Hey everyone!
How did you all like General Conference?!?!?! I absolutely LOVED it! Questions always are answered as we listen:) What was your favorite talk?! So this week was a little crazy! We didnt get a whole lot done because we had meetings but thats okay. We did our best! I love what Elder Gary E. Stevenson said "Focus on what you can do, not what you cant do." Isnt that the truth?! This was a great reminder because if we focus on what we cant do we are just going to feel like scum and we will forget our true potential. Heavenly Father doesn't want us to feel that way because we arent scum. We are His sons and daughters becoming Kings and Queens. We went on exchanges and I had the opportunity to go serve in Sandpoint with Sister Surprise. I learned how to teach simply and how to talk to everyone. That has been a struggle for me, having a gospel conversation with lots of people but this helped me overcome my fear! Satan just is mean...he binds our tongues so we cant speak but DO NOT let him stop you! It is other peoples salvation we are talking about!! I learned that I need to speak up and speak out!! Elder Gregory A. Schweitzer said "True disciples defend the Lord, even when it is not convient to do so." That is going in my quote book!!!! Amy is doing so great! She has been prepared to learn all of this stuff! Man, we cant wait for her to be baptized! She is just so amazing! Normita is doing great too! She has had the lessons multiple times in Hondorus so when we asked her if she would read and pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true she said "Sisters I already know its true!" We were just stunned! Now she has to get work off so she can come to church and be baptized!! This transfer is over and Sister Rencher is going to Orfino Idaho! Im bummed she is leaving but she will do great! Orfino isnt going to know what hit them! I will be staying in Bonners Ferry and training a new sister!!! WOOOHOOO!!!! Its gonna be great! Im a little nervous but the Lord knows what Hes doing:) I learned so much this transfer! I learned: 1. the more we focus our lives on Jesus Christ the more peace we will feel, the more happier we will be, and the more we remember we are all children of God. 2. There is ALWAYS something to smile about. ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS!!!!! Sometimes we have bad days but Heavenly Father didnt send us here to be unhappy so He blesses EVERY DAY!!!! 3. Studying General Conference is the best! I dont know what it is but I can feel the Spirit more abundanty as we teach and go throughout the day! So I decided Im gonna start "ponderizing" a scripture every week so this weeks scripture is Alma 5:60. And now I say unto you that the good shepherd doth call after you; and if you will hearken unto his voice he will bring you into his fold, and ye are his sheep; and he commandeth you that ye suffer no ravenous wolf to enter among you, that ye may not be destroyed. The Lord is our Shepherd and we are His sheep. He wants to help us and protect us but we have to listen for His voice. He loves us so much and I hope we can all love Him back. I hope you all pick a scripture to ponderize this week!!! Oh and no pictures this week sorry.... SLY, Sister Empey Dear family and Friends!!!!!
This past week was pretty good! We went to a training, saw lots of miracles, answered prayers and I learned so much! Well, to start our investigator, Dixie, decided not to be baptized for a while because someone offended her... it was so sad during the moment but now that Sister Rencher and I look back we can see she wasnt converted to the gospel, she was converted to the social status. We are still going to try to help her but she has to allow the Spirit to convert her to the gospel, not us. I was pretty sick on Tuesday (which was our pday because of Labor Day) so we didnt get a whole lot done:( Last week I mentioned doing a musical number so this is what happened. On Tuesday we practiced for about 4 hours.....I dont think my fingers have played that much in one day in my whole life!!! It was crazy! We were praying for help and He definitely answered...just not how we expected:) I tried 3 different songs and none of them were working out then in the last 30 minutes of the day we felt like we needed to try the normal hymn " I Stand All Amazed". I was like "This is gonna sound boring and its just gonna sound bland..." Well, then The Lord guided my fingers and added different notes so it sound much better!! The musical number at Elder Johnson's Training went well all because of The Lord! Speaking of Elder Johnson's Training, it was AMAZING!!! The Spirit was there testifying to all of us that we are here to become like our Heavenly Father. I relearned that Heavenly Father is going to allow situations to arise to help us become more like Him. Sometimes we have to ask ourselves "Am I gonna let this tear me down or am I gonna let this build me up?" I realized I dont ask myself these questions enough! Well, I realized a lot of things but something that I thought was a good reminder was to "Keep an Eternal pespective". We all get caught up in the small things we dont see the whole picture. If we can keep an eternal perspective, then life is much more happy and simple:) In one of my studies I came across 2 Samuel 22:2-3 which says, "And he said, The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence.." I love this because The Lord is our shield. He stands infront of us and blocks the arrows Satan throws at us. We only get hit when we step to the side out of the Saviors protection. We can stay behind the Savior by keeping the commandments, exercise faith and keeping our covenants (all these things also help us become like Heavenly Father.) Oh random side note: When you hear/sing "I Stand All Amazed" imagine singing that when The Savior comes again:) Hey everyone! I hope you all have had a great week!!!! If not then I hope you can look back and see what you learned:) So this week was great! We had a special training and I learned that no matter what we have got to keep working hard and focus on Christ! Satan doesn't want us to stand tall so he is going to pull us down. If we focus on Christ we will stand tall no matter what! So guess what! We have a new investigator who loves mormons! She just moved from California! She is remodeling this house and is super overwhelmed so we get to help her! Woohoooo!!!!! She loves talking about religion and is super open to learning more! We keep praying that she will continue to have an open heart:) Our investigator Amy is doing great! She wants to get baptized but her mom isnt too excited about that....we get to help her mom see the truth too! Families are wonderful! God knew what He was doing when He organized us into families. This week I felt a lot of my ancestors helping me and giving me the strength to do what was required. They keep an eye out for us and help us out more than we know. I was reading in Mosiah 27 this week and I learned that no matter what the Atonement helps purify us! The Savior loves each of us and wants us back so we just have to let Him by turning to Him. I know that as we turn our whole hearts to Him we will become clean like Alma the Younger! Sorry this email is short and choppy but I ran out of time:( I love you all and a good talk to read is "Where Justice, Love and mercy meet" by Elder Holland! Its my favorite!!! I was gonna send pictures but I ran out of time so Ill send them next week! Sorry! SLY, Sister Empey Hey everyone!!!!
So how was your week?!?!?! What was your most favorite spiritual experience this past week?! This week was amazing! We had lots of miracles and it just shows that God is aware of us! So the Stake fasted for rain and boy its been raining almost everyday!!!! Its been wonderful! Well, guess what happened! I know you dont really have any idea what happened so im gonna tell ya! On Wednesday we planned to go biking to save miles but it was raining so we weren't quite sure what to do so will still biked. We loaded our bikes onto the bike rack on the car and drove to the middle of where we were proselyting. We got there and unloaded our bikes put on our helmets and it stopped raining! We biked for a while and talked to some investigators and less actives and headed back to the car. As soon as we loaded up our bikes and got in the car the rain started to pour down like crazy!!!!! That was not a coincidence!!! Another amazing miracle! We stopped by the Springmans (part member family) home and helped them with their garden. They are an older couple and Brother Springman has never been to church, he grew up in Salt Lake City and only saw "hypocritical Mormons" so he never wanted to be one. Sister Rencher asked if he has ever met with missionaries and he said no! We were so surprised!!!! We asked him if he wanted to learn more and he said no! Naturally we asked why and he gave us a bunch of reasons why he never wanted to learn. Well we secretly gave him the 1st discussion and then told him we did. He looked at us suprised and hesitantly agreed to learn more! We are sooooooo excited for him!!! WOOOHOOOO!!!!!! We are teaching Amy still and she loves learning about the gospel! She has grown so much over the past week and she is just soooo happy!!! She wants to be baptized but her mom is kinda hesitant. So Amy is sharing what she learned with her mom and her mom is starting to soften up a little bit! So we were at the store last Monday and we saw Sister Willhite from our last area! She is amazing and super kind! She loves the gospel and her family and is super happy all the time! In almost ever section in the Doctrine and Covenants Jesus Christ says "Lift up your hearts and rejoice!" there is so much to be happy about so we just have to smile and look for the good! When we lift our hearts and rejoice about something every day we can be happy just like Sister Willhite! I love you all and I hope you have a happy week!!! SLY, Sister Empey |
AuthorI am Sister Taylor Empey and I am serving The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Washington Spokane mission!! Enters MTC July 1st 2015
April 2016
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