Goin' Quick

Well folks,

Life is passing by way too quickly. I got an email from the mission office with my official return date: January 29th, 2016. So mark your calendars folks! It's 3 months away!! So yeah, anyways... Also, this week FLEW by! Wicked crazy. We had a zone conference on Tuesday and we got Black Boxes: little devices that monitor your speed and driving patterns. The whole mission has 'em now and the vehicle coordinator knows when you're speeding and stuff. Ai ai ai! Haha, jk. It's not a big deal for me because I've never been much of a speed demon, but for other missionaries it has been a major adjustment. But yeah, there's nothing like driving home at night after a job well done and you're just chatting it up, and then our good friend "tiwi" says: CHECK YOUR SPEED. hahaha. Good times. Don't get any ideas, Dad. 

Wednesday we had exchanges with our Sister Training Leaders and I got to go to Weston with Sister Thompson! My best friend!! It was so fun! We had a blast, contacted a TON of people, and laughed a lot. Also, those leaves though. Everyday they just get more and more stunning. Then this weekend we had Stake Conference! Elder Paul Sinclair, an area 70, came to the conference and he is a hoot and a half. He's just a big ol' teddy bear dude, and I learned so much from him. He talked about doing hard things and using our talents to serve others. He shared a story about when he was a newly called stake president and the previous stake pres always visited a young family in the stake whose father was dying of cancer. This stake pres would go over there with his wife and they would sing hymns and serenade the entire family to try and boost their spirits. And so when newly-called President Sinclair heard about that he wondered, "What can I do for them? I'm not musically talented!!" So he was talking with his family about the situation and his young daughter said: 

"Well, you could cry with them." 

I LOVE THAT

It reminded me of President Uchtdorf's talk from conference about simplifying our discipleship. We don't have to do anything complicated to show people that we love them. 

Also, Sabbath Day observance was talked about a TON. Keep that day holy, ok? You know what I'm saying? But most of all, I just felt an outpouring of the spirit over the entire congregation during the adult and general sessions of the conference. Truly there is great power in a gathering of faithful saints! 

MIRACLE STORY: A few days ago I read the talk, "O Remember, Remember" by Henry B Eyring that reminds us to write in our journals every night and think of how you saw the hand of God in your life that day. So I've been trying to take that counsel to heart. So the other day I lost my flash drive and I had no idea where it was. It had our music, fotos, important files, the works. You know, kinda a big deal. So finally we were taking a lunch break at the church and I decided that I needed to find this thing. THIS IS SERIOUS. And I decided to pray. Immediately afterwards I jumped up and began to search. I looked inside the building for a bit, but to no avail. So I took things outside. Nothing. Then I went to the car. Still nothing. I went around to the back to open the trunk and as I looked down to open it, right there, on the pavement was my flash drive. Just a little beacon of red joy on the black-top. It was beautiful. It was an answer to prayer. It had been chilling out there overnight. Just waiting. No biggy. And you best believe that I wrote that experience in my journal :)

I know that God hears and answers our prayers. I know that faith is a principle of action and power. Lately, I've been learning a lot about faith and prayer and how they go together. It has led me to have some amazing experiences. God is concerned about the simple things in our lives, and He is concerned about our well-being. If you have a prompting to pray- PRAY! If you have a prompting to serve someone- SERVE! It is as simple as that. I love you all! Thanks for your emails and words of encouragement and love. 

You are the best in the whole world!

Con amor,

Hermana Frei