Sunday, October 14, 2012

Chapter 15 - Conference Continuted


Conference was so special, but when we sent an email to Ashley to tell her we saw her in the choir her response made it even more special.  I asked if I could share her feelings on our blog. It is as follows…
We Emailed Ashley…
“Ashley, Grandpa and I want you to know that we saw you singing in conference.  It was awesome to see you and you just glowed....  When we saw you we both cried...  I didn't realize how much we miss you until we saw your beautiful face!  Please tell all the youth that sang from the ward how proud we are of you all for being worthy to take part in conference.  Also, tell "T" that the choir sounded like angels - it was beautiful!!!!  We love you Honey - so very, very much!”
ASHLEY WROTE TO US…  “Thank you grandma & grandpa! Singing in conference was definitely one of the best experiences I could ever have. I will never forget the feeling I had singing for the world. Being in that conference center, and sitting in the choir loft, felt exactly right. Watching the prophet walk in, I got the feeling that he is the true living prophet on this earth. After conference, when he was walking out, he saluted to the men. It was the greatest thing to watch. 
Before we went to our seats in the choir loft, we were in the little theater in the conference center. T was talking to us about who we were going to sing for. She had everyone stand up that knew a missionary out on the field. I stood up, and she told me to sing for you guys. 
So I did. 
I love you! I hope you are having an amazing time.”

OUR REPLY…  “What a beautiful testimony - always remember the feelings you had and keep them in your heart.  The Church is true and that knowledge is priceless!  Although Grandpa and I miss you all so much, we are so happy to be serving the Lord.  Being able to help the missionaries with their physical and spiritual needs is such a great blessing.  The work they do is so important and they are sacrificing so much.   Grandpa and I are humbled and glad that we can help in our small way.  
We are really enjoying teaching institute.  We teach three classes - two times a week.  On Monday & Wednesday we teach Gospel and Productive Life - which is a class about preparing for life in general.  How, by living the Gospel, your life can be better because of the choices you make.  We are teaching about how to make the best use of time, how to set goals, how to manage money and all the physical things we need to do to be a productive person in society.  It is a fairly new class and it is fun to see how these concepts (some of them are new to this cultural) are being grasped and accepted.  On Tuesday and Thursday mornings we teach two classes - Eternal Marriage and New Testament (the four gospels).  
I taught a lesson on dating last week, and right in the middle of the class a student raised his hand and said, "Sister Jordan, we don't date."  Wow, it blew me away - and I had to rethink the whole lesson right on the spot.  Heavenly Father directed me in what to say and it turned out really great.  I told them the reason the Church wanted us to date (we changed the word date to 'socialize' - then it made sense to them), is because we need to get to know different people and their strengths and weaknesses so we can choose the best person to spend eternity with.  I told them that you had decided that you wanted to date 2000 Stripling Warriors in order to make your best choice.  They thought that was neat, and they understood better the reason for dating (socializing).  So you see, your goal helped young adults in Samoa understand an important concept.  
We had great news the other day.  One of our students told Grandpa that he had decided that he did not want to go on a mission, but because of being in our classes he had changed his mind and he turned in his papers last week.  We were so excited and again humbled that maybe we had played a small part in his decision.  There are two young men in our classes that are waiting for their mission calls.  We hope that we can go to the temple with them when they get ready to go.  The temple is on another island and it costs about $170.00 a person to fly there - but we are hoping to have the funds to make the trip with them.  We have grown to love them both so much!
Ashley, Remember that we love you, and remember that FAMILIES are the most important blessing we have - family and our testimonies of this Gospel.  Grandpa told the students at institute the other day that the most important miracle there is, is when each of us gain our own testimony and internalize it into our hearts - that is a personal miracle that we can all experience.”

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