Las Palmas & Warm Springs: November 24-30

Hello all!

This week has been absolutely crazy! It's taken some adjustment to get used to being in a trio! However, with some events that have happened, I'm not in a trio anymore. I'm not even in my area with my companion!

On Saturday, we were called in to the mission office to help President Snow, the Assistants to the President, and the Mission Sister Training Leaders finalize their mission vision for 2016. They had been working on it all Thanksgiving day and had reviewed it so much that they needed some fresh eyes to make sure it was going to work. One of the MSTLs wasn't there because one of her converts was receiving their endowment and she was able to go with them! So the other MSTL needed a companion for a few hours before her companion got back, and luckily the companion she needed was right in front of her because of our trio! Sister Rovig went with her and then when we met back up once the other MSTL got back from the temple, we ran into our STLs. One of them has been dealing with a rapidly progressing condition that started out where she lost feeling in her left arm and left leg, and now it's progressed within a month to where the entire left side of her body is twitching about every 5-10 seconds. I feel so bad for her! It's no fun to have an unknown disease that randomly appears that messes with your senses. President Snow decided to take her into the mission home for the week so they could figure out what was going on, and I'm in her place as a companion for the other STL. It was amazing to see how well everything worked out though, since the only sister trio in the mission happened to be there exactly when both the MSTL and STL needed a companion. Heavenly Father knows what he's doing! Please keep that STL in your prayers.

When we were planning what to do all of Thanksgiving on Wednesday night, we had a lot of trouble figuring out what to do during the time that we weren't having dinner. A lot of missionaries tend to go member camping, but the missionary handbook instructs us to spend as much time as possible proselyting on holidays because there's a good chance families will be home. It's sad to see when people rationalize against the rules and guidelines they've been given! We decided to visit elderly widows who probably don't have any family to go to. There weren't enough widows to fill all of our plans, so we planned to visit some less-active families as well. We saw a HUGE miracle! We knocked on the door of a less-active 50 year old son and his mother and they happily invited us in! We talked for a few minutes and they told us that the son's daughter had just died less than two months ago from an asthma attack. They were really struggling. We felt prompted to ask them if they had received their patriarchal blessings, and it was exactly what they needed! The son received his a while ago but had lost the hard copy. The mother (who is 90 years old and looks like she's 60) had never heard about patriarchal blessings before. We invited them both to get their blessings so they could gain more insight into what Heavenly Father's plan is for them right now and in the future. I know we were divinely inspired to visit them the night before! That has happened so many times and I don't think I've written about any of them until now. Miracles happen all the time on missions!

We had three dinner appointments on Thanksgiving. One of them was with a strong member family who invited a non-member friend, so of course we had to go. It was great! They split our trio up so I was sitting away from my companions near the nonmember. His wife had died 9 months ago and he was not doing well at all. He wants to avoid public places at all costs and can't even get himself to go shopping. He really struggles with making decisions because his wife made literally every decision she could for him. He's searching for answers and he's on the right track! My heart goes out to this poor man. He's meeting with the missionaries who cover his area and his member friends are fantastic! I felt like we were really able to show him how to lighten his burden by turning to Christ.

We planned to share the same thought with both of these Thanksgiving dinners (plus the third one that I don't have time to write about). It was based on Helaman 5:12. I was amazed by how the Holy Ghost led us to share specific thoughts and impressions about this verse with both of these families. It was exactly what they needed to hear! It's a huge reminder to me that all we need to do is rely on Heavenly Father's guidance because He knows each of His children perfectly and knows what they need to hear. He tells us what to say when we are willing to listen to Him!

I have been so incredibly lucky to go to the temple every transfer! Usually missionaries can only go every other transfer (once a quarter) , but since I've either been the new missionary or had a new missionary in the mission as a companion, I've gone every 6 weeks!

I love you all! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving! Don't forget to be grateful for everything you have no matter what time of the year it is!

Love,

Sister Bedont


As I've posted all of these pictures I realized that I always seem to be wearing the same thing...I promise it's just a coincidence and I didn't plan that at all!