April 9, 2019

Bonjour mes Amies!! SO much happened this week! At the beginning of the week, the weather was beautiful! All I needed was a light jacket!..... But this very moment it is snowing again.. C'mon Canada, really? I HOPE it is the last time!! I am so ready for no more snow! Haha. On-t-que (anyways) We had a lot of lessons this week and I learned a lot from them. We did some service, helping a friend of ours sort her pantry. It was a lot of fun! And then conference! Oh my Lanta! Conference this week completely blew my mind! There were a lot of themes that I noticed that really stuck with me and touched my heart! The first was temples! There is so much missionary work to be done and most of it, we cannot even see! Just think about how many people have lived on this earth and have died without ever hearing the truth! There are so many people on the other side that are prepared to hear it and many more that are waiting to be taught. I have had this reoccurring thought these past few years that there is a reason why so many good and godly people are being called back home. Heaven needs missionaries! There are millions of generations that need missionaries. I felt like this conference solidified that in my heart. That brought comfort. I know where my dad is, I know what he is doing, and I love that we are both doing the same work at the same time, very much in the same place (since his mission is soon to be mine) the second theme that i got is that there is absolutely no time to waste. These are the last of the last days. There is much to do and we can either choose to be a part of the winning team and live, or choose to remain normal and lose what could have been ours. There are no fence sitters in this game. I especially loved elder Anderson's talk about how we need to be a people ready to receive Christ. He can't come until there is a righteous enough people ready to receive him. So, the best thing we can do as members of the church of Jesus Christ is to become true disciples personally. I felt the urgency in his message and it inspired me in a very real way to be better and to be more focused in my preparation and personal development. I know through elder Bednar's talk that I can do that by using the Come Follow Me program and through daily scripture study and prayer. There is absolutely no way to truly know our Savior than by any other way. We could read every piece of information that was ever written about Christ and not know the smallest part about him. It is though prayer and scripture study through the power of the holy ghost that we know Him. That is a promise from the God that has existed since the beginning. The means and the right way has not changed. It won't change. I see too often in people that they don't truly believe that they need to read and pray every day, but they don't understand the danger in that. Time is running out and we all need to figure it out if we want our judgement day to be a glorious experience, not a shameful and guilt filled one. I am so beyond grateful for our prophet president Nelson and for the apostles and all of the speakers that pricked my heart and made me want to do and be better. We don't realize how lucky we are to have direct revelation straight from God. I know that President Nelson is our prophet today. I know that he is inspired and I know that he is preparing us to be prepared for Christ's second coming. I know that it is soon. And I know what side I want to be standing on when he does. I love him. I am honored to serve him for this short time. I hope that conference for all of you was as inspiring as it was for me! I encourage you to go back and study those talks again. We forget too easily and we need that spiritual nourishment chaque moment, chaque jour! I love you all, and you are in my prayers. Much love, Soeur Bates