Listening to the Words of Elder Holland!

Family and Friends. 

Hola hola. Glad to hear all is well in good ole Utah. And an update about Ecuador... all is well here also. Very well.

I think I may have just finished one of the best weeks of my life. For many different reasons. But right now I just feel blessed, happy, and fully aware of the miracles that our Heavenly Father works today. In our lives. Here and now. Hoy.

I love my new companion, Hermana Sanchez!

It’s been a week full of blessings. And it all started with getting to listen to Elder Holland speak twice. I’ll just say… that he seems to be even more powerful in person (which... I didn’t think was possible), he says things as they are and cuts right to the heart, and is so cute when he tries to bear his testimony in Spanish. Even with the limited vocabulary that he has… still so strong. For the most part he had a translator, which meant that I got to listen to everything he said two times :) There is definitely too much to retell it all, but a few of the highlights. Things that really struck me. 

Elder Holland speaking to Octaval members.

Tuesday was in Otavalo with two stakes. It was in a stadium sort of place and was so cool to see so many Otavaleneon members in one place. Elder Holland talked about missionary work and laid it down hard. He said that there are not enough members here. That he wants to see 30, 40, 50% of Otavalo members of the church. So we have lots of work to do! 

He said, ”We can’t take this casually. We’re not walking anymore in the church headquarters. We run. And we’re asking you to do the same."

He also shared a scripture with us from the bible that touched me. In a big way. (Sorry, I’ll bring the scripture next week.) But it said that if we will live our life speaking of Christ, he will speak of us before the angels of heaven. And I can’t imagine a greater promise. One day, we are all going to return to our Father in Heaven, and in that day, I can’t imagine the feeling that we will have (if we were righteous) when Christ speaks for us, pleads our case, gives us a hug and says well done. NOW is the time to act. There is so much to do. So much that the Lord expects us to do.

And Wednesday...

Ah, Wednesday was fantastic. All of us missionaries went to Quito to have a special meeting with Elder Holland. Just the missionaries of our mission :) He talked to us for two hours and ohh, I could have stayed there MUCH longer. We were in a chapel and he was walking up and down the isles, so many times I was about two arms length away from him. If I hadn’t come away with anything else, there is one thing that I know without a doubt. And that is that he is a servant of the Lord. Just being in the room with him. You could feel it. I also learned that he has a super funny personality. There were a few things that he said that I thought... “Can an apostle really say that??” But I also realized that yes, of course he’s a real person and loves to make jokes and laugh.

Listening to Elder Holland was amazing!

I think the number one thing that stuck with me from Wednesday is his statement. "You are in this for life." He told us over and over again how blessed we are. That right now, we do the same thing as the apostles. That we are literally representatives of Jesus Christ. But that we can’t know what we know, and do what we do, and then go home and act like it never happened. 

"I would have you on a mission if no one was ever baptized because of your opportunity to live the gospel, study its principles, love the Lord and purify your life."

We (members of the Yorgason family or members of this church) are beyond blessed. But because we know what we know, the Lord expects us to stay in it for the rest of our lives. 

"You will never be able to repay the Lord for what He did, but the least you can do is deliver your own conversion."

THAT is how we can show the Lord that we love him and THAT is what we should always remember… in the good times or the bad. Our own conversion and obedience is the biggest gift that we can give.

This week with Hermana Sanchez has been soo good. She makes me want to work even harder. We laugh, make jokes, talk to everyone we can, pray harder than ever, and I am learning from her how to truly give it your all.

Making breakfast....

....and eating! :)

Ok.. I don’t have much time left, but we had a really cool zone activity this week that I wanted to share. Obviously, this is our big month of faith. Everything we are doing relates to how we can strengthen and develop more faith. Well, we got to our zone meeting this week. Sang the hymn, they gave the announcements, and then handed out blind folds to everyone and told us to go up onto the stage with our companions. They took us one by one, led us backwards to the edge of the stage and told us to fall. Uh.... what? Ya, faith falls on the ground are hard enough. But they told us to fall. That we were ok, they were there, we just needed to fall. Some did it right away. Others took many minutes. Others were literally crying. (Yes, some of the sisters) But eventually, everyone did it. They had brought a mattress, blankets and tons of pillows, so we fell off the stage into that... but it was sure a few seconds of pure terror. It was scary, for sure. But surprisingly, it was easier for me than earlier in the month when we just had to walk forward onto tables off the stage. I literally felt my faith growing. I know for sure that just like this activity... the Lord ALWAYS has something prepared for us. Something good. Sometimes, we just have to fall and hope and pray and trust.

I’m out of time, but I love you all. Thank you for writing me and making me feel loved.!!

Hermana Yorgason

And more eating....ice cream! :)