Tender Mercy of the Lord 11-17-2014

It's weird. I feel like I literally emailed home 2 days ago...this week has flown! 

  So, I was thinking about what I wanted to email about this week and I decided on 3 things: 1 miracle, 1 hilarious phone call, 1 new favorite scripture and a thought to go with it. 

  I'll start with the miracle.

  Friday of last week I went on exchanges with our District leader Sister Nakamatsu. She's from Japan and literally the sweetest! Anyways, we were in the South Visitor Center and Sister Nakamatsu was like, "Let's go up and talk to people at the Christus." Normally, I don't really talk to people at the Christus just because people are always praying and meditating and stuff up there and I feel bad interrupting them if they are having a really spiritual experience, BUT I learned that I definitely should not think like that. 

  So Sister N and I walked up to the Christus and started talking to these 3 girls for like 10 minutes. They were super sweet, we gave them Book of Mormon cards, and started walking away when Sister N turned around super fast and was like, "let's talk to that guy."     He was sitting by himself and was looking at his Ipad and so I was a little hesitant. But Sister N went up and asked him what he was reading and he said, "I'm finishing the Book of Mormon for the first time, I'm on Moroni chapter 4." 

  I instantly got so excited because I had just read that exact chapter that morning! 

  For some reason, though, I said, "Oh my gosh, didn't you love Ether chapter 12?!" Now that I think back on it, that was so random of me to say...but when I said it, his face completely changed. 

  He said that he had read that chapter the day before and it was the most powerful chapter to him personally in the Book of Mormon. He ended up telling us his whole life story and how he joined the church one year ago and decided to come to Temple Square for his year anniversary as a member. 

  He said things have not been easy lately and he said it was a tender mercy from the Lord that of all the chapters in the Book of Mormon, we asked him about Ether 12. That was the first time I cried in front of someone on the Square. It just never ceases to amaze me at how incredibly aware God is of each one of us. He knows exactly what we need, and he sends us people to meet those needs.

  Now, the hilarious phone call. Hahahaha. I really hope this is as funny to you as it was to Sister Isaksen and I. So, we have this investigator named Larry that we usually call every week but we hadn't called him for like 2 weeks because he's been busy and is meeting with local missionaries anyways. But anyway, Sister Isaksen called him on Tuesday (when she was on exchanges so I wasn't with her) and then told me that Larry had set a baptism date!!! Except he couldn't remember what day it was..haha. Saturday we decided to call him and just make sure he was planning on going to church the next day and he answers the phone and before we can say anything he goes, "I'm sorry Sisters, it didn't happen today. We are just running a little bit behind schedule, but don't worry, don't worry, it will happen." We were like, "uhh...wait what didn't happen today?" And Larry was like, "I guess I was getting baptized today!" He had no idea. hahahaha. Ok now that I type it out, it's not as funny, but it like made our week.

  OK, now my new favorite scripture, it's 2 Nephi 22:2-3. 

  It says, "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he has also become my salvation. Therefore, with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation." 

  I love this scripture soooo much. Christ refers to himself as the living water and so I love that analogy of with joy, drawing water out of the wells of salvation. It is only through our Savior that we receive salvation. When we feel empty and like we don't have any more strength to move foward, that is OK. He will fill us up when we are empty if we will turn to him. He will be the living water that we will joyfully draw from when we need strength.

I love you all so much! I hope you have such a great week!

Love,

Sister Helton

Henrik & "Be Where Your Feet Are" 11-10-2014

Hi!

Ok, this week FLEW by. 
Everything is so great here. We have been busy, busy, busy. It's weird because this is supposed to be the slow season, but literally we have not had time to eat lunch these past 4 days. 
I don't have very much time to write. (We have a Zone Activity in like 30 min and we searched all over Fred Meyer to find balloons for it because we said we'd bring some so that wasted like all our email time today BUT we found some!) 

Anyway, highlight of the week would definitely be meeting with Henrik for the last time (since he is leaving). He's driven up to Salt Lake 4 times over the past 3 weeks and its been  so awesome to actually teach someone more than once face-to-face. 
He's been praying a lot the last week but still didn't know whether or not God was there. He said he was reading in Jacob in the Book of Mormon in chapter 5 about the parable of the Olive Tree and got so frustrated and confused and closed his Book of Mormon and said in his head, "This is so stupid, I'll just meet with Sister Isaksen and Helton tomorrow for the last time and go home and forget everything we've talked about." 
So right in the moment he shut his Book of Mormon, we sent him our daily text (we send it out to all our investigators) and that day I had been reading in 3 Nephi, in the Isaiah chapters, and Sister Isaksen and I were discussing them and we loved verse 7-8 in Chapter 22.
It says:

7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee.8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer.

So I sent that one! He said literally when he closed his Book of Mormon he got that text. He said in that moment (he 100% does not believe that things are signs from God, he is insistent things are just coincidence) he knew that was God speaking to him. 
It just never ceases to amaze me how aware God is of each individual person. 
We asked Henrik to say the prayer at the end of our lesson and to just ask God if He was there and if He loved him. The spirit was so strong. It was the sweetest thing. 
In his prayer, he just said "God, do you love me? (pause for like 20 seconds) ...I'm pretty confident you do" and then he just said everything he is grateful for. 

I truly know that God puts people in our paths for a reason. 
I just love it here so much. I know I say that every email, but I really do. 

My quote of the transfer is "Be where your feet are." It has helped me a lot on days that I miss home a little bit. I am so grateful to be where I am. 
Also Everyone: you must come see the lights on Temple Square! They all turn on Nov. 28th but there's already a few that go on every night. 

Love you all so much! Thank you for your love and support.


-Sister Helton

Happiest Day of My Mission (so far) 11-3-2014

I got a new P-day since I'm now in my 2nd transfer. 
So crazy I've been on a mission for over 2 months!! 

My P-day is now Monday for the next 6 weeks.

I have SO much to tell you! 

(So sorry if this email is all over the place. I'll start with last Saturday because I can't really remember before.)

Briggs and Becca came to Temple Square! I love them so much. We got to go to lunch at Brio, this super delish Italian place Becca's brother works at. I got a burger..but it was a fancy Italian burger so I told myself it was healthy. So,  that was definitely the highlight of my weekend. Seriously, I am way too blessed to be serving here. Temple Square is amazing.

Last Monday was probably the happiest day of my mission. It was 10:30 in the morning. Sister Isaksen and I were heading to the Square when we got a text. It was from this lady named Syndie. 

(A little background on Syndie. She called into mormon.org about a month ago looking simply for financial help. Sister Isaksen answered the phone and ended up talking to her for like a half hour. We got her number and set up a return appointment for the next day. When we called, she just thanked Sister Isaksen so much for answering the phone and talking to her. She said she woke up this morning feeling like 500 lbs. had been lifted off her. So we taught her the first lesson, sent her local missionaries and called her one more time a few days later. We were so excited for her because the gospel was literally exactly what she needed. She was just soaking up everything we were teaching her. But, after the second lesson, we called and called her but she never picked up the phone. Two weeks ago we called her and left a voicemail to tell her we wouldn't be calling her anymore, but if she ever needed anything, to call us. We were so confused because we really thought she wanted to learn more, but we just kind of let it go.) 

So, back to last Monday. Syndie texts us and tells us SHE GOT BAPTIZED!! We literally like scream-cried in the middle of the crosswalk! haha 

The story gets cooler. Apparently at her baptism she got up and told her story about how she came to know about the church and she said it was because she called into mormon.org and talked to "Rebecca and Carly." When she was telling her story, Sister Maladiri (a sister from Temple Square serving outbound) was at the baptism and had talked to Syndie a few times and thought in her head, "that has to be some Temple Square sisters"  because we are who answer the phone for mormon.org. 

So when Syndie texted us on Monday she said, "Sister Maladiri, a sister who is serving her mission in Salt Lake City, is going to try to find you two and show you a picture of me at my baptism." Sister Isaksen was like, "I know Sister Maladiri!!!!!" So, it was so amazing. We got to see pictures of Syndie's baptism (I'll get them from "Sister Mala" and send them next week) and we finally got to call her on Saturday and talk about everything. 

Syndie was such a miracle! So nothing else I'm really going to talk about can trump that story but the rest of my week has been really good too!

Henrik (I told you about him last week) came to church with us on Sunday!! He's the best. Our sacrament meeting is at 7:30 am. We had a really awesome discussion about Enos chapter 1 and prayer and how God truly can put our soul at rest. 

I love the Book of Mormon. 

Seriously, I do not know why I didn't read it more before my mission. 

We got to have an organ tour! I got to play a few notes on the organ in the Conference Center (again, I'll send pics next week because I didn't have time to load them) and we got to go behind the organ in the Tabernacle and see all the pipes. Once in a life time opportunity. I feel like I'm getting older because I'm actually starting to be really interested in history and genuinely want to learn more about the buildings here...it's weird.

Thank you Mama Isaksen for the birthday package!

Oh, also it was Sister Isaksen's bday on Wednesday! 

We had brownies for breakfast :) 

Sister Isaksen's BFF from Norway surprised her for her birthday!!!

I had another small epiphany I'll just share really fast. My new zone leader Sister Kennoch said something really interesting that got me thinking at our zone meeting on Saturday. She said God doesn't need us. At first in my head I thought .."well, he kind of needs us a little bit..." but as I kept thinking about it, I realized she is so right. We as missionaries are not who convert people. The Spirit does that. Yes, we help people work through their concerns regarding the gospel and teach them the doctrine, but God could do this work on his own if he wanted to. 

The thing is, he doesn't want to do it all on his own. He sent each one of us here to learn how to become more like him. He has given me this incredible opportunity to serve a mission. He has given me this opportunity to meet so many new people everyday. He has given me this opportunity to serve those around me in ways I never would have been able to had he not told me to come on a mission. God is so good. He does so much for me. Every experience we are given in this life, I am convinced, is so we can come to know our God more fully. I love him so much. I love you all so much! 

Thank you for all your sweet emails, they really do make my day.

Love,

Sister Helton

P.S. Halloween rocked also. (Pics below)

The Square closed at 5pm and we got to go to the Temple as a whole mission.                                     best.halloween.evs.

Me+Sister Sughroue 
(She knows Cassie Campos!! 

She said she's her second mom, CRAZY. We were in the MTC together. 
Love her tons)

I love being a missionary. 10-23-2014

I love being a missionary. 

Today is literally the best P-day ever. This morning we only had time on the Square from 11-12, so in my head I was like "Eh, probably not enough time to find a new investigator" then I heard this other voice in my head say, "An hour is definitely enough time," so then I was like, "You're right." So, I was just having this little internal conversation with myself while we were walking. haha. 

Anyway, every time before we go out on the Square, we plan for 3 places we want to go and then pray about it. For this one hour we were going to the Reflection Pool, the Conference Center, and the Assembly Hall. 

We were almost to the Reflection Pool when I see this guy out of the corner of my eye. To Sister Isaksen, I said, "I know that guy from somewhere..." and then we remembered! Two weeks ago we were at the front desk in the South Visitor Center on a Sunday morning and that guy, his two friends, and his aunt and uncle (who aren't really his aunt and uncle, they're related in a really confusing way but he calls them his aunt and uncle) walked in the front door. We talked to them for 15 minutes, but I mostly talked to the guy. I think that's the reason I recognized him, but his name's Henrik and he's from Sweden. 

We were talking to him, his friends and his aunt and uncle (who are Mormon but none of the guys were) and Sister Bomgren (from Sweden) walks by and ended up taking all of them on a really short 20-minute tour! 

So, back to the story: We were at the Reflection Pool and we see him. He had headphones in, so I was a little hesitant to go talk to him, but Sister Isaksen was like "let's go," so we did.

He told us how he ended up staying in Utah a little longer than planned because he's going to a  family reunion his aunt and uncle invited him to go to this weekend. 

He's meeting back up with his friends next week. He didn't have anything to do today so his aunt and uncle told him to just go downtown! He said he actually wanted to see more of Temple Square because the tour was short the first time. He asked us when he could schedule another tour because he said his friends weren't really interested, but he was a little. 

Sister Isaksen said, "We can just take you on one right now!" He said OK and we ended up taking him to the Scriptures and Revelation exhibit because he'd already seen the Assembly Hall, Tabernacle, and Christus - which are like the main sights to see. 

We taught him the Restoration. He had SO many amazing questions. He asked how can you really know that Joseph Smith was a prophet since he was only 14 years old? That's like my all time favorite question because the answer is so simple: Read the Book of Mormon. 

He said he is so scared to read it because if he does and he finds out it is true, it will change everything. 

The spirit was so strong. I can't even remember everything we talked about (mostly because half the convo was in Swedish) but it was seriously a miracle. Like of all the places we could have picked to go for our one small hour on the Square, of all the times he could have been passing through Temple Square (he wasn't even planning on walking through, that's a longer story, but it was basically because of some homeless man he was trying to avoid that he ended up walking through the Square), God put him in our path. 

He is seriously so amazing. He said to us at the very end of our tour that he knows he needs to read the Book of Mormon. I'm so excited to find out how his story ends, I have a feeling it's going to be pretty incredible.

Today is just so good. This week has been awesome too! God is just so present and aware of each one of us. I will never understand how He does it, all I know is He does and that He truly does love and care about every single person on this earth. I am eternally thankful for the hope that my Savior Jesus Christ gives me. Each day we can have the hope of being a little better and coming a little closer to God because of Jesus Christ. The Church is just so true. I'm so thankful I'm on a mission. Love you all and pray for you everyday!

-Sister Helton

PS.  It's interesting how you really can see when people have light in their eyes and when they don't. I love seeing people's eyes change when they feel the spirit. It's like my new favorite thing. 

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.

   Also, the other pics are at a zone activity we had and my district. I feel like missions aren't supposed to be this much fun...
.

Love you all so much!

-Sister Helton

Go see 'Meet the Mormons' & We can find out for ourselves what truth is 10-9-14

Hi!!!

Tons has happened this week but at the same time I feel like P-day was yesterday...it's weird. 

Conference was amazing! I saw so many people that I love so much and it was just exactly what I needed. I haven't gotten to watch all of Conference yet but one of the talks I LOVED was the one by Lynn Robbins called "Which way do you face?" Also President Uchtdorf's talk about testimonies.

Oh, I actually do have news!!! I totally forgot. I've seen Elder David Bednar TWICE this week. On Friday night, Sis Isaksen and I were starting the Joseph Smith Movie like we do every week and in the audience we spy him sitting with his fam. So, after the movie was over we have to stand by the exit doors and say "bye" and "thank you" to everyone for coming. He walked right past me and looked me right in the eyes and said thank you, didn't shake my hand though, but still, we made eye contact which is pretty good. Thennnn on Monday we did a little bit of Explore Day. (If you're a new sister you get 12 hours of exploring around SLC and getting to know the resources we have more fully on Temple Square because there is so much to see!) 
So, we went to the Humanitarian Center to have a tour. We walk in the doors and Elder Bednar is just standing right there chatting with the lady at the front desk! I was like 5 feet away from him but no eye contact this time nor a handshake. It's OK though. I'm convinced I'll see him again and maybe he'll recognize me haha... probs not. We just figured if he had time to shake our hand, he would've ya know?

Oooo another cool thing, I got to watch "Meet the Mormons!" Seriously, everyone go see it.  After it's not theaters, we'll start playing it on Temple Square in the theaters here which is so cool. I just loved it because it was not preachy at all. It was just so inspiring and uplifting. Literally every single person should see it because it just makes you feel good and makes you want to be good.

Something that I've really loved about this week is the new people we are teaching. We are teaching them because they called in to mormon.org. People truly change their lives to join our church and I feel so humbled to have the opportunity to watch them make that change and see it bless them.

Something that I've really been thinking about this week is the idea of truth. It blows my mind to think about that fact that we can find out for ourselves what truth is. We don't have to rely on any person to tell us what it is. We just have to ask God and he'll tell us. It is so simple and I feel like I make it so complicated sometimes.
 I've been focusing on reading the Book of Mormon in my morning studies and I love this scripture, it's 2 Nephi 32:4-5. It says: 

"Wherefore, now after I have spoken these words, if ye cannot understand them it will be because ye ask not, neither do ye knock; wherefore, ye are not brought into the light, but must perish in the dark. For behold, again I say unto you that if ye will enter in by the way, and receive the Holy ghost, it will show unto you all things what ye should do."

I love that soooo much because it is so simple. God wants to tell us all things. He really does. Like why would He not? We're here on earth to come unto Him and follow Christ's example. If we don't understand something, it's not because He hasn't told us or doesn't want to tell us, it's because we're not asking, or we're not acting. I don't know why I always complicate things! The gospel of Jesus Christ is so dang simple. I love it. I'm so happy I'm on a mission. Love you so much!

-Sister Helton

October 2014 General Conference

 Sister Isaksen got to patiently meet some of my best friends and family who came to sessions of October General Conference. It was a busy weekend, but I was so happy to see familiar faces. 

Sky Wolfe

Denise Burnett

Andrea Nelson

Front row from left, Andrea Nelson, me, Daniel Nelson, Michael Nelson
Back row from left, Uncle Jared Nelson, Uncle Roland Nelson, Spencer Nelson, Jared Nelson

Elder John Delong and Denise Burnett

Brig and Laurissa Memmott came to Temple Square last week