I'm pretty sure this was the craziest week of my mission. Because of that it went by WAY too fast!! We did an exchange from Monday night to Tuesday night, went to Zion's Camp as an MLC on Wednesday and then went to Zion's Camp on Thursday to lead it, and then after Zion's Camp through Friday afternoon we did another exchange. Saturday evening was the Women's Conference. SO. CRAZY.
I feel like I just blinked and the week was over. But, it was a really good week. I loved the exchange at the beginning of the week. The companionship is a trio, so I went to their area with two of the sisters, Sister Liao and Sister Sorenson. Sister Liao is from Taiwan and Sister Sorenson is a visa waiter going to Taiwan, and it was her second week in the mission. My favorite exchanges are the ones where I get to help the sisters see that they are good missionaries. For the vast majority of the day, I just sat back and let them work, because Sister Liao has never taken the lead, and Sister Sorenson was not confident at all. There were a few times I had to take control of a situation, simply because sometimes investigators get sidetracked...but for the most part, I was able to just kind of help them do their thing. At the end of it, Sister Liao was like, "I learned that I can do it!" That's probably my favorite part of being an STL is helping sisters see what they can do when they are put out of their comfort zone. I love it!
Zion's Camp was really neat, as well. The ropes course that we did involved one of two things: trust in the Lord or trust in companionships/people. God places people in our paths for a reason, and we have to trust those people. We have to trust leaders, we have to trust our companions, our spouses, our co-workers, our friends. If we can't trust them, we will be leading a very lonely life, and we will not get very far. And, most importantly, we MUST trust in the Lord. My favorite task was the cable walk. There were two cables that reached the same destination, set at different angles. The point was to walk across them as a companionship - one on one cable and one on the other - and reach the end at the same time. It was, in reality, an impossible feat, unless you had incredible upperbody strength. To get the furthest, though, it was necessary to face your companion and you push against each other. You hold the other person up. The key to success is not worrying about if you are staying up, but if your companion is staying up. and you move along, until the cables spread too far across, and you literally would be parallel to the ground if you continued. The moral of the story: you can' tmake it across, without a third party. And that third party is Jesus Christ. But, you MUST be putting forth all of that effort for Him to help you. You put forth that effort, knowing you can't do it alone, trusting that with His strength and His help you will be able to make it to the end. I love it! We cannot reach salvation on our own. We cannot reach salvation with the combined efforts of us and our loved ones. We only reach salvation by relying on our Savior Jesus Christ. I just really loved that lesson.
Women's Conference was another highlight. I loved all of it! I was able to receive a lot of insight. I loved the emphasis on the temple. So much of the work being hastened has to do with our ancestors passed away, as well. We must hasten the work on both sides of the veil! and we have to be doing both!
More than ever, though, this week I have been filled with gratitude. Gratitude to be here. Gratitude for this experience. I cannot say what this means to me, or what it feels like to be realizing that it's coming to a close. But, I'm so grateful. There is nothing better I could have done for my life. I love you all! Thank you for all that you do to help me and support me out here. I love you!
Sister Beth Ann Root!
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