Dearest Loved Ones,
I have loved hearing about your week! AND A DUSTING OF SNOW! WHAAA!? Did the south go crazy because of it?! I love the SNL skit on Morning Update with Buford Callaway LOLOL. Anytime the south gets snow, that's what I'll think of. Mom and Dad talking about that southern cooking at Rachel's makes me want some good fried chicken or okra. OOOH yummy. Dayne, you're just a busy bee aren't ya ;) pues
It has been quite the week here in Ole Napa. We had the world wide mission broadcast on Wednesday. It was super cool! They had Apostles and General Authorities teaching and yes wow Bravo. Then the next day we had Zone Conference with President and Sister Wright, the AP's, and the tech elders. I'll share some comments about that in a slick titch of a bit.
We kind of had a miracle this week. After P-day last Monday, I kind of had this new sense of fire. I needed something new because not much work was happening so I kind of took over our schedule and made some changes. The first night we didn't have but one lesson, but we worked really hard so I felt accomplished. Tuesday, we worked super hard right off the bat. Nonstop. We were able to get some good contacts in and have a couple lessons. It was so good and I felt like an actual missionary again. We did the same Wednesday and the rest of the week. I love my companion but he had been in a bit of a rut lately. We both agreed we needed to get out of that. We had more lessons this week alone than they had all last transfer. It felt great to get back to work!
OH we also helped with a wedding on Saturday. It was the son of Hermano Ceballos, a family in the branch. Hermano Ceballos was the branch president until last month. Now he is our Ward Mission leader. (The Ceballos family is kind of like the Joyner family size wise. They make of the majority of the branch. The only problem is there's a majority of them less active.) We had the ceremony at the chapel and then a little reception at their house. It was a good time! I'm focused on the work and all, but this made me excited to get married some day. Ahhhhh yeet.
Sunday we had kind of a special sacrament meeting. Napa had 3 wards and our branch, but because of different reasons people were moving out of the third Ward so it got really small. They decided to combine third Ward with second Ward and so yesterday all three wards (and us) met at the stake center and they had a sacrament meeting to explain the changes. Also, since there is one less Ward in the stake center now, our branch is able to meet there and have sacrament in the chapel, whereas we were having it in the relief society room. It will be a nice change!
Whoops since there's no scripture this week I'll share a note or two from zone conference. One of the main things that was posed was, "What does the lord want me to understand about serving a mission?"
And these are some of the answers that we came up with:
- That it's Not about me
- The worth of every soul is great in the sight of God
- Everyone is a child of God and has potential
- The power of the Atonement
Then going off of the topic of the Atonement:
* We choose whether to apply the atonement
* The atonement applies to every human condition.
It was a real personal check for me. The Atonement is an ongoing study for me in my personal study. It's something I've come to appreciate more and more on my mission and I pray everyday to be able to understand the greatest sacrifice made for each and everyone of us. There's a song by David Osmond called "Loneliest Walk" which talks about how he walked alone so we don't have to. I have a strong testimony that I know our savior lives and loves us. We choose to accept him. Not the other way around. Whenever something gets hard or difficult, I always remind myself that there is always one person that had it worse.
I hope y'all have a spectacular week and enjoy this last week of January!(?)! How did that happen wow. Ok well enjoy it while it lasts!
Paz y amor!
Con Amor
Elder Joyner
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