So Elder Christofferson came to our mission on Saturday and it was unlike any mission conference I have ever experienced. It was in Stains which is an hour and a bit drive on a good day and we had the Guernsey Elders staying with us too so there were 5 of us and we had to leave at 6 to make it to the chapel and have a good seat. The conference was normal to start. President and Sister Gubler bore their testimonies, then an area 70 spoke, and then Sister Christofferson (she was my favourite). They were all pretty short talks. Then Elder Christofferson got up said a few words then opened up the room to a Q&A. No one knew it was going to be a Q&A so no one had time to prepare questions which made it suck at points because some missionaries asked terrible questions to an Apostle. Questions like how can we follow the Spirit or how can we be consecrated. These questions received a very text book answer that President Gubler, general conference, and the scriptures has taught us 100 times. It was as if people wanted him to give a different answer then what we have already been taught. But some good questions were asked one being how can we "pray always" when we are trying to listen or speak. Christofferson explained what it means to have a prayer in your heart as Christ taught us. He explained this means to always have the desire to know the will of the Lord and to obey. Something I loved is he answered every question (other than two) using the Book of Mormon. He would listen to the question, give a remark about the question, open a scripture and teach a principle from it, then give a personal experience regarding the principle taught by the scripture. It was a really cool teaching pattern I noticed. I asked a question that was a bit eye brow raising for President Gubler but made Christofferson laugh. It was, "How can we and how have you handled receiving council or direction from a leader that you don't agree with?" He laughed and then said well I better not answer this. The Stains Stake President was invited to answer it and gave a really sincere answer about us praying in humility and always seeking for clarification from the Spirit. It's usually pride that causes us to feel like a leader is wrong. Then Christofferson spoke. He taught that leaders are not perfect and will give imperfect council but usually mistakes of leaders are not material meaning they have no lasting matter. If they are they can push the question up all the way up to the prophet. They usually get the unanswerable questions. For us we shouldn't bother. If it is a mistake by a leader don't get offended and be patient. He was really funny and open about his answer. The conference was a good all in all and he ended by giving us an apostolic blessing which was interesting and very unique. I loved it!
We taught Alex this week while I was on exchange with Elder Cloward who is one of my best friends. It was so good to be able to randomly be with him again because he is serving on an island called Guernsey but because of the conference he had to come a day early. Alex is doing great but we had to push the date back so we could get all the family to come so now he is getting baptized on the 9th of July!! He is solid though!
Susannah just got back from Brazil and after talking to her we are going to have to push her date back again but she is still good. The work has been a lot of fun and we are working loads with less-actives too. There is a man named Paul who is single and in his 50s who is so good to the missionaries. Because he doesn't really have family we went over to his house and made him dinner for Father's Day. It was so good to be with him!
After the conference, Elder Sullivan who was serving on Guernsey went into a tri with us and his companions went back to the island. He went home on Tuesday and he couldn't fly back for just a few days so we got to keep him. It was cool to talk to him about going home and so weird that I will be there in 6 weeks. Oh how time flies. On his last night we didn't have a DA so I marinated some chicken and we bought a little disposable BBQ and made rice and mac salad and we had a picnic BBQ in the park for him. It was so much fun. I love serving through food!!
Well the mission is going so good and I am already starting to miss it. I can't believe it's my last transfer. I am so glad that I get to stay here with Aguiar and I feel so good that I get to keep serving the people here in Haywards Heath for my last little bit. I love it here and love being able to serve. Elder Christofferson in his apostolic blessing blessed us that if we are unsure about how God feels about us and our efforts as missionaries that we will be able to know clearly. As I have been pondering that I have felt more and more that the Lord is pleased with where I am at and what I am doing. I truly love this work.
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