Jessica's Twenty Seventh Email! April 13th, 2014

Hey everyone! Wow. Talk about a terrific week! It was seriously so great! So much was going on, but it was a great time. By the end of the week I had gone to Goa and back 4 times haha. Exhausting, but fun to get out of Tigaon a bit.

So on Wednesday we had Zone Conference combined with the Goa zone. Then Thursday we had exchanges with the sister training leaders and I worked in Goa with Sister Bersola. On Friday we had a relief society activity and the sisters went on splits with the 4 of us missionaries. Then Saturday and Sunday, CONFERENCE!!!! Man. Such an amazing week.

Okay so zone conference. I love President and Sister Reeder so much. I have read a lot of emails from friends about getting chastised at zone conference. Ours are not like that at all! They are seriously so encouraging and nice and uplifting, such a boost! They both spoke and gave great counsel. The thing I really loved from Sister Reeder's talk was that it is a commandment to be of good cheer. The commandment doesn't say Be of good cheer if... It just says be of good cheer! Straight up! Love that. Sometimes living in the Philippines there are trials I never even imagined haha. But her talk reminded me to just keep on smiling every morning when I dump ice cold water on my head. I need to remember I am lucky that we have running water and a roof over our heads, unlike a lot of people here. One thing she said that I really loved was that life is intended to be filled with joy!  President Reeder spoke a lot about making decisions. We need to prioritize and focus on what is really important! We need to listen to the Holy Ghost as we make some of the biggest decisions of our lives that we have coming up after the mission like school, marriage, career and all of that. He said this should always be the order to prioritize all we do: God, spouse, family and kids, school or career. So important to keep it all straight even after we get back out in the real world and life gets so busy again. Loved it! Also he said that Satan is the author of fears. True. Face fear with faith! Another highlight of zone conference.. got a letter from my skusin Catharine! SO sweet to hear from her! Love our fam so much.

Okay so exchanges were great in Goa. We were able to teach a good amount of lessons and I learned a lot from Sister Bersola. Great missionary. She is from Manila. Sister Simpson said that day I was gone all my homies in the town, bakery workers, padyak drivers, creepy lurkers, were asking where I was haha. That's when you know you have been in Tigaon for a longgg time. It was nice to come home though after a day away! The sister training leaders were looking at our family picture on my wall saying how young mom looks and how old don and audz look. Hah I literally get that anytime anyone sees our family picture. Like they've asked if mom is my twin sister before haha. So there's your confidence boost for the day mom :)

Relief Society splits were great! So weird though haha. First time in 6 months I haven't been in sight and sound of another missionary... and for like 3 hours. But it was great. I was with Sister Jenny. Such a solid lady. SO fun getting to know her and she really could teach! I mean, wow! Knew just what to say and the spirit was there. Loved her. She is 36 and has 3 teenagers. Funny hanging out with a 36 year old haha, but the gospel really can bring any 2 people together and we already have so much in common. And okay let's be honest.. I hung out with all the young moms the whole summer anyway, right?! Miss them all!

Conference was LEGIT!!!!! Wow so much to learn. We are so blessed to have modern day revelation. On the Saturday morning session it was just about to start. Less than a minute to go. Then a brownout haha. Strezzfulll. Luckily it came back on just in time. Miracles :) And I must say. The accents this time around. Hilarious! Really added to conference! :) But on a more serious note. I really feel like each and every talk was so perfect. Can't pick a favorite. Too good. But I want to share with you my little "take-away" from each talk. A little refresher since you watched it a week earlier. And! If you didn't get the chance to watch conference... like REALLY watch all 4 sessions of conference... lds.org. Hit it up for a good time! Even if you are not a member of this church, I know that if you listen to the words of God's Prophet and Apostles, you will feel the spirit and learn from them! Okay so my favorite parts! :) Not really quotes, just main ideas they talked about:

Jeffrey Holland- Defend your religion with dignity
Ronald Rasband- If we are focused on serving others, we will be guided and feel the spirit
Carlos Amado- We are indebted to Christ. He sacrificed for us
Linda Reeves- Scripture study and prayer take away stress, they don't add to the stress
Neil Andersen- There is a gap that continues to widen between standards of the church and the worlds standards. Stand up for what you know
Henry Eyring- Let the Lord be the leader of your family
Russell Nelson- Wrong is never right.. even if it's popular
Richard Scott- Keep it simple. Testimonies are powerful
Robert Hales- Rationalizing disobedience doesn't change the consequences
Claudio Zivic- Repent and accept correction
W. Craig Zwick- Destructive words take a situation from hazardous to fatal
Quentin Cook- "Baptisms for YOUR dead"
Dieter Uchtdorf- We can experience peace in tribulation if we are grateful
M. Russell Ballard- Other will find purpose and peace in this church
Jean Stevens- Face challenges with prayer and faith in the Lord. In the process, we will become more like Him
Gary Stevenson- This is your 4 minutes. The time is now
David Bednar- Making and keeping sacred covenants yokes us to the savior. OK. Really loved his story about the husband buying the truck. Flashback to the time dad came home with a "surprise" motorcycle for the family hahah
Thomas S. Monson- Each person has the power to increase the world's sum happiness
Boyd K. Packer- Eternal truths cannot be taught, but must be learned
William Walker- We must not forget the experiences we have in the temple
L. Tom Perry- We must be willing to alter our course in obedience to God's commandments
Lawrence Cornbridge- We are more than just a human. We are a child of God with the opportunity to become like Him
Michael Teh- Serving others is a Hallmark of being a true disciple of Christ
Marcos Aidukaitis- If we are sincerely seeking truth, we will do all we can to find it
D. Todd Christofferson- The Savior is perfectly just and perfectly loving
Thomas S. Monson- We must nourish our testimonies so they can be a protection when the adversary comes against us. Realize how close Heavenly Father is and how far he will go to help us.
Sooo yaaa... I guess you could say I LOVED conference haha. maybe the best 2 days of my mission. 

This week was also full of trying new things... kinda :)

First, trying to overcome my fear of spiders... slowly but surely. This week I cleaned all the spider webs in the house! Even the ones that had daddy long leg lookin spiders in them. A little bit of improvement from screaming for Brandon and Austin to come and kill it for me. Also finally braved the Filipino hamburger stand... yikes. I didn't throw up so I think Christie's witchcraft oils are actually fixing my stomach! Haha pretty sure it wasn't meat.. but oh well. I'm still alive. Sister Simpson is obsessed with oatmeal and literally eats it like twice a day. I finally tried it for the first time in my life. Delicious! Especially the Banana flavor. Yum! So yes... still trying to branch out on the whole food thing. I think I'm making progress haha.

This is so long! Sorry! Just 2 quick things that make me laugh. Sister Simpson always pronounces stuff that ends in an A with an er sound. She doesn't even notice it. Examples... umbreller... kasamer... Can't think of any other words that end in an A but ya.. like all of them. So she says my name jessicur. You know how there was someone who would always call me that and I hated it so Austin would ALWAYS call me Jessicur. It's like that. Luckily we have to call each other sister but if she ever says my name... oh man.

The other thing is exactly what Brandon used to always do. You know when he's thinking of something in his head, then comments about it out loud. Isn't that how he got the nickname "Brandom"?? Well example. Last night about 3 hours after leaving a lesson she said, "Man, I hope that scripture helped him," haha. Who?!

Haha it's funny because those 2 things used to drive me insane at home (sorry Audz and Don) but now... really being blessed with patience haha. I just laugh when she does it. The companionship is really going great and we are really being blessed. It was a great week in Tigaon/Goa. I am grateful to be a member of this church and to have this opportunity to share this gospel! Go back and study and review the spiritual FEAST we were just given. The words of God's servants really will bless your lives so much. I love you all. Stay safe and happy.

XOXO,
Sister Richmond

 

Top 10-
1. GENERAL CONFERENCE
2. Zone conference
3. Exchanges
4. Relief Society splits
5. Got 6 Referrals. Such a help. GIVE REFERRALS!
6. When someone prayed and said "Thank you Lord for these beautiful women" ummm
7. In between conference sessions we had a district picnic!
8. Heard funky town playing this week. Took me right back to doing Just Dance with Lindsey for our daily "exercise"
9. You know who is GOING ON A MISSION!!! #$%#!& so happy
10. Oatmeal??

Don't even know where we were

Zone conference!

Sister Bersola

Exchanges in Goa

 Holla atcha bright sun

 Sister Bersola, the Sister Training Leader

Splits with the Relief Society.

So danky

 Catering sisters, at it again

 General Conference breaks hahah

 Conference break in the Philippines

 Our district lunch

Basty haha so cute