Spread the gospel, and if necessary use words...

What an INCREDIBLE CONFERENCE!!!!!! Its really like the superbowl of a mission, I swear I liked conference before the mission, but really here... I couldnt get enough! WE ARE SO BLESSED TO BE MEMBERS OF THIS CHURCH! It was such a motivating conference, I love the feeling after being so spiritually fed, its a feeling of recommittment and you really can feel the love of the Lord so closely, and we are inspired to change things in our lives and we have this clean eternal perspective that makes all our problems seem very possible to overcome and they teach the concepts of the gospel so simply yet profoundly, bah arent we so honored to get to hear the words of Heavenly Father's apostles and prophet?!

Well, because of the time difference, we watched the Saturday morning session at 18:00 (six o clock) and I was shocked to see SNOW on temple square!? Snow back home, its okay, spring is coming dont worry! and try not to be too jealous of the warm weather and the spring flowers we get to enjoy here in Germany :) I really felt so pumped up and inspired to live the gospel a little more fully (well a lot more fully) after hearing those incredible talks. It was very clear what our priorities should be oder? Family, Loving each other, not being too selfish and getting offended, but helping everyone around us and as we do that we come closer to the savior. It was great learning about revalation and inspiration from Elder Bednar, that was one of my favorite talks. He speak so clearly and boldly, Its so reassuring to know not only does the Lord communicate with us PERSONALLY but he does it in different ways, and we need to be aware of how he is answering us, and how we can help him answer other people's prayers too! 

I must say on a mission we have a cool opportunity to try and live worthy of the spirit to be able to follow it suddenly like the lightswitch analogy.but also recieving revalation like a sunrise is also common, I hope I can, we all can go our whole lives realizing the ways the Lord is communicating to us and the more often we put our trust in him and look for his guidance the easier (maybe) it will be to notice it. When we teach people what the Holy Ghost feels like we compare it to a new language, we have to practice and maybe at first we dont realize or understand the answers or feelings we get but as we keep practicing we become to notice how the Lord works in our lives. I also loved the talk about trials and how we always have a trial of faith before the miracle, I guess the key is to realize that the miracle is coming and have the faith and hope and trust in God DURING the trial to know that it will end and we will be stronger through it all. 

Didnt you love how most of it was about service, and how we should be LIVING the gospel, not just have a knowledge of it, or talk about it, but live it...spread the gospel and if necessary use words. The more people know that we are a member of the church and then watch how we act can be much more impressed, taught and converted than through our words. Our lovely Hany has been very effected by conference, he is doing great, he is already reading in Mosiah (started the Book of Mormon a week ago) and is praying everyday for an answer. He came to all the sessions of conference and we had a small miracle....

On the train yesterday on the way to Berlin to watch conference, Hany opened his bible randomly to see what God wanted to tell him. (apparently he has been doing that a lot lately) and he opened up to the story about Paul on the road to Damascus. We then got to Berlin and watched the first session that day and then he went to the park between sessions to just take in all he had heard, to have a little alone time....apparently he opened his bible again and he turned to the SAME PAGE! Well and as we all know...in the second session that day, Präsident Uchtdorf then well...TALKED TO HANY...and taught about Paul and the road to Damascus...Hany waited til the end of the talk and then went out and opened his bible again for the 3RD TIME and opened up again to the same page. Our little group of our ward, Ola and Ahmed etc, and the missionary couple, the Nelsons, we had been together forawhile and were all telling him...Hany it just gets better and better. Elder Nelson just said 'stop fighting it and join us.' Hany just sat there beaming and I myself am secretly praying to meet with him this week and set a baptisimal date, but we shall see what the Lord has as a plan, but your prayers would be appreciated :) 

I just felt like I was with family, with the whole world watching at the same time, all sustaining Thomas S. Monson as a prophet and singing hymns together, Heavenly Father is so close and knows us so personally and wants the best for us, he knows exactly what we need and what will make us the HAPPIEST....much greater than we could ever think up our little ol' selves....and he is trying to show us how to get there to this happiness, we jsut need to WAKE up and look for his hand in our lives, look for what he is telling us to do and follow the sometimes uncomfortable pokings of the spirit and make the little changes in our lives to be more like our Savior Jesus Christ. Clearly the point of getting to the TEMPLE was touched on a lot by the general authorities and thats probably a good place to start, to be worthy of a recommend and to attend the temple more regularly....I know there is happiness that nothing in this world can compare to when we get to the temple. Ah, being in the house of the Lord, I HIGHLY recommend it, whatever it is that might be stopping you from getting there, its soooo not worth it, the JOY that comes from feeling the Lord's presence ah, Im speechless, I just cant wait to go with you all when I get home, so hope you're ready! :) 

Thanks for letting me spill my thoughts and excitement about the gospel, there is so much joy in living it and sharing it and trying our best everyday to be more like Christ, its a constant battle and thats where the growth comes in, but its such a celestial work and I feel honored to get to wear a badge representing our Savior (I recommend that too :) 

Hope you have an incredible week, full of happiness and hopefully some sunshine!! Time for the snow to leave SLC, but dont send it this way please :) Thanks. LOVE YOU!

Phil 4:13 'I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.'

(ps- thats for you too!)

Liebe,

Sister Rasmussen