Desire, Determination, Dedication 11-24-2015

I feel like I'm getting soooo lazy with emailing. But this week was so great, I have to tell you everything. 

SO! We went to "Savior of the World" and I absolutely loved it. The part that really stood out to me was when Christ appears after his resurrection to his disciples except Thomas. Even after witnessing Christ raising Lazarus from the dead, feeding the 5,000, and so many other miracles, Thomas cannot believe Christ is truly risen until he literally sees the resurrected Lord with his own eyes.   The more I read the scriptures, the more I realize how similar the people in the Old/New Testament and Book of Mormon are to us today. 

  Since I only have 3.5 months left on my mission I've really been thinking about who I want to become after I'm finished and how I'll continue to move forward with an increased faith in Christ. 

  I really know that the key to conversion is to remember. I have seen so many miracles being a missionary and had so many moments of surety and clarity that this is Christ's church. I know things are going to be a lot different when I get home but I am so grateful for the examples of those who have gone before (ie., Thomas) who I can learn from. 

Sister Howard from Australia is my new comp

  I will choose to believe and have faith even if I don't have the exact same experiences at home that I do as a missionary. 

Sister Howard (my companion) gave a talk on Sunday about gratitude and she said something that I loved!! She said it's not the experiences we have in our lives that make us who we are, it's how we choose to react. 

Yesterday, we went on exchanges with the district leaders in our zone and I got to go with Sister Caramia from Italy for the day. We got to take on a tour around Temple Square some of the architects for the Rome temple as well as two other men who are doing the interior of the Temple who weren't members of the church. 

  They showed us pictures of what they're doing and it is amazing. We should definitely go to Rome for the temple open house! Just an idea :) I mean, we have friends we can stay with! It was a really sweet experience, though, just to see how the Spirit works. 

  I love Temple Square. I honestly thought I might get sick of being on the same 10-acre square for 15 months, but every single day I am just so grateful. 

I forgot to tell you about the talk I gave in sacrament meeting! It's like the only talk I've given my whole mission and I was soooo nervous. It's weird how I feel comfortable talking in front of tons of guests on Temple Square about things they've never heard of, but speaking in front of a bunch of missionaries I already know makes my legs shake like nothing else! Anyway, my topic was: 

"In one who is wholly converted, desire for things [contrary] to the gospel of Jesus Christ has actually died, and substituted therefore is a love of God with a fixed and controlling determination to keep his commandments." -Marion G. Romney

As I was trying to figure out where to go with this talk, I realized that there are 3 major words in this statement: 

          Desire, Determination and Dedication. The 3 D's. 

  Feeling the love of Christ gives us the desire to follow him and as we follow him and feel our hearts change through him, we gain the strength and determination not to give up on our quest of discipleship. As we are determined to follow Christ, we want to bind ourselves to him through covenants and it's through the covenants we make with Christ that he enables us to dedicate our lives to him and never look back. 

We took this picture after singing "Walk Tall, You're A Daughter of God"

I love my Savior. I'm so grateful for this time of year to really focus on what's most important and to remember the greatest gift God has given me. 

Love you so much!

Sister Helton

Sister Lai, my first companion.
She and I both spoke in sacrament meeting (we are wearing the same sweater!)

What gift will I give the Savior this year? 11-18-15

This week has been so great!

We had a HUGE miracle. So, I've been teaching this lady about 2 months now. Her husband is inactive and they are currently going through a lot of struggles. She investigated the church about 2 years ago and firmly believed that it was not true. 

She had never read the Book of Mormon before or really lived the teachings and so as she and her husband started to go through all these difficulties, in the back of her mind she said she felt that she wouldn't be able to find the peace and strength she was searching for in any other church besides the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

We weren't really sure what that meant since she made it clear to us that she didn't have any intention of being baptized, but she began meeting with the local missionaries again in addition to receiving our phone calls. 

Last week we called her and she told us that she believes God has more answers he wants to give her and until she takes a leap of faith and gets baptized, those answers will never come. She's getting baptized in 2 weeks!!  

Our zone is doing super well too! We made a list of all the people's names who are meeting with local missionaries or are on date to be baptized. We found that in our zone, there are 48 people meeting with missionaries and only 9 preparing to be baptized on a certain date. We have set some really high goals for this transfer and know with the Savior's help, we can reach them! 

There's a new video coming out for this Christmas season called, "A Savior Is Born" and we're having a training tomorrow with the missionary department to see it. 

This past week, our mission president has invited us to ask ourselves, "

What gift will I give the Savior this year?" He's truly given us everything and in order to follow him more fully, what can I give him? I have about a million things I need to change and I'm really excited to do it.

I can't believe how quickly November is going by. Thanksgiving is next week and we get to go to a member's home!

I can't really think of too much else that has happened this week. We have had a ton of trainings and meetings since it's the beginning of the transfer but there's been so much inspiration for so much improvement. I'm really grateful to be with Sister Howard. I am learning sooooo much from her. She's so wise and really is able to answer complex questions with simple answers. 

We are going to "Savior of the World" tomorrow which I am so excited for. It's this performance the church does about the birth of the Savior and His resurrection. Last Christmas, I accidentally fell asleep and didn't really get as much out of it, so I can't wait to see it again! 

Love you tons! Happy Thanksgiving,         

Sister Helton

Pondering our duty to God 11-10-2015

This week has been so great. It's unreal to me that after tomorrow, I only have 2 transfers left. But my new companion is Sister Howard from Australia!! I almost cried when I found out. She's one of my best friends here and we were in the MTC together. She was companions with Sister Revoredo who was my last companion before Sister Linares so we've done this little companion circle. haha. 

 Anyways, yesterday we had the biggest miracle EVER. So last week I think I told you about the lady who came to Temple Square and just gave us her email but responded and said she'd been meeting with local missionaries/going to church? She emailed us yesterday and told us she's getting baptized on the 21st of this month with her husband and 3 daughters who don't even live with her!!! AND, she said we could Skype in and watch it! 

We have been teaching this other girl who Sister Linares found on Temple Square a week before we became companions who's preparing to get baptized on the 5th of December. She's living in Provo so it's a little miracle because we'd actually get to go to her baptism. My whole mission, I've never actually gotten to attend the baptism of the people we've taught. We've gotten to Skype, but not in person, so I am dying of excitement!

I don't have too much to update you on. It's been really cold here and the Square is pretty dead, but more and more lights are going up everyday! 

 We had transfer conference yesterday and can I just say my mission president is so inspired? 

 He said that several sisters have been emailing him and telling him that they feel like they're losing their "motivation" for the work. I definitely have had days like that and he talked about the meaning of the word motivation. 

 He said in our scriptural cannon the word motive or motivation only occurs 11 times and is usually associated with someone wicked who has evil "motives." 

 He talked about how motivation is associated with the natural man because it comes from within us. As we know from the scriptures, the natural man is an enemy to God. 

 President Poulsen went on to talk about how instead of trying to get "motivated" to be a missionary, we should ponder and consider our duty as representatives of the Lord. He told us the word duty appears in the scriptures 2,237 times. 

 There are a lot of things in life we probably will not feel too motivated to do but as we remember what our duty is to God and the covenants we've made, Christ will enable us to fulfill our duty to him. I loved that and it's really helping me move forward even though there are very few people to talk to on the Square these days. haha 

I love being a missionary. It seriously is the best. My new assignment this transfer is Welfare Square and they've redone everything! I'm so excited to what it's like now and drink gallons of chocolate milk every week :)

LOVE YOU!

Here's a nice photo of our flagpole tour 

and all the guests who were lined up to see Temple Square!

What changes your heart is the Savior 11-3-2015

It's so crazy to me that this transfer is almost done. A week from tomorrow I'll have a new companion. It's going to be so weird. I feel like I say this every transfer, but Sister Linares is the best. I don't think I've ever laughed so much with a companion but at the same time worked so hard, learned so much and had so many miracles! 

On Wednesday we had this speaker come talk to our whole mission. He of course, talked about the Book of Mormon since this is our "Keystone Transfer." He talked about the importance of reading the Book of Mormon and the effect it has in our conversion to Christ. 

He told us this story about 2 men in his ward in California. One of them had been going to church for over 20 years but hadn't been baptized. All his kids were members and his wife was the Relief Society president and he thought the church was a good thing for his family, but he just never really felt like it was something he wanted for himself.

 So, the guy who came and spoke to us (I can't remember his name..) said that he asked this man if he had ever read the Book of Mormon cover to cover. The man said no. So the guy who came and spoke to us asked if could start reading the Book of Mormon with him.  Twice a week they would meet together and just read. If the man had questions the guy would help him find answers and they would talk about how the stories related in their lives and how they could draw strength from the faith these ancient prophets had in the Savior. 

 Long story short, by the time they reached Alma, this man got baptized. The same thing happened with another man in their ward. He had been going to church for over 10  years and never wanted to be baptized. But, someone started reading with him and by the time he reached Alma, he received an undeniable testimony from the spirit that this book was the word of God and decided to be baptized. 

 It just helped me realize that without the Book of Mormon, the church is a nice place to feel the spirit and come closer to God, but what changes your heart is the Savior and his message contained in the Book of Mormon. 

There was a verse that stood out to me a lot as I was studying the scriptures this week. It's in Alma 5 which as you know, is the chapter where Alma is calling everyone to repentance and asks so many soul searching questions. Some of the people in this part of the Book of Mormon are following God but most have kind of gone off the path a little bit and are starting to really question that Christ will come and that he will save each one of us. Alma asks them this question in verse 26:

I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now? 

I LOVE his question, can ye feel so now? You know those moments when there is not a doubt in your mind that Christ lives and that this is his church? You just want to share the light and the peace that you feel with everyone and in doing so, your heart changes. 

 Then you have those moments of just moving forward because you have to. At least I do. haha. 

  This verse was such a good reminder to me and made me reflect so much on whether or not each day I feel the same way about my Savior as I did the first time I knew he was there and that God really did hear my prayers.

I love being a missionary. I'm grateful for all the ups and downs and disappointments and successes. We went to the temple on Saturday night as a mission because the Square was closed for Halloween. 

 As I was listening in the temple, I realized how blessed I am to have trials. It's a gift from God because it's through our trials that we come to know Christ and feel his strength, support, love and enabling power. I looked up the definition of conversion (because I have to give a talk in church in 2 weeks) and it says this, "complete conversion comes after many trials and much testing." 

 This week I've just been thinking a lot about why trials and difficult times help us become more converted to Christ. I don't exactly understand how it works, but I know that when trials are thrown at you, as you turn towards towards Christ and give it all over to him, you can get through anything. 

Love you so much! Have the best week.  

Sister Helton