Email February 9, 2015

Hey y'all! Ok first things first. the one year temple trip was the best!! It was so much fun! Sister Riggs (she's serving in Riverview) picked me up and we went to the temple and we were late because of traffic. Let me just say Michigan traffic is ridiculous! So we texted Sister Gerber to let her know we might miss the session, and she said that's fine, if you miss it you can just sit in the lobby and study. So we finally get there and it's like 9:30, we definitely missed it haha so we sit down and start to study and the other 6 missionaries walk in like 5min. later. We were like what are you doing here? So we thought we all had missed it haha and we sit down and start talking and President and sis. Gerber walk in like 5min. after that! We were so confused and sis. Gerber was like "haha you didn't miss it, we're going to the 10:00 session." haha it was so funny. So we all got to go in and it was so much fun! After the session in the Celestial room I sat there and I was praying and before I even finished the prayer I was crying. I felt the spirit so strong it was incredible! I definitely got the answer to my prayer, it was awesome I have never felt the spirit that strong in my life! After the temple we went to President's house and had lunch, sis. Gerber makes the best food EVER! She's the best mission mom in the world haha. So we ate and talked for a while and had ice cream for desert and then moved into the living room where President talked to us. He gave us two talks from Elder Oaks to go through and they were both so good! One was called "The challenge to become" and the other was "Focus and Priorities" they both kind of talked about focusing on our purpose in life and truly BECOMING something, being the person Heavenly Father wants and knows you can be. It was amazing, and President is so good at instructing! He asked what we wanted to become in the next 6 months and I've thought a lot about that question this week. I want to become someone that people will recognize as a representative of Jesus Christ. I want them to remember Christ and be able to teach people and share with people my testimony and help them feel the happiness that can only come through the gospel of Jesus Christ. I want to be a servant of the Lord and trust in him to lead me to the people that are ready to hear the truth. We also got to volunteer at a nursing home on Saturday, it was so much fun! We played Uno with like 5 people there and oh my goodness they are adorable! We met a 101 year old lady! Her name is Gloria and she's still kickin! She played with us and we asked about her husband and she said he died 28 years ago on her birthday and we asked her how long she had been married to him and she said "I don't know, that was a forever and a half ago!" haha it was so much fun! They asked a lot of questions about who we were and what we did and it was so cool! We also met with this less active. He wants to go to the temple which is great and all but he doesn't want to come to church so that's kind of a problem haha. His wife isn't a member but she sits in on the lessons all the time and he told us that the reason he doesn't come to church is because his wife isn't coming so we all took turns telling him stories about people taking that first step. We said "your wife is never going to have a desire to go or a reason to go if you don't go." It was a really spirit filled lesson and he knew that he had to make the first step. Hopefully he'll get there. We also met the most amazing new investigator! He's so prepared! He answered the door and we asked him how he has seen God's hand in his life and he completely opened up and told us his whole life story basically. He was like "It's even an answer to my pray that you guys are here. I need help in life and the fact you showed up here is amazing." WHAAAT! he's awesome and we're seeing him tomorrow and I'm stoked! He's totally getting baptized just wait for it! haha Well I got to go but I love you all and miss you a lot! Have a wonderful week! God is watching over you. The gospel's true and I love you! Sister Gordon