The Good Life: Hello... again!

I felt like i was just talking to you all... haha oh wait.

It was SOOOOO great to be able to skype/call home on sunday! it lifted my spirits and has made me even more excited to do missionary work! thank you thank you thank you for your love and support. you have no idea how much it means to me! You are all my favorite blessings. My cheeks hurt for the next hour after getting off the phone with you all haha so thanks for making my day!

Mom:

"All that i am or hope to be, i owe to my angel Mother" - Abe Lincoln.

Thank you for being the most amazing example to me. Happy Mothers day. i love you so much.

I know i already filled the family in on most of the things that are happening, ha so i will try to think of some other fun things that are happening in Omaha to share!

This week was crazy. We were not in our area a ton because we were needed at the Trail Center, due to the Florence Parade on Saturday. It was so fun to be able to dress up as pioneers and pass out pass along cards to everyone in our town! i was like a little kid in a candy store - it was SO fun! not only did we get some great exercise in, but we were also sharing the gospel! it was the best!

Before Florence days, we had an awesome experience that i wanted to share with you all. We taught our little investigator Ty on Thursday. We have been teaching her for several months now, and we have tried MANY times to set her for baptism. Every time we try to bring up baptism, she always gets super quiet and looks at her dad and doesn't answer us. Eventually, we are able to get some response out of her which has always been a big, fat, "no". Remember how i told you the hardest thing about the mission is people's agency? haha this is what i am talking about! So, this last week we were going over to Ty's and i know that we needed to bring up baptism again. Honestly, i didn't want to. I have been rejected by this little 10 year old so many times now that i was kind of sick of it! haha. But, i knew that we needed to bring baptism up because that is the next step for her. We go into the lesson, and the feeling even in their house was different. It was very peaceful (usually they are playing video games and there are a ton of people there) and quiet. The setting was perfect. We had planned to talk to her about obedience, and we read with her President Monson's talk from this last General Conference. Ty has really bad ADHD, but she sat through the entire talk and answered all of our questions. It was incredible.

I really experienced what it talks about in Doctrine and Covenants which says "yea, open your mouths and spare not, and you shall be laden with sheaves upon your backs, for LO, i am with you". not only do i love that scripture because it has my name in it, haha but truly the Lord was there to put into my mouth what HE wanted me to say. I told Ty that if she loved Jesus Christ, which i knew she did, then she would follow in His example and be baptized. She looked at me, and started shaking her head and said "ya, i will pray about it and tell you when." Even though this wasnt a solid "YES!" it was still a miracle. The Lord prepared Ty, even that very day, to be able to feel the spirit and have the desire to be baptized. So incredible. And she WILL be baptized.

I had an awesome experience in the Trail Center this weekend. So we have had a ton of Summer Sales guys coming through the past week or so, on their way out east to sell. I always hate taking those tours, just because they are guys the same age as me and it is hard for them and myself to keep our minds/heart centered on the gospel. But this weekend two guys came in for a tour. of course i had to be sitting in the "up" chair, haha. i prayed with all my heart to be filled with the spirit and to be able to have a "converting" tour. It was incredible. At first they were acting a little too cool to talk about the gospel, but after a little while they started telling me about how they have been struggling with their testimonies ever since they got off their missions, and how they have forgotten to continue to do the little things every day. I committed them to read 30 minutes every day from now on, and they both were so sincere and willing to do so. one of them was very emotional and told me that he knew he needed to change, he just needed someone to tell him to do it. and i got to be that person! it was amazing to see their desire to change, even though they didn't come in knowing they would do so. it was awesome.

So yesterday, i get a call from the zone leaders and they asked me to give a training on thursday this week at the zone conference. talk about humbling. they have never had anyone besides the zone leaders/ap's give trainings before, but they felt that they needed to ask me to give part of the training. man alive. please pray for me. The question i am working off of is "How can we set goals that reflect strong faith? / how to apply the doctrine of Christ into specific aspects of missionary work".

Fun Fact:

1. Everyone watch the Arizona Padres baseball game on Tuesday May 21st, because guess who is singing the national anthem?!? 6 sisters and 6 elders were asked to sing and i get to! haha how fun is that?! we get to stay and watch the game too which is a dream. yay!

2. It is 93 degress here today, and i couldn't be happier!!

My mission president's favorite line, and now my favorite:

"If i am not happy, it is because i am not serving. If i am serving and i am still not happy, then i am serving the wrong person... myself."

Serving a mission is really no service at all! i am so thankful to be here, and i am so grateful to have the restored gospel. God lives. Jesus is the Christ. The church is TRUE!

Love you!

Sister Lauren

Ty, surrounded by all of her cats! this was right after she said she will be baptized!