Love General Conference Weekend!

Hello Family, 

How is everyone? :) This week was good. The week leading up to Conference is always awesome because we try to get everyone excited for Conference, and we get to go to the temple! :D Let me take you through what happened. 

For FHE on Monday, we went laser tagging with our YSA. It was really fun! I never try to win or anything; just try to hit more people than people hit me. After that, we got dessert and then went home. It was great. 

On Tuesday, I hit eleven months. I have a feeling these next seven months are going to be even quicker (for me, anyways)! It seemed to come so quickly. I don't feel like I have been on a mission that long! Anyways, that morning we had District Meeting. For part of it, we shared our favorite scriptures and why they are our favorite. I shared Isaiah 41:10. It was great. :D After District Meeting, we went and got açai bowls. They were yummy! We then had an appointment with Nicolette. We talked to her about the priesthood. It went really well. We then did some service for a woman named Elva in one of our wards. We went over to her house and helped her clean. The elders were there too, and that was fun. That night, we had dinner with the Jones. It was just Sister Jones and she took us out, and we ate on the beach. So fun! It was a great night. 

On Wednesday, we went to the temple! A member in SLV drove us there and we went with a couple of other people, including Alice. :) We also ended up going to the same session as the elders in our Zone! They recently remodeled the Oakland Temple, and it looks so beautiful. It was really really great. After the session, we got a picture outside the temple with our district. (It was actually raining in Oakland!) After the temple, we all went and got lunch, before heading back to SLV. We then drove home to Santa Cruz. Once we got home, I made dinner (enchiladas! yay!). After dinner, we went and saw Krystal. It was a great day!

On Thursday, I had an amusing phone call with someone. We got a woman's name from the referral system with a note that said that she had requested a copy of the Book of Mormon. So, I called her. 

Me: Hello, is this [name]?

Her: Yes

Me: Hi, this is the missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. How are you doing today?

Her: Good.

Me: We got your number and a note saying that you wanted a copy of the Book of Mormon?

Her: Yes. I hear there is a musical?

Me: Umm...

Her: I wanted to order tickets.

Me: Oh, no. We don't work with the musical. We have the book. If you are interested in that-

Her: No, thanks. My friend is a minister. I know what YOU do!

Me: ....have a great day. Good luck with your tickets.

So, if mormon.org comes out with a disclaimer that says that ordering a copy of the Book of Mormon will NOT get you tickets to the musical, now you know why! I keep hearing so much about that musical here. Apparently it is/was playing in San Jose. *facepalm* 

In the morning, we saw Glenna. We shared President Uchtdorf's talk from the Women's Session of Conference (I have read all the talks now. They are great!). She loved it. We then saw Rhonda and her son, Joseph. We had a good lesson with them about charity. We also went and saw Renee and had a lesson with her. We didn't have a dinner that night, either, but I had leftover enchiladas (Sister Kelly didn't like them, so I had the whole pan to feed me this week! I just finished them yesterday!). We then had a lesson with Brenda. I enjoy lessons with her. She always makes me think.

On Friday, we went to the soup kitchen! Yay! They were all super excited because we had a TON of pizza this time. :) After the soup kitchen, we took care of some things at the apartment before trying to see Tanya. Unfortunately, she had to cancel. So, we went and did more service for Elva, cleaning her house. She found out that we didn't have a dinner that night, so she fed us too! It was so sweet of her! After that, we came home because it was about time for daily planning (we were cleaning for a long time). 

On Saturday, we had Conference! We went over to the McArthurs and watched both Saturday sessions. The Saturday Morning session was really good. I enjoyed President Uchtdorf's remarks about not making our discipleship too complicated. There were a lot of themes in that one. Multiple times they were warning us. After that, I helped Sister McArthur in the kitchen with getting lunch ready, because they had invited the YSA Branch over to watch the Afternoon Session. That was a great session, too! I loved Elder Holland's talk on mothers! I totally cried! *hug a mommy* I was also so excited about the new apostles! I remember meeting Elder Rasband! I think one of the others spoke in a BYU-Idaho devotional when I was there. After the sessions, we had a late lunch. Afterwards, we watched the press conference with the new apostles and Sister Kelly and I headed home before going to a dinner appointment. We ate with the Kings (love them). 

On Sunday, we watched the Morning Session at the Church. I was worried about President Monson! He did not look well! I really enjoyed Elder Nelson's talk, too. I feel like so many of the talks this time were addressing things I had heard on my mission! I couldn't help but think of people/areas I had served when they spoke on certain topics! Henry B Eyring's talk was great, too. We then had lunch before going to watch the Sunday Afternoon session with Renee. That was so much fun! I really enjoyed Elder Christofferson's talk. Same with Elder Bednar. I also loved Elder Durrant! I want to try ponderizing. :D As you can tell, I loved it. Lots of warnings, though. They also talked a lot about obedience and hard times ahead. *fastens seat belt* After that, we had dinner with Brenda. It was so fun to eat with her and talk about conference! 

Today has been a good day. We did our laundry and now we are emailing. We have some errands to run, including getting our car fixed (just an oil change). Hopefully we can rest before dinner and FHE. I am super excited for FHE. General Conference Trivia. Notes Allowed. :)

Well, got to run. Love you so much! Have a great week. *hugs* 

Love, 

Sara