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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