Week 56

First off....because it is really important. I just got my eyebrows waxed for the first time. It was fun! There's a sister in Lafayette 2nd the cuts hairs and does waxing for the missionaries on the first Monday of every month. Also....last haircut before you can do it again Mom!

This week was the first time ever we haven't had a car. My feet definitely paid for it. But Tuesday morning we played a prank on the elders. The STL's and ZL's live in the same apartment complex as us. We got a couple of guys from the YSA ward to dress up in morph suits. We had them playing weird Indian music and knocked on their door and started to awkwardly dance while the one elder just stood there. After about a minute we came around the corner and started through water balloons at them. We got it all one video! You can watch it once I get home. We thought we were pretty creative haha. All day Tuesday and Wednesday was spent walking and finding without much success. Wednesday we did get to see this cute 89 lady in our ward. She hasn't been to church all winter because going out in the cold isn't good for her. She showed us some of the crafts she's working on and fed us German chocolate cake. She has such a strong testimony of the gospel and LOVES family history. Wednesday night we had the craziest thunderstorm! Definitely the hardest rain I have ever seen and it lasted for hours. I was worried we were going to have to be outside in it, but luckily it all cleared up by the time we went outside.

Friday morning we had zone meeting. We all dressed up as warriors, pictures to follow. One of the elders gave a training on the Lion King and being a successful missionary! I wish I could write everything down that he said. He's a pretty animated guy so it worked. Basically the gist of it was that as missionaries we are here to help people find their way to understand their divine potential. Just like how Rifikki helped Simba find out what his divine potential was. Ask me about it when I get home, I can probably explain more about it in person. Friday night the Purdue sisters had a baptism and we had been asked to help out with the musical number. Then the Purdue elders had a baptism Saturday between sessions.

I have to admit, conference was a bit bittersweet. Sweet because I love conference and have been looking forward to it for the last six months. Bitter because it was my last as a missionary. Like usual, I had a few questions in mind that I wanted answers for. After the two sessions on Saturday I recognized that there was definitely a theme of love and the importance of serving those around us. However, the answer came with Elder Bednar's talk. I love talks that have a little story because then I am able to remember them so much better. Of coarse, I recognized that the current load I am carrying is that of being a full time missionary. And obviously it is providing spiritual traction for me. A mission is the best thing to help me return home to my Heavenly Father. I loved when he said an absence of a load doesn't mean happiness and that covenants yolk us to Christ. When we've made covenants it allows Christ to be right there with us because we've committed to being part of that yolk. When we haven't made that committed, He can't always be there. Then he began to talk about the enabling power of the Atonement, probably one of my favorite subjects. The Atonement enables us to become better than our mortal minds can imagine. But a question came to mind. What can the enabling power of the Atonement help me become? I've listened to several talks on this subject but then realized that I hadn't learned any specific examples of what we are to become. Looking back, the answer is really quite simple. After conference we had dinner with the Ellis', the stake president and his wife. It's tradition for President Ellis to ask a doctrinal question and you only get dessert if you answer correctly. This time we did it a little bit differently. The Ellis' would ask a question and then we would answer. the missionaries would then ask a question and the Ellis' would have to answer. We went back and forth until we had asked about 10 questions. But then President Ellis' asked us to share what our favorite talk was, why, and what step of action we were going to take. I explained that mine was Elder Bednar's and why. I told them that I was going to study what the enabling power of the Atonement can help me with. President Ellis said I'll give you one right now, "love". That was it. The combination of the talk and President Ellis' comment answered all of my questions. I immediately thought of the Christlike attributes, specifically the chapter in Preach My Gospel. That was a big part of my studies this morning. It is the Christlike attributes that the enabling power of the Atonement helps us become who we need to be. The redeeming power is still required, but I need to learn how to rely on the Atonement to BECOME those Christlike attributes. Sister Hales and I were talking about obedience earlier this week. When we are disobedient it is because of a lack of love. I still don't always want to talk to people. Is it because I'm shy? Nervous? Don't know what to say? Yes, but the deeper problem is that I don't love them enough. Think of Christ. He loved us so much He was willing to go through anything for each one of us. I'm definitely not at the point where I'm willing to go through anything for the people I meet each day. And I need to fix that. It won't happen today, or tomorrow, but over a lifetime of being diligent. We helped serve dinner Friday night before the baptism. I think it's a cooperation of churches here in the community and we are a part of it. Anyways, the lady was kind of....using a firm voice with us and some of the elders started overreacting and getting made. One of the elders said "Sister Mayberry, I wish I had some of your patience right now". I really didn't say anything but this experience can back to mind this morning. We pray to be given the Christlike attributes, but then must choose to develop them in our daily choices. I can pray for patience and then turn around and choose to get upset and mad in every situation. I won't ever develop patience that way. I can pray for love and then choose to notice all the qualities I don't like in a person and I won't ever come to love them. Praying is essential but then I have to use my agency correctly to become an answer to those prayers. Heavenly Father won't force me to become anything.

That's what I learned this week. Unfortunately, we didn't teach hardly at all this week. We talked to the assistants on Saturday and they gave us a few pointers on how to find (they both served on Purdue campus). Luckily Sister Hales and I's relationship is just about perfect! We were talking one night about why sometimes we feel like we can't be ourselves all the time. We decided it's because we feel like we have to put on this face and be perfect all the time in front of the members. In Plymouth I got past that when I broke down that one Sunday and some members realized how stressed out I get about being out here. And that right there is why it was so hard to leave because I had developed true friends there.