November 14, 2016

OKAY, so I’m emailing at Cal State University at Bakersfield right now since we could not do it at the family history center, so I am on a time crunch!! I’ll tell you what you all want to know... how ELDER BEDNAR WAS!! 

Sister Missionaries at
Elder Bednar's Conference
November, 2016

Elder David Bednar was in Bakersfield for a few days and it was just incredible. He met with all the missionaries for 3 hours. He gave us 4 talks to read and study beforehand, and then our first hour together he just had us stand up and share what we learned. The biggest things that I learned are: 1) the importance of praying with the intention of acting on our promptings, not just waiting for things to happen; 2) how important it is we take the sacrament seriously and strive to have faith and repent before we go to church; 3) how AWESOME it is the study the scriptures with a question and with the Spirit so that God can speak to us; and 4) the importance of continued obedience to allow continued conversion.

I was expecting Elder Bednar to just lecture us and fill our brains with knowledge, so this approach caught us all off guard. Then we spent a while talking about what we gained from that form of teaching. We didn’t realize it, but hearing from our peers, and then listening to Elder Bednar’s comments and insights on what was said, was WAY more effective than his just sharing what he learned. He’s also stinking hilarious, I wish I could convey all the jokes he made; he said that what’s the point of having the gospel in our life if we aren’t having fun. TRUD DAT!

Sister Missionaries at 
Elder Bednar's Conference
November, 2016

Then the last bit was a Q&A, which was just stellar, holy cow. The biggest thing I gained from the Q&A was the importance of conforming our will to Gods. Following Him requires a lot of hard work and is often challenging, but He takes our agency and expands it and helps us become new creatures. And the spirit was just SO STRONG! We were praying and pondering before he came in, and suddenly I felt such a peace and excitement and joy. I look up just as Elder Bednar WALKED BY!! It figures I’d feel the spirit when he was right there. He is such a dedicated servant of the Lord it’s hard to not feel closer to God around him!! My faith has been even more strengthened that this really is the Lord’s church on the earth again today, that He really has restored His power and has called men to represent Him and speak for Him, just as in times of old. And most importantly, I know that He sent His son, Jesus Christ, to pave the path and allow us to feel peace and joy and love and determination in an ever-changing world. I do not know where I would be without Him, and I know that He is only in our life to the degree that we allow him. So, it’s my continuing goal to strive to emulate Him in all I do, to learn of His life and what He has done, to come closer to Him and to know Him as a person and friend. What a blessing it is the have the gospel in my life!!

Sister King, Sister Hayes,
Bakersfield, CA
November 2016

Okay, updates. K., our investigator, went to this meeting with the youth and young single adults. She said it was simply life changing and that she wishes her family could meet them, THEN they wouldn’t have any trouble letting her get baptized!! The dream.

B., a recent convert’s daughter, is doing great! Sadly, we were all hoping her step-dad would want to baptize her and would work towards reactivation, but he requested that it would be better to find someone else to do it :(  We will keep praying for them!!

ALSO, we went on exchanges, which are always a blast!

I love you all, I love being a missionary and I hope you have a great week :D

Sad Allie.
I think she's sad because all the gumballs are pastel colors,
and she got a red one. Tragedy.
Sister Allie King, Bakersfield, California, and
The Land of Sad Gumballs