My table decor at the barn dance. Mottlova and I woke up early and cut off these branches and berries down by the motorway. We are such rebels!
On Friday us missionaries hosted an American Barn Dance for the Sheffield 1 Ward. We had roughly 60 people who came and ~20 were nonmembers! It was such a great turn out. I was on decoration duty and got quite creative by collecting berries and fall leaves along the side of the road for the centerpieces. I also taught everyone a couple line dances and the Virgina Reel. Authentic missionary work, right?
Conference with the Peggs.
We spent Conference Sunday with the Peggs. One thing I loved in particular was the reoccurring theme of "enduring joy". This phrase was said by Elder Vinson, Elder Owen, Elder Christofferson, and Elder Pace! Only through living the gospel do we experience a joy that lasts.
Brinner for Conference
Another concept I noticed that was brought up multiple times was giving a full heart and commitment to living the gospel. Renlund said something along these lines..."Do not throw old ways in still water or bury them with the handle sticking out." Rasband talked about half-hearted commitments and asked, "When you tell someone you will pray for them, will you?" Uctforf concluded this concept beautifully by encouraging us to focus on doing good intentionally rather than aiming to do things perfectly.
As we consciously focus on becoming more like christ, fully bury our weapons or old ways all, and make full-hearted commitments, we will be able to feel enduring joy. I love hearing from our church leaders!
As I read The Book of Mormon this week, I was struck by Alma 12:26- "And now behold, if it were possible that our first parents could have gone forth and partaken of the tree of life they would have been forever miserable, having no preparatory state; and thus the plan of redemption would have been frustrated, and the word of God would have been void, taking none effect." As I read this verse, the spirit confirmed its truthfulness. Jospeh Smith could not have made up such a perfect plan. It is so utterly incomprehensible, yet it is simple to understand. It is one of love, full agency, growth, perfect mercy and justice. This week I encourage you to read Alma 12 and reflect on how perfect the plan is when you see it with an eternal perspective.
Ok now I want you to go read Alma 11:5-19. You may ask why I wanted you to read that. May seem random, but, those verses convinced me of the book's truthfulness as well. Being the math-minded girl I am, I decided to map out how much each was worth in relation to each other. I don't know how accurate I was, but I was even more deeply convinced that Joseph Smith could not have magically known this ancient money system (I attached a picture so you can see what I did..mom you can put this pic on the blog by this paragraph). I have such a strong testimony that The Book of Mormon is the true word of God!
Ok that's all for today. I hope you enjoyed conference as much as I did!
Cheers! Sister Jones
The wall of legends. Over the past 15 years the Peggs have put legendary missionaries on their wall.
I saw these little shells outside and asked Sister Pegg if she had any clay. This looks like a polar bear but it's meant to be a hedgehog for Daniel.
Our friend Prince who we teach at the hospital at a cancer research wing.
