

 We always tell people how the pioneers sacrificed everything to come here and to build a temple but I don't think I help people understand how important the temple really is.   Obviously, we don't explain what happens in the temple in detail because it's so sacred, but I was just trying to figure out how I can better explain how important and special it is.

  After personal study I told my companion my struggle and she was like, "Sister Helton, what does the temple mean to you?" Then I almost started crying and I told her and she was like, "Share that with people." 

 So, I want to invite all of you to just think about what the temple means to you and write it down. Sometimes it's really nice to just think about the why of things. 

Love you all! Hope you have the best week. 

Sister Helton

I obey, I obey, I obey, then I understand 9-8-15

Seriously, the weeks just keep going faster and faster. I just love being companions with Sister Revoredo. We get to talk to Spanish people so much and it just takes me back to those precious 6 weeks I had in San Diego. 

 Anyways, we found a new Spanish investigator! His name is Tulio. He came onto chat and then we ended up calling him and our conversion was literally 40 minutes long. He said he's never felt like he's received answers to prayers or that God is there. 

 Through talking with him, I really came to understand the importance of asking inspired questions. It has never, ever been one of my strong areas but I've really been focusing a lot on how to ask inspired questions. My companion is amazing at it. 

 I was reading in PMG about it and I think in order to ask questions that really provoke thought, we have to be listening. Listening to understand what the person is saying and not just listening with the intent to respond to their question. 

 It really hit me that I don't have to ask these incredible, soul searching questions every time, but as I just take a little breath and listen, the Spirit can let me know what's in this person's heart and what they need from the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

This week I have really come to love the Beehive House. 

 Last night, Sister Revoredo and I decided to do some exploring and we went up to the third floor of the house where we don't give tours. It was like 8pm so it was so dark and old but it was just so cool to think about all the history that is in that little home. 

 We have had so many miracles there as well. Last night, we took 3 people from India on a tour and they were Hindus. We had such a great conversation about the promise in the Book of Mormon that if you read and ask God, you can know for yourself that's is true. 

 The Book of Mormon is amazing, especially for those who don't have a belief in Christ. I love in the last paragraph of the introduction how it says that those who come to know this book is true, will also come to know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. It's so powerful because there is no other book in the world that has a promise like that. If you read, you WILL know one way or another. It's so black and white. 

 Anyways, the miracle was that 2 of them left us their number and address and want to meet with missionaries. 

 I just know that this work is not mine. 

 Sister Revoredo and I try not to say the same thing over and over in our tours, but we share the same message everyday and because of the Spirit, hearts really are touched.

 I have so much to work on as a missionary, but what I know is that Spirit is the true teacher. Nothing that I say changes people's hearts, the Spirit of God does. That's why it's so important to keep the Spirit with you all the time. 

 As a companionship, we have been working on being more exactly obedient. I was looking through all my old planners from previous transfers and one of the quotes I had written was by Marjorie Hinckley. It said, 

 "I obey, I obey, I obey, then I understand." 

 As we obey our Father in Heaven and the commandments he's given us, our hearts change and we come to see the benefit of living the Gospel - It makes you happier. 

I love being a missionary. I love hard moments. Sister Revoredo and I were talking about struggles that you have a missionary. 

 She said, "I'm grateful for the moments when I don't feel the Spirit because I'm able to understand when he's close to me and the moments when I need to change myself." 

 I'm grateful that there is opposites and that there is opposition in all things. 

 I'm so grateful for the opportunity to grow and change everyday.

 I'm grateful that everyday I can try harder to become more like my Savior and I'm so grateful for the second and third and fourth and a million chances He gives each one of us to change. 

Hope you have the best week!

Love,

Sister Helton

Our purpose in life... 9-1-2015

Hi!

 

This week has been CRAZY. Seriously. Like a literal roller coaster. Last Tuesday for pday, Sister Revoredo, Wentzel, Makovei, Chazen, Jarvi and I all went to the Great Salt Lake at sunset and it was sooo gorgeous. That's where the pics I sent you are from. :) 

It smelled really bad and there was tons of dead birds in the sand, but the pictures turned out really good! 

Then, on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday Sister Revoredo and I went on exchanges. It was so amazing to get to learn from each sister and I just have to tell you a few of the miracles we had! 

On Thursday, I went with Sister Wentzel and we were supposed to be on the Square at 5pm but a lesson in the teaching center went a little late and so we walked out of the TC around 5:20pm.

 We realized that we didn't make a plan for where we were going to walk on Temple Square and so I just asked Sister Wentzel where she wanted to go. She was like, "Mmm, I feel like downstairs." That was exactly what I was thinking and so we went down to the Scriptures and Revelation exhibit and started talking to this elderly couple. We asked if we could explain the exhibit (the restoration) to them and they said sure! 

 So we started teaching and when we finished, the man was like, "I actually have read the Book of Mormon. I also helped build one of your chapels and I've always wanted to attend an LDS service." 

 Thennn, he started talking about how he and his wife were searching for a new church and we ended up inviting them both to be baptized and they said yes and agreed to meet with local missionaries! 

 At the end of our conversation the couple just said that they knew we were meant to meet each other and that they just felt renewed after walking around Temple Square. 

 I learned that you just never know who is ready to hear the gospel. Anyone at any age (even 78) can choose to change and to accept the gospel.  

On Saturday, I went to MLC, this little half-day training thing and it really opened my eyes. It was all about becoming more like Christ and how that is the goal of our lives. For some reason it had never really clicked for me that in order to teach the gospel as Christ did, I need to develop His attributes as best as I possibly can. So uh, I have a lot of work to do! Somehow, I just kind of ignored chapter 6 of Preach my Gospel all these months...

On a more positive note! Sunday, we walked into sacrament meeting and sat down and started talking with sisters and all of a sudden my companion leans over and whispers in my ear, "Sister Helton, look who's sitting next to President Poulsen on the stand." 

 It was Quentin L. Cook!! (One of the 12 Apostles.)  He just stopped by our sacrament meeting with his wife! He invoked the most beautiful blessing on our mission and everyone was just bawling. I tried to take notes but I seriously couldn't see anything. 

 He said something that I loved. It was so simple and so powerful. He said, "You fulfill your purpose as a missionary when you invite." 

 There are so many moments when I think to myself, "Did I do enough? Did I say the right thing? Heavenly Father I am so sorry if I just did not follow the spirit in that contact and said something that didn't help this person at all!" 

 But that little statement from an apostle of the Lord just gave me so much peace. It's the same for every one of us. 

 Even though being a missionary is just a short little period of time, I really want to live by that little quote. We fulfill our purpose when we invite people to come closer to Christ. Even if it's just a little invitation. Our purpose in life is to prepare to meet God and to become more like our Savior. Christ invited every day. We can do the same.

Another miracle we had was yesterday when Sister Revoredo and I were finally back together as companions!! 

 We were just about to take our lunch when we got a text that said, "999 2 Italians." Which means that there were 2 Italians that had been waiting for a tour for over 5 minutes and so we decided to skip our lunch and take them on a tour! 

 They both ended up giving us their contact information and took a Book of Mormon. It was so amazing because since Sister Revoredo and I have barely been together for a week because of all the exchanges, we were a little nervous about how to translate and be balanced in our teaching in Italian but the tour just flowed so smoothly and my Italian comprehension is getting so much better! It's kind of nice because it's so similar to Spanish so I can kind of understand what's going on. 

Anyways, right after the tour, we had to take an Organ Recital tour and that was the biggest miracle of the day. 

 This man joined the tour half way through and as we were walking one place to the next, I started talking to him. He told me half of his family was Mormon so he knew a little bit about the church but his family had never pushed anything on him. 

 Anyways, we finished the tour and I was talking to this one man answering some last questions and Sister Revoredo was talking to the guy who I had spoke to earlier who had family in the church. 

 So I joined their conversation and the man literally said, "What do I need to do to join the church? What is the first step?"  

  He told us his whole story and basically, he's just starting over and he's searching for purpose and an anchor in his life. It was just beautiful that even through everything he's gone through, he knew that God was the only sure source of strength and the only true anchor in this world that is ever-changing. 

I love Temple Square! Can you believe I hit my year mark? Also, where in the world did the month of August go? Conference is in a month! Love you all so much. Hope you have the best week.

Sister Helton