5/27/14

A Few of My Favorite Things

bet you all thought you weren't getting an email this week. :) 

well on Tuesday there was A HUGE storm! It was so exciting! thunder and lightning and the whole bit! I was like.. WHAT THE HAIL when the hail came down and put dents in our car. our ENTIRE car is covered in dents... so we will see what happens in the future. we will prob have to have it fixed.  But the storm was so exciting. We sat at our window and watched as we were almost engulfed in the water. could have been a flash flood! 

Then on Thursday we had the wonderful wonderful baptism of Kylie Ryder! Kylie is such an outstanding wonderful little girl, with such a desire to learn and be kind to others.  The baptismal service was beautiful. Lots of her family and friends were there and many members from this ward. Her grandmother gave an excellent talk on the holy ghost that really brought the spirit. 

I had the opportunity to go on exchanges this week. It is only the second time I was able to leave my area for exchanges, usually i am the one left in the area to hold the fort down. so it was a nice "break" and i had a great time going to Elgin. Elgin is SO beautiful. their library is RIGHT on the river and every window  you can see the river. It is so peaceful. - if i lived here i would literally live in the library. while we were on exchanges we taught so many people. I think the greatest part about it was that I felt like every person i had met, i knew before i actually met them. does that make sense? everyone just seemed So familiar to me. There was this pastor guy who stopped us and asked us all these ridiculous questions.  it was interesting to listen to him, because as we did we knew that our testimonies and the knowledge we had were solid, and they came from god. we had a surety.  while his seemed so shaky and so unsure, he kept encouarging us to "go check this out on the internet" or "if you google.."  My heart started to race as i stopped him to testify of the Book of Mormon and I felt so alive! I LOVE defending the truth! there is nothing more satisfying! :) 

We had two really great lessons with Sue and one with Jerry. They came to church on Sunday! that was great! It was Andrew Neumann's Homecoming and he taught the restoration and bore powerful testimony. It was so PERFECT! the spirit was booming! and radiating. it was such a beautiful Sunday.   

HAHA it was so funny! during one of our lessons with Sue we taught her about the story of the Brother of Jared. As we told her about how he had great faith and saw the finger of the Lord, she said "I hope it wasn't the middle finger!?" HAHAHA it was so funny!   We laughed, and i said to my self "that seems like a question/statement dad would say . haha"   haha i love sue! 

Loni Williamson came home. she is one of my favorite members out here, and she was in singapore this last week, and I missed her. so i am glad she is back. She and Sue are really close.  

On Saturday we went to help Chris Skrede clean up her yard. she lives on a beautiful acre lot and it is full of trees and beautiful things and is right along the river. I want to live there, it was such a peaceful morning to be there and help her out. 

If you had the opportunity to read Elder Astles latest email, it is powerful. I add my testimony to his. If you didnt, go read it. the principles are true. and i know of the great importance of being a consecrated missionary (full time or not, i will forever be a missionary).  

I love general conference. I was able to read a lot of the talks again this week and learned much! also i love Jesus the Christ. It is so eye opening! :) love it! 

i love this gospel so MUCH! 

Love you all. Hope you have a wonderful week!  One week and a day and i am completely legal...the big 21! ....... sorry Megan.. ( you know what i am talking about.. 6 months! dont worry! ) 

but in all seriousness, i love my birthday! It is such a wonderful day because it was the day the Heavenly Father brought me to this earth to have this great experience and learn all that I have. and i would never trade it for anything. 

LOVE YOU! 

Sister O'Neil

Ps happy belated birthday Adrian! :)