Monday, October 3, 2016

October 3, 2016 Ninja Stars, General Conference, Transfers

This is a street in Rochester, Minnesota that Elder Esquivel, one of the APs, took for me!!! So fun!! I hope I get to stand on this corner someday! My Grandma Duvall was born and raised in Rochester, MN. My Grandpa Duvall served part of his mission in Rochester MN and my grandparents met in Rochester, MN!


 St. Paul MN TEMPLE TRIP!!!! It was so nice to be able to attend a session at the temple!
 I always feel the spirit so strongly every time I go. I love the temple!!!

Hola mi familia y mis amigos!!
     This week we had A LOT of meetings, so we didn't have as many lessons as we wanted. But we still had some really solid lessons and little miracles this week! First things first, I am not getting transferred! 


I was trying to wink!

My companion, Hermana Brittner, is getting transferred to North Saint Paul and I will be staying here! I am going to miss Hermana Brittner, but we are both excited to see what miracles come to pass this next transfer! My new companion is Hermana Rowland, and I will meet her on Wednesday...pictures to come next week!

     

A ninja star that one of the kids gave me!! Super legit!

Having fun with photo editing and my companion!

Annual Costco Lunch!!

I think I mentioned that we had a lesson with Kyle and Kayla last Monday morning in my last letter. This morning we had another lesson with them!! We started talking about the Book of Mormon with them, and why we have it! Kayla made a really funny comparison to coffee that I thought was clever. She said that she doesn't understand why there are like 50 flavors of coffee, that there should just be one. She related this to the Church of Jesus Christ; there must only be one true church. We then shared Joseph Smith's First Vision, and she loved it!! Kyle really liked it as well because he recognized that Heavenly Father can really answer prayers!! They both are really excited that to read the Book of Mormon! Kyle said his first prayer ever today! It was so sincere and awesome! They are awesome. Sadly, they don't speak Spanish so we have to pass them off to the English Missionaries. It's okay, because they will be in good hands! 
    On Tuesday we were walking around, and Hermana Brittner had a prompting that we needed to knock on a door of the street that we were walking on. So we did that! We introduced ourselves as Hermana Duvall and Hermana Brittner, and she smiled and said "Hola, I am Hermana Patty." ha-ha. She let us right in! We ended up teaching her about the Book of Mormon and about Joseph Smith. She already has a lot of faith in Jesus Christ, which is awesome. She was really excited to learn that she could learn more about Jesus Christ by reading the Book of Mormon! She is moving this next weekend, but said that we could come by and teach her some more when she moves into her other house! She is still going to be in our area, so we were happy to find that out! 
    We met with one of the less-active members in our branch this week. His name is Mario! We just invited him to conference and shared a short message about prophets! When we were talking to him, his little dog Nessy escaped the house. He told us if one of us caught the dog, he would give the winner $10.00!! Who won.... THIS HERMANA! But he didn't give me ten dollars because he said I tricked Nessy. I was just really nice to her, but apparently he wanted me to trace her all around and catch her that way ha-ha.
     We got to teach a lesson to Diana!! She is the lady from Kenya that we met a little over a month ago! She was super glad that we stopped by, and let us right in!  She hadn't had time to read the Book of Mormon (in Swahilian) that we gave to her last week, but she really wanted to learn more about it! So we taught her about the Book of Mormon and the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Throughout the whole lesson, she asked a lot of in depth questions. She really has a desire to learn. We invited her to be baptized, and she said that she would be eventually if she learned that the things we taught her were true!! She is eager to learn more!! We are also going to have to pass her off to different missionaries; but, I am so grateful for each of the experiences that I have had so many chances to teach the Gospel in English and in Spanish! 
      GENERAL CONFERENCE!! General Conference was so awesome! I feel like all of the talks were directed towards me! I watched half of the Saturday Morning Session in Spanish, and that was an experience to say the least. I understood the gist of what each person was talking about, but it was difficult to take notes because I had to really listen to understand. We watched the Sunday Morning Session with Jensen’s. Sister Jensen and Brother Jensen made a really yummy breakfast before Conference started! It was fun watching with them, because it almost felt like I was back at home.  The other two sessions, we watched at the church building. Like I said, I really loved all of the talks, but I especially loved what the Prophet said.  He talked about the Plan of Salvation. He said, "It is the one perfect path to peace and happiness both here and in the world to come." Heavenly Father gives us different experiences for our benefit; and although we may experience sadness, distress, despair, we can also experience so much happiness because of the plan Heavenly Father has given us! Heavenly Father gives us experiences for our benefit, and He loves us so much that He sent his son Jesus Christ to atone for us. I am so grateful for the words of the Prophet, because he reminded me how important it is for us to fulfill our purpose in this life: we are meant to have joy! I know that President Thomas S. Monson a prophet of God, and that his advice (and the advice of everyone else who spoke) is meant for the whole entire world to hear! 
    I am so very grateful to be out here on a mission, because every day I am able to help people learn how they can be happier. It's as simple as that. Heavenly Father wants us to be happy, and I promise that through the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ all can receive happiness!
I love you all so much, but more importantly Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ, loves you all so much more! Until next week!
Love,
Hermana Duvall





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