5/5/14

ANTZ

HELLO!! anyone want to come and rid our apartment of Ants?  there are SO MANY OF THEM!!!  it is kinda gross. Sister Oliveira found them in her purse and all over our kitchen floor. I guess its the signs of spring! :)  

Another not so lovely sign of spring the pollen's in the air.  I am not really sure why i didnt figure this whole allergy thing out before now, because upon my reflecting of this issue, i have had this head cold thing every year, this week of the year for the past 3 years - at least. hahaha and i just never put two and two together. So that has been a fun battle. Luckily the worst of it is over now - i hope. I have my voice back and i am not as stuffed up as i was.  hahaha  

ok well this week was amazing!!  Just amazing! so good!! :) belting "the hills are alive" good. i mean top notch.  SOO GOOD! (teen girl squad). 

well, on Monday we had a wonderful lesson with Thomas Weitzel. He is doing amazing. he agreed to stop chewing tobacco and is still on date to be baptized on the 17th.  :)  he is so inspiring, he has this notebook and he writes EVERYTHING in there. he comes to our lessons with questions and notes written about what he is reading. He is an excellent example of an honest truth seeker. I hope to be a better note taker and follow his example. He truly has a deep desire to follow Christ and agrees to everything because he knows and understands that it will bring him blessings and closer to God. He is AWESOME!! He also came to our even on thursday that i will tell you more about.

OK. FAMILY! My prayers have been answered!!!! 

Tuesday, at transfers, I had the WONDERFUL opportunity to see my old companion sister Coburn (one of my favys.) and the first thing she told me was that KIRA FRIEDRICH is on date!!!! KIRA is going to be BAPTIZED on Thursday!! I started crying. ( almost an ugly cry). I worked with Kira every week i was in Pekin and she has been so prepared for such a long time, and she finally made the decision. :) She is seriously my soul sister. i love her so much! ; prayers answered. 

unfortunately because i went from one end of the mission to the other, i cant travel all that distance to go to her baptism. Its a bummer, but president said i could call her before the service and talk to her. - a tender mercy  of which i am grateful for. 

Also, at transfer meetings president spoke to us (he usually does) but this was such an amazing experience that i hope i never forget. There was a big thunder storm that was rolling through as we met together on tuesday morning. President Fenn gave a wonderful sermon (because his talks are more like sermons than they are talks - love it! ) and a couple times just as we was making serious points, there would be a clap of thunder to underscore his point. and then the rain would beat on the roof harder and harder until at important points and it would quite as he shared experiences. 

 He told us in his address about his health, which has been a worry. Explaining that he was in the hospital last week for a procedure, he made it very clear the severity of his condition. He had to take a heart stress test that he failed. And long story short he has to have surgery on his heart because one of the 3 main arteries is completely blocked. He is not supposed to have his heart over a certain pulse, because if he does, he could die. BUT if he has another peanut allergy attack, and there is a need for an epipen then his heart will go over that. - so he needs to have this surgery. He is living on a fine line.

He had his internists look for the best hospital in all the world that has the best success rates for this surgery he needs and this is what he said. 

" it is interesting why the Lord calls you to a certain mission, (he referred to when Elder Martino was here and shared some thoughts with us on this topic) I have never really questioned why the Lord called me here, but when my internists came back they told me the best place in all the world is at Loyola University. 20 min from my house here in Naperville."  WOW! what a blessing. - no comment. 

The church is true. "The Lord is in the details of our lives" - President Monson

In other news, I am also grateful for the knowledge of  the plan of salvation. Grandpa Kenny Udstad, from the Prestbury ward, passed away yesterday. He is one my favorite people i have met while on my mission, and i am going to miss him. I learned so much about WWII and being a cowboy from him and how to crack a whip. He is living proof that you are NEVER too old to change. He was 92. I love him. Cant wait to see him again! 

This week I learned something really valuable from Preach My Gospel. In Relief Society this week they prepared a lesson on the first two lessons found in preach my gospel.  And then they had everyone write down a question that they had from a friend, and then using the knowledge we know from the first 2 lesson, had to answer that question. it was really good! but as i was looking through Preach My Gospel I felt inspired to look in the "how to improve my teaching skills" section - section 10 :) And this point really stuck out to me. That if we want to help others understand the God that we believe in, and reach them the true nature of our Heavenly Father, the best way to do that is to teach them through the spirit. We have to provide for them a spiritual experience. Share your testimony every time you answer a question about the Church. It is the best way we can help them to understand God. (it lists many other ways we can help them understand that, that is just one of the easier ways, i encourage you to go and study that, it is under the " how to teach people with out a christian background section." 

Sue is doing really well! She came to church. We are going to invite her accept a date to be baptized. We hope she will agree! it is awesome. she told us that she knows Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. ( maybe i told you) but it is beautiful!  

Thursday President came to NIU to speak for anyone and everyone. He basically taught the first 3 lessons in 40 mins. It was so impressive. And then he answered our investigators questions. It was an awesome experience to see as president helped to answer our investigators questions. I love working with him. He is an amazing individual :) 

Well family. I love you!  I will see you in 6 days!   

Love, 

Sister O'Neil 

I love sister Oliveira, sometimes she says really funny things because English is her second language. the other day she said " i need to take a pregnancy test." and then looked at me and i gave her this WHAT?! look... and said " I Mean a pregnancy picture!" hahaha some sisters take "pregnancy" pictures at their nine month mark. haha it was really funny. :)