9/29/14

BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE LETTER O

October is this week! Isint that crazy. I can't believe it. The time is far spent. And there is little remaining. I need to pick up the pace, do more, be more, work more, then play more. 

O'Neil's  are "HOTROCKS" 

this week i have felt a really big emphasis on the two "O"'s. 

Obedience and Optimism.

During the women's meeting I felt such a focus on covenants, temples and obedience. I have come to really learn that obedience is so important, and I want to become a more consecrated missionary. There is more I want to give, more I want to do, and more I want to be and I just have to do it. I truly felt so much of heavenly fathers love this week. I am so grateful for it. I want to be a better disciple, I want to be a better follower and I want to be more Christlike. "So much time, so little to do... Wait, reverse that!" -willy wonka. Haha anyways, they are so important and I am really grateful to have been taught there things all my life.

Owesomeness - so many things his week were just owesome!  Haha. I had interviews with president and I just loved it. He taught me so much and I felt of the great love he has for us missionaries, and really helped me to remember the love Heavenly Father has for me individually!  He helped me with some of my concerns and fears, and I had a really cool experience having some of my questions answered. Sometimes the questions we have we don't even realize we have until we are receiving the answer. I really had to be paying attention to the spirit to have received those answers. I am really grateful I was.  It was owesome.

Another two things that were Owesome this week were our two conferences. Zone and womens conference, and they were the best. It was amazing. The spirit that filled my heart when the conference started was such a wonderful feeling. I love conference and I feel so grateful this time has finally come. I love #genconf. !! Yay!

Don't worry, be happy. It has been a theme in our companionship this week. I send the same invite for you, don't worry, just be happy. :) there is so much to be grateful for and so much to bring us happiness, allow it to last, let it consume our souls! I loved the umbrella idea from the women's meeting, I have been praying that I would be able to close my umbrella more often, and see the blessings that are falling on me! They are bountiful! I need to pay more of the price to be more consecrated, to be more. 

This week we taught this really cool guy, doug. We hope we can meet with him again. He was very kind to us, and listened to all we had to say, even thought he may not be the most interested, but it was really cool, because I promised him really specific blessings, and I just knew they would come true, I just hope he did his part. 

We had to drop our family investigators, Shaun and her family. Mainly because of the contention that she felt coming from sister Henderson. And Shaun's attitude towards some aspects of the church. She felt that she was always defensive towards her, so we told her to contact us. It has been all so confusing and hard to keep our investigators keeping their commitments. The lord will provide and things will work out.

One of the funniest things that happened this week was we got this text from a random guy: well here is the back story... We were tracting in chili and knocked in this guys door and he seems like he is a little mentally handicapped, anyways we gave him our number because he seemed interested in our message. So at loaves and fish, he talked to us and then later that day he sent us a text that said " is it a sin to call a nun good lookin?" We laughed a lot at that, and then felt a little awkward inside. Haha so we haven't responded and I don't think we will, how do you deal with things like this? He is like 55 yrs old.haha anyways it was funny. 

Well I love you so much. I hope you have a wonderful week, and enjoy general conference. It's going to be the best. Love love love      Sister O'Neil 

9/22/14

HOLA FAMILIA!

Esta semana ha sido tan bueno!

He leido el Libro de Mormon en espanol, y ahora hablo perfecto espanol!

... haha...jajaja (or 555 if your thai) es broma, en realidad no!

(presented to you by google translate!- YAY for technology!)

 Well this week was pretty good. We had some great lessons and some
awesome experiences, that I am so grateful for.

on Monday and Tuesday we had exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders. they are the best! I always learn so much from them and feel prepared after our time with them!  Sister Doxey is like one of my favorite people and I was so happy to have spent that time with her. we are great friends!

On Friday we had our mission conference! it was one of the greatest experiences of my life! I love mission conferences! I love this time of year, because it is so full of conferences and then those lead into the holidays! it is just so wonderful!

I was able to ride up to Naperville with the lovely Sister Oliphant! I love her so much! She and her companion and the Hermanas that serve in their area, it was a fun trip. I love sister Oliphant so much, she has faced great trials in her time as a missionary and her calm strength is so inspiring to me. she has so much faith and trust in the Lord and knows it will all work out. I quote her so often, when she said "its all ok in the end, if its not ok, its not the end"  but to me that is just a simple example of the great amount of faith that she has. She bore her testimony at the conference, and I was so grateful for it. I love her so much.

So President talked to us about the coming forth of the book of Mormon. It was fitting because just yesterday was the anniversary of the appearance of Moroni to Joseph Smith, and today is the anniversary of when he received the plates. It is such a wonderful time to be alive. I learned so much, and learned from the spirit as well. it was so good! do you know the real purpose of the book of Mormon? most people would say it is to be another testimony of Christ and help us come to know him, well while that is true it is not the full purpose. and there is one greater. it is to teach us of the covenants that God makes with his children. 2 nephi 3 or Mormon 7:8-9 it is to come to a knowledge of the covenants and then to be gathered home. Gathering of the house of Israel! so cool! my mind has been blown since this. and I have learned a lot. hope you do to!

He issued us another Book of Mormon challenge. I am finishing my copy of the book of mormon now and will finish on the 3rd of October, and then I will start my challenge and finish before Christmas, you should all do it with me. Get a new fresh copy of the Book of Mormon and mark the following.  In RED: Mark conversion, qualities of it, stories of lives changed and being born again. In BLUE: teachings on covenants and the house of Israel. Finding examples of covenants God has made with his people and the blessings they receive. And in YELLOW: how to teach others to come unto Christ. Teaching skills and examples of great questions. Qualities of good leaders who taught their people.

I love these topics. I am excited to learn about them as I read. Get a fresh copy and GO! you can start now, you don't have to wait until October 3rd.

And then I got to ride home with sister Oliphant and sister ashby again! and They are both PHENOMENAL singers and very musically talented, so when we got to the church, we had a few minutes to kill, so we sang some songs together. I recorded them! you can listen when I come home! :) #10weeksleft! #Ilovemail #hinthint #iloveyouall! :)

so my mini-mexico experience!... Remember when I had my day in mini-mexico last year, like right before thanksgiving. that was totally preparing me for Saturday! It was so cool. and such a fun experience! Ok, well first I need to preface this story by telling you that I really don't know Spanish, like at all. haha I like to pretend that I do, and try and I feel I work at it when the opportunity presents its self, but in reality I know probably about 20%of what they are saying and I know how to say even less than that. hahaha.  Sister Maribel Castro Ventura was baptized in June, and we she invited us over for dinner. she was taught by the Spanish elders, but she knows perfect English. so we went over there for dinner and she wanted us to eat with her sister and their family who don't speak any English - well hardly any. I FORGET HOW MUCH THEY FEED YOU! it was insane. I was so FULL! side note, anyways, we get to the end of eating, and we told Maribel that we had a lesson for her, but she had to go so she left us with her family.. who don't speak English. and we don't speak Spanish. so it was pretty interesting, from the moment we sat down together I had been praying in my heart that Heavenly Father would help me remember the few things I did know in Spanish and be able to understand one another and deliver our message with the spirit. so I asked Maribel for a copy of El Libro de Mormon, and I read to her sister a few versus from Enos in Spanish. it was pretty good. she had a few questions. she had met with the Spanish elders before and had asked them all her questions. later in the lesson she became a little contentious and her heart was hardened when we tried to explain why we read from the book of Mormon. She kept bringing up so many versus and things from the bible and looking for what we had to say about it, and every time president Fenn would go through my head "the bible is not common ground, it is battle ground." so we would tell her why we believed in the book of Mormon after every question. through out the lesson I was totally speaking Spanglish. haha maybe I shouldn't have, but I would speak English and then when I new a word in Spanish I would say it. haha but she seemed to understand us. at the very end I knew I needed to tell her my testimony, so I did, and I said the whole thing in Spanish! It was so cool! It was very basic, but the spirit was so strong.  this whole experience gave me such an appreciation for all those missionaries who work so hard to learn another language. It is hard work, and I am grateful for all they, and you (my siblings) do to learn that language and use it to teach others about Christ. It is so awesome! I know the gift of tongues is real. for those brief moments I was able to understand and I felt the spirit working with me.  we invited her to put all her questions aside and open her heart to hear the message the elders can share with her. I understand how scary it can be and the faith it can take to learn more about God, especially when you have been taught something your whole life. 

another thing I learned about myself is I really dislike it when people try to make me feel ashamed that I was raised in the gospel. It is so annoying.  a lot of people on my mission have made the comment "oh well that is all you know" or "that is all you know," "you don't know any different, how do you know if it is true or not"  I know its true by the same way you will come to know it is true! I have started telling people who say that to me " I am not ashamed of being raised in the gospel and of being a member of this church, it is the greatest blessing I could ever ask for, and I feel heavenly fathers love to know that he placed me in a family that has these beliefs and taught them to me." In some ways it is a small example of standing for truth and righteousness and it is such a small tactic that Satan uses to make us feel ungrateful or ashamed of the things that are blessings in our lives. to that is say HA! Satan HA! "you are SO dumb! you are really dumb, FOR REAL!"

I know the book of Mormon to be the word of God. I am so grateful that I have been raised in  a home that has taught me in the fullness of the gospel. I am grateful for the priesthood authority and all of the immense blessings I have receive from our Heavenly Father. This church is true! joseph Smith is a Prophet of God! 

love you all!

hope you have a wonderful wonderful week, full of awesome missionary opportunities. - are you praying for them?

General conference is so soon! have you written down your questions?    

love,

Sister O'Neil