Their Goals are our Goals

Well this week flew by!!! I gotta start my week off with a great district meeting, then my first leadership meeting with the LZs and other STLs :) We talked on how to be better and how March went and what are plans are for April. Something I got out of it was "Their Goals are our Goals". If we want to be good leaders, we should know their desires, goals, and dreams and make them our own. They are our priority, just how we are God’s priority.

during splits, we were eating lunch in a member's house or apartment and I saw Fereira in the distance....yep its where all the skyscrapers are and ours is near the darkest one

Lunch on Tuesday was hilarious because it just so happened to be in the safest, most heavily secured group of condominiums and I didn’t have my color copy of my Visa....sooooo they didn’t let us in and to get a little bus ride to their building but made the member come drive and pick us up. Well now I know! She made us chocolate chip cookies, and she had Olive Garden dressing! That was a treat :) We also got to give the lunch message in English and Portuguese because we invited the maid to listen in on the song we sang and quick message for her and after one for the member’s mother who had just flown in. Maybe this English immersion is good for me and my ability to switch the two. Well we will just wait and see :)

tried making cookies that didn't really work out....oh well!

We also got to help another family in the ward this week and had dinner with them first cause she really wanted us to talk to her 8 year old about the importance of baptism. It was such a sweet experience to see his mind process all we were saying and seeing the light in his mother’s eyes as she testified along with us of its importance. Let’s also just say, puzzles are always my back up plan. My mom made me some popsicle stick puzzles of Christ that have been amazing! We have been able to teach people in so many ways with them, like how our life slowly comes together as we apply the principles of the gospel, or how everyone has an important role in the puzzle (or plan) of God, OR how we can’t complete the puzzle without the last piece : Our Savior. I usually hand out all the pieces except for one (but they don’t know) and invite them to put it together, then when the piece with his eyes are missing they always look in confusion at me.....then I bear a solemn testimony that without Him, the puzzle is only partly complete and we can’t see the whole picture, we can’t enjoy this life completely without Him.

first conselho!!! (council meeting)

I also got to go on an exchange with a wonderful sister this week and learned a lot from her, that it’s all about LOVE! On the mission we have both been just overwhelmed with His love, the love of members, my own love has grown and this love helps with everything else. If we are in a loving mindset, it wipes away the simple confusion that at times directs us in the wrong way.

Conference just blew me away. Remember the last one I got to watch in Portuguese and really try to hear the spirit???? Well this time I got to listen in English and the spirit! It was the best of both worlds :) Saturday was my day of heavy revelation. And to be honest the music just took me to heaven :) who didn’t just get the chills when they sang "Come Thou Fount?" I’ll try to write a few things I got out of conference :) " Keep a prayer in your heart" Be a hungry humble listener" "The Great Elohim loves us" "Rid myself of worldly weight" "I have an Eternal Identity" I loved the whole talk about hymns....hands down :) I was just in awe. "As a serving missionary, I am under the direction of the keys" "Choose to be more spiritually in-tune" I thought that was cool with the word in-tune haha "The legacy of Hymns, helps us worship Him" " Do not waste my days on sin or grief" As for the tab choir, " The power of many, in just one voice" but a testimony all the same :) "It’s not a sacrifice but a privilege to obey God" I also thought Elder Arnold was such a sweet spirit, his sobs were a spiritual indicator of his sincerity and strength. Elder Bednar just explained everything so clearly as well! That blew me away :)

Well, I could go on and on but I’m not going to. You all should already know that it is necessary that we have a living prophet, that we sincerely and strongly sustain him, and that we humbly listen and act on his teachings because with certainty conference is like our letter from God. Did we even open the envelope? Did we read it quickly skimming over parts? How are we going to respond to it? You can answer these questions personally, consider it your conference homework, just as Holland said "always remember tomorrow how we felt today" and God will never abandon us. We are His treasure. He doesn’t bury us, but puts us on mountain tops and in valleys to see us shine and see us rejoice. You can count on sister Oldroyd, cause she’s rejoicing, she’s singing and won’t stop for intermission :) love you all, I’ve talked long enough, go talk to God or write him even.

Love Sis Oldroyd a more inspired member and missionary who’s singing on the mountain tops :) (yes I thought of Sound of Music kkk)