Birthdays & General Authority visits

On Saturday (August 18th) we went as an entire mission to a stake center to hear from Elder Bussie (an area Seventy), Elder L. Whitney Clayton of the Seventy, and Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Twelve Apostles. It was a very special opportunity to be able to begin the meeting by personally shaking each man's hand along with the Mission President and his wife. Then as a mission we sang the EFY Medley (As Sister's In Zion & We'll Bring the World His Truth) for the Apostles. The Spirit then testified of many truths through testimonies of Sister Morby, President Morby, Elder Bussie, and Elder Clayton. I liked especially Elder Bussie's remarks as he helped us recognize that not only should "[we] believe in Christ," but we should also remember that "Christ believes in me." What a beautiful statement to ponder and cherish!

Then Elder Nelson proceeded to answer any questions that we presented him. Several missionaries got up and asked questions doctrinal and Apostle-specific. I received an answer to my question as I realized how Elder Nelson chose to teach us. Rather than saying "I'm going to teach you about this lesson or that lesson, and then you can ask me questions if time permits at the end," he taught us what we needed to hear based on what questions we had. It was a remarkable epiphany for me as lately I have been really trying to improve my teaching skills. I look forward to more revelation this next week as Elder Corbidge comes.

Yesterday, Elder Baba and I were asked to join in and participate in teaching the Relief Society lesson in one of our wards. It was on "Sharing the Gospel Effectively" and the Relief Society teacher figured we might now a little bit about that. Alas, we did our best. Ha ha. We presented a "Training & Practice" and had the Sisters role-play sharing their testimonies with one another just like we would in a district meeting. It was super cool to see how teaching works the same way across all situations and settings.

20th birthday lunch.

Meeting with President & Sister Morby.

Happy 20th Elder Irvine!

The hill tells a story but the smiles burn the miles.  At the scripture states:  "And the boundaries of the everlasting hills shall tremble at their presence" (D & C 133:30).  Couldn't be otherwise with this kind of attitude.

And a happy 20th birthday smile!