(note: Ian Patton! I got your postcard from Sweden, thanks so much it was cool! I want to write back but only have your FL address, it´s hard to keep in touch with such a free spirit, but tell malcolm to tell nathaly to tell me where I can send you a postcard, too)
Don´t worry folks, I didn´t get abducted by aliens or the international police this week, we had a conference so our p-day was changed to tuesday.This week was a spiritual banquet! It started out friday with a Leadership Conference we had in the mission, we got the amazing news that Elder Holland is scheduled to speak to our mission in November!!!! WHAAAA!!! I´m gonna be praying and fasting that it will happen fersure! Then of course was General Conference, I don´t know if it´s just the mission or what, but it was seriously one of the most inspired conferences I´ve ever heard! There wasn´t a single dull moment (I usually fall asleep during at least one of the speakers lol), the choir sang incredible songs (especially the one that said "Lord turn me not away" what a cool song), and best of all they talked A TON about MISSIONARY WORK! It´s so incredible to witness this hastening in the Lord´s work, so many missionaries have come into the field since the announcement just a year ago and to be a part of it all is the greatest blessing! The prayers given in our behalf were so heartfelt and brought tears to my eyes, you guys have no idea how much we appreciate those prayers and how much we need them, they strengthen us and help us get by during the challenges we face on the mission, so thank you. And well I hope you guys aren´t missing me too much but if you did there was the pleasant surprise of my Mormon Message being played right before the 2nd session started on sunday! It was totally unexpected and my cover was blown to the entire stake, and probably mission, as everyone started looking at me and pointing and all the missionaries in my zone were yelling "Hermana Ibarra!!! Eres famosa!!!" and the youth wanted to take pictures with me hahaha it was really quite flattering, but I just tried to be cool about it and slipped back into the gringo room with my companion where we were watching the conference in english with some of the greenie Elders. And lastly, we had Zone Conference with all the missionaries in our stake and the mission president. We learned about teaching with the spirit and how to improve our contacts, played games, ate a ton of food, and had a good time. My favorite but also saddest part is when the missionaries who are leaving share their testimony, it always makes me tear up and they always say the same thing "the time went by really fast", and it truly does. Next sunday I´ll have 8 months in the mission, I feel like I just got here yesterday, but it´s been incredible to see how far I´ve come in that time and how much I´ve improved spiritually, in my abilities as a missionary and in my character. But like Edward Dube said in conference "Don´t look back, look forward at the work that still needs to be done!" And that´s exactly how I feel, there is still so much more I need to change and accomplish on the mission, and time is going by faster than my mind can process!!!
Before signing off, I want to share a powerful experience I had this week with conference. So I know I mentioned some time back that I had finished reading the Book of Mormon. Although it was my 2nd time reading it, it was the 1st time actually understanding the story line, characters, and what was going on. This increased knowledge and understanding of the Book of Mormon also brought increased questions and doubts about it´s validity. There were just things that were too similar to the bible, that seemed like the same exact stories only the names were changed or things that were just copied word for word. There we´re also small details I was fixed on because they didn´t seem humanly possible or realistic. Although I had prayed and received an answer that the Book of Mormon was true, I just couldn´t let go of those doubts I had and prayed for guidance. I went into conference with a prayer in my heart, that something in the messages shared would help me resolve my worries. That´s when in the saturday session when Ulisses Soares spoke and quoted a scripture in 2 Timothy, I missed the refernce so I was quickly skimming as he still spake and I stumbled upon chapter 3 verses 14-17 "But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; 15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 aAll scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitablefor doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." I started to tear up (I´m such a cry-baby on the mission, who am I?!) and I knew that the Lord had listened to my prayer and was giving me an answer, "Gladys, you know the Book of Mormon is true, you´ve ALWAYS known! I´ve given you multiple answers, so why do you keep asking me?!" President Uchtdorf later said that we must doubt our doubts before we doubt our faith, and that´s exactly what I did. My questions and concerns are dumb, they don´t matter, they´re not important nor essential for my salvation. What matters is that the Book of Mormon is true, I know it´s true, because God answered my prayer, that it teaches us of Christ, of the precious truths that were lost for hundreds of years and the blessings we now have thanks to his restored gospel. What matters is that no evil man would write such a book, and no good man could without the power of God as Elder Holland said, and that man was Joseph Smith. I know the Lord answers prayers, because throughout my life He has mine, and I know He will answer yours as you strive to live within the bounds He has set. I love you family and friends!!! I hope you had experiences just as special as you watched and listened to General Conference, that the spirit confirmed some wonderful truth to your heart and that your faith and testimony was increased, if you didn´t then you need to ask yourself why.
Spiritual cookie: "That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we alive, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring." Acts 17:27-28
xoxo,
Hna.Ibarra
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