Coke in Sacrament: October 28th 2013

This week was pretty incredible and I have lots to tell you all, so I hope you find this entertaining and not a drag, cause it could be a long one. This week on Tuesday the 22nd was my companion, Sister Young's birthday!!! We had a great day and the best part was that we went over to Sister Bohls house for dinner and she said we could invite whoever we wanted! So we had like 3 less actives and 2 non-members at her birthday dinner, it was really awesome!! I've also been kind of sick this last few weeks and I have not totally gotten better, but I went to the doctor on Thursday, as I was sitting and waiting to be called back I was looking at the options for reading materials, there in front of me I had the choice to read MotorTrend, or the Bible.... My agency was truly being tested, but I decided I ought to read the Bible while I was waiting. I opened it up and started reading in Romans 5, and in verses 3-4 it says “but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience and patience, experience, and experience, hope.” I found it very comforting because I had been struggling a lot with not being able to work as effectively while being sick and I just felt like I didn't need this trial, but I am overcoming it and learning patience from it, so that is a good thing I guess. I'm glad I chose to read the Bible instead because I was really grateful to have run across that verse! :] So, the work is picking up here, right as I am probably about to leave, but thats okay! This week we taught Taylor Junt, she is 16 and a friend of the bishop's daughter, she is awesome and very receptive, she has been going to youth activities and really enjoys them, she is fun to teach and we just lover her, we are teaching her again tonight! Allison is another person we are working with, she is awesome! She was supposed to meet with us this week but she got sick and had to go to the hospital, we asked her if she would like a priesthood blessing and she was so honored that we offered that to her, so we went with the Elders and she got a blessing, she loved it and really felt her Father's love for her! She is plowing through the Book of Mormon like a champ! We are really excited to be meeting with her regularly when she gets out of the hospital! So keep her in your prayers!! This Sunday before church Ashley got her Patriarchal Blessing, it was amazing to be a part of that with her, she loved every second of it and, I felt so strongly how much Heavenly Father loves her! Now it's time for a fun story! This week at church we had 3 people attending for their first time. 1. Treyvon, he was invited by a friend in the ward and he liked it, but is going to stick with his baptist beliefs. 2. Tito (teeto) he is pretty cool. He just moved her from the East coast and we knocked into him about 2 weeks ago, he said casually that he would come to church sometime, so sunday we text him and re-extended the invitation and he came, it was awesome!!! 3. Breann, she is someone we have slowly been teaching and we weren't really sure how much she cared, but she said she would come to church and she wants to be baptized, so its great that she is now progressing!! she has 2 crazy kids, Eli (boy) who is 6 and Ellie (girl) who is 2. So now that you know a little bit about them. Breann walks in late and sits by Tito, she has a huge Coke from the gas station in her hand and we were in the overflow in the gym. Within 2 minutes one of her kids had knocked it over... She was SOO embarrassed and she didn't really know what to do, but heck... neither did I... so we just kind of looked around unsure how to handle the situation but before we knew it, Brother Laing and like 3 other guys were rushing back in with paper towels in hand. They were all on there hands and knees, mid-sacrament meeting cleaning it up. Haha they got it all taken care of and church went on. Kind of a crazy first time for both Tito and Breann. The nice part was that we were in the back and no one in front of us knew what was going on, so we only really distracted the people behind us! It was a good time at church for sure! The rest of it went really well! Sister Young and I have been on this kick lately about the 2 great commandments, of loving God and loving our neighbors, we have been talking about it a lot with the members and amoungst ourselves and it reminded me of this quote I got in a letter a while ago. It said “God doesnt love us because of who we are, he loves us because of who He is” I loved it! I thought it was really great, and it makes so much sense! When we can get to the point where we love people becase its just natural and its who we are, we truly have a Christlike love, rather than only loving the people that are easy to love. So that is my invitation to you this week. LOVE EVERYONE!!! I love you all!!! Love, Sister Falkner!