Hermana Mary DeWitt: I Love General Conference!!!

It was a crazy week! I wish I could write down everything, but here are just some highlights:

We went over to visit Fabiola on Thursday! In our last lesson with her, we had invited her to read 1 Nephi 1, but when we asked her about it, she said she hadn't read any of it. We had planned to teach the Plan of Salvation that lesson, but Hermana Shumway and I looked at each other and both knew that we needed to just read with her this lesson and get her into the Book of Mormon! We only had a few minutes, but we read the first part of 1 Nephi 1, explained some of the words and context, and invited her to finish the rest of the chapter that night so we could come back and talk about the Plan of Salvation the next day (Friday).

When we went back on Friday, she opened the door before we could even knock, held up her Book of Mormon, and said "Hi Sisters! Come in! I'm ready!" She was SO excited to see us! We asked her how her reading last night went, and she said it went great! She started telling us all about Lehi's vision and having to leave Jerusalem and Nephi's faith and it was AMAZING! We were SO glad we took that time to emphasize the importance of reading the scriptures and helping her experience feeling the Spirit while doing so! At the end of that lesson, we invited her to be baptized, and she said YES! She wants to still keep reading and learning before making that covenant (which is good!) but she has that desire, so we're super excited for her! We also went back and had another lesson with her on Monday, and she had read all of 1 Nephi 2! She says she loves reading the Book of Mormon now and is just so excited to read it every day and for us to come and teach from it!

General Conference was SO amazing! I have so many notes, but I'll just include some of my favorites:

Bonnie H. Cordon and focusing on our life's purpose! I loved her invitation to review our patriarchal blessings, because they really do help us know who we are and what our purpose is in this life! Patriarchal blessings are like a road map for our life - why would we want to attempt that big trip without looking at the map??? Take advantage of the guidance the Lord wants to give/has given you!

Dieter F. Uchtdorf and following Gospel Landmarks! I thought it was so interesting how the results of that study showed that people really DO walk in circles when they have nothing/no one to follow. Through the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, there ARE those we can follow: the scriptures, the prophets, and of course, Jesus Christ and His perfect example. I also loved Elder Uchtdorf's invitation to continually seek personal revelation, or 'Heavenly light', because we need a steady flow of that light in order to stay on course!

Camille N. Johnson and letting God write your story! I loved how she paired this with "Let God Prevail" - when we trust in the Lord to let Him prevail in our lives/to write our story, He'll create a story more beautiful that we could have ever written ourselves! Trust in the Author's plan!

Quentin L. Cook and relying on Christ to find individual peace! Anthony D. Perkins also mentioned this, but I loved the part where he talks about adversity and how hardships are NOT evidence of God's disfavor with us - He gives us trials to make us stronger and to help us come closer to Him! It's also difficult to look around and see so much chaos happening in the world right now, but individual peace is always available when we focus on Jesus Christ. I also loved how he referenced the song "Peace in Christ", because it's one of my favorites.

Pres. Nelson and the foundation of the temple! It honestly made me sad to hear so many talks about temples and temple attendance because I can't go to the temple as a missionary right now (we live too far away - seriously take advantage of going to the temple! Don't take it for granted!!) but I loved what he said about strengthening our spiritual foundations and making sure we are strong enough to withstand the spiritual earthquakes that are coming! I'm seriously so excited to go back to the temple when I can and to keep learning, growing, and understanding my covenants with God!

I think that's probably enough for one weekly email, but I hope you all had a wonderful General Conference weekend, because it's seriously such a blessing to have in our lives! I invite you all to (once they're available) go back and read those conference talks and really study them, in whatever method works best for you.

Love you all and have an amazing week!