Nov 21, 2016 - Breakkkk

The week of breaking. It is the week before transfers which means transfer planning but on top of that there were also Savior of the World performances, an office remodel, designing and planning a surprise, helping with Thanksgiving dinners, missionary department meetings and much much more. So it is no shock to say that I am tired. Down right tired

It was a hard week for Sister S and I as we both are struggling feeling like we are doing enough so we try to run a little faster and that doesn't help. So we broke a little bit, got ice cream and shared the gospel along the way.

This week I came to learn about the reality of the adversary. That is Lucifer, Satan, the devil, and whatever else you may refer to him as. When we as imperfect people start changing ourselves to become like Christ, to help others become like Christ, when we reach for a new level of righteousness there is always push back. Feelings of inadequacy, exhaustion, despair, Satan will use anything he can to get at us but that is precisely why our Savior was sent. I know who I can turn to. He has sunk beneath the lowest points of despair and felt the most intense pain imaginable. For me, for you, for literally every single person who has lived and who will ever live.

So reach out He's there to help. Don't try to be perfect and then ask for help. Ask and do your best.

Lots of love sending your way!

Enjoy our pictures because it snowed! And share a smile with someone today :)

Love Sister Eging

Nov 14 - Companionship Unity -- A Double Testimony

This week was a CRAZY week! We had Zone Conference all week meaning little time on the square which tends to make us sadder and more irritable sister missionaries. But they were wonderful meetings (my companion will talk more about them) (Also Sister Risenmay hates it when people use the words 'double testify' so I had to throw that in there....don't worry we never actually say it to people).

From my companion, SISTER S:
This week we had Zone Conference (Sister Eging and I plan and make the agendas all the meetings when the whole mission is involved)

It was quite the Zone Conference the Spirit was strong! President Risenmay went and taught the doctrine behind the Plan of Salvation, I learned so much. More then I have ever in any plan of Salvation lesson when circles are drawn on a board. I was able to receive a lot of inspiration!

We gave two training's 2 days and three on 1 day. It was a lot but together we were able to teach and testify to help the mission improve skills. We gave a training on how to use the area book better and on inviting and promising blessings, the one day we did a role play at the Temple Model teaching the plan of Salvation and the restoration while testifying of it to each other.

ME (Sister Eging)
After Zone Conference this Saturday we also were able to go and see N baptized which was such a sweet and lovely experience.

So around this time last year my companion at the time, Sister C went on exchanges with another sister, Sister D. While they were on exchanges they found N and her boyfriend, and took them through God's Plan for His families, a little presentation that shows here at the visitor centers. And it touched her heart a lot. Now because of different circumstances and hard things it took N, a little while to get to the point where she was ready but, it was amazing to see the light in her face as she stepped out of the waters of baptism. The spirit filled the room and she made a covenant with her Heavenly Father.

What a great way to end the week.

I know that God is aware of each one of us and truly is noticing all of the details of our lives. He knows exactly when we are ready to hear the gospel and will continue teaching us throughout our lives regardless of whether we are receptive or not. I'm so grateful for such a loving God and I'm grateful to know the fullness of His plan for me.

I've also come to stand face to face with many of my weaknesses and am truly grateful that there is a way for me to overcome them. I'm not perfect, and will never be in this life, but I'm grateful for the plan that has been given to us that allows us to always progress and become better.

Hope you all are working on your missionary commitments.... I'm looking at you family!

But seriously if you sincerely ask God who is ready to receive the gospel around you and are quiet, and listen for that answer, you will receive it. Just act.
Love,
Sister Eging

Nov 8 - Happy Halloween!

Well I will just say that I am exhausted! It has been quite a week. Last, last Friday I got to go to a sealing in the Provo Temple and it was such a special experience. This is what the gospel is all about, families.

It strengthened my testimony of the eternal and loving nature of God. As God has given us our families and those that make us happy, He also gives us the gospel through His son Jesus Christ, restored through the prophet Joseph Smith, so that our families can be sealed together forever. I had to step back a moment and consider just how blessed I truly have been to be a part of this great work.

Then after the sealing, for Halloween our mission had a surprise! Usually we all go to the Temple on Halloween but because it was Monday the Temple was closed and so we had to do something else. Our amazing mission president decided we would all watch a movie as a mission and so we watched The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. What a powerful movie. I loved watching it with what I call my new 'missionary eyes.' The symbolism was strewn throughout that movie and it put the Atonement of Jesus Christ into a little bit more of perspective for me. (However the movie in general freaked my companion out... hahaha her transition home's going to be a little rough but... so will mine.)

The rest of the week we have been working a lot on helping our investigators progress towards baptism. We have a couple that are working towards baptism at the moment, but there is this family that I'm very excited for. They are living in Texas but originally from Burundi in Africa. The man is on fire for the gospel and his first Sunday to church he brought 5 friends. Now to help all those that don't live around him he is using us. We have two separate households we are teaching and getting in touch with missionaries in Burundi and he is slowly giving us more and more of his family and friends. I'm so excited for them to receive the gospel and become converted.

Conversion truly is a choice, it is not something that just happens to us. But, as we make the conscious effort to read the scriptures, to pray, to open our mouths and share the gospel, the Lord will make up the difference and our conversion will be sure. It doesn't mean there won't be hard times or tests of your faith but it means that God is watching over you and there are angels round about you. At the moment where you face giving up or enduring and your heart holds on, in that moment God endows us with power. Keep holding on to the faith and don't allow the winds or waves of the world to shake you.

I love you all. I know that this is the true church. Please share it.

Love you!
Sister Eging

D&C 6:34
34 Therefore, fear not, little flock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock,they cannot prevail.

Better Late Than Never - Oct 24, 2016

So sorry my weekly email is getting out a little late today. Just as
Sister S and I were leaving for p-day we received a tour
request from Guest Services for Bishop Gerald Causse, his wife, and
niece, from the presiding bishopric. It was such a powerful experience
as we were able to teach them the restoration and hear their
testimonies. His niece is planning on serving a mission so we were able
to help her begin her missionary work.

This week has been a blessing. It was transfer week so we were able to
make sure all the new sisters arrived safe and sound and that they
were all situated the first day. Then the rest of the week went by
fast as we took every opportunity we could to get out on the square.

At the end of the week we had a wonderful little lesson over the phone
with a small family that we found. The daughter is 8 years old and at
the end of the lesson she was so excited to go to church. We then had
a kneeling prayer over the phone and it was the sweetest thing in the
entire world. I know that we have been given this gospel so that we
and our families can be happy. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the way.
There is no other. We have to be willing to share this message. I love
the gospel.
Sister Eging

The Cat's Outta the Bag -- Oct 17, 2016

All beans are spilled!
Transfers were announced this Monday so Sister S and I don't have to keep anymore confidentiality things. It has been so much fun to see the sisters get so excited about their companions and everything.

Sister S and I get to stay together for another transfer woot woot!!

There has been a lot of busy-ness going on over here which is good. It keeps us on our toes. The new sisters will be coming to the mission on Wednesday and we should be having two baptisms this Saturday.

One crazy cool thing! Remember the general and his wife from Lebanon that came for a tour of Temple Square during general conference? Maybe? Maybe I didn't mention it. But he is a very high up general for all of Lebanon that came and he is a less-active. His wife expressed a lot of interest in the gospel. As we taught her about the prophet and about God's love for His children she began to lighten. Her face turned brighter and she shared her experiences that she had during general conference as she listened to the prophets and apostles speak. She couldn't remember the words they spoke but remembers the sweetest feeling washing over her in waves. Well after the tour we said good-bye and asked her to meet with church representatives in Lebanon. We then had no way to contact her until this week.

We were in the Teaching Center taking church headquarter referrals when a call comes in and I take it. This man starts speaking and explains how he needs to order two Book of Mormon's in French and in Arabic. He tells me that he had just taken his friends to Temple Square that were visiting from Lebanon. As we talk I tell him that we were the sisters that took him and the general on the tour! And we keep talking about how they are progressing in the gospel. Long story short he gave us her and the general's emails and asked us to email them during our preparation day to just reach out as friends.

So cool!

The gospel really is reaching every nation and the work of salvation is hastening.

My mission just keeps getting greater and greater. I'm so grateful for my Savior and the example He set. I'm grateful for the fullness of the gospel and how it has been restored through the prophet Joseph Smith. I'm grateful for the plan that God has for His children and the guidance He gives us.
Lots of love being sent your way!

Work, Work, Work - Oct 10, 2016

THERE IS NO SATISFACTORY SUBSTITUTE!!!

ESPECIALLY IN MISSIONARY WORK!!

Wow what a week,

We have had so much fun, as Zone Conference is now over, we had so much time on the Square and in the teaching center so we have been able to find and contact a lot more of our investigators. We were able to find out that one of our investigators had been baptized! And we are so excited to see the many other miracles that will be coming to the mission in the upcoming months/ this month.

This week we have also been able to help with Transfer Planning which is an amazing experience to literally pray over each and every sister in the mission and what the possibilities are for next transfer.

Other than that there has not been much excitement going on.

Yesterday we had a meeting with a Chinese branch around Salt lake City and Sister S and I had the opportunity to kindly explain the role of Temple Square missionaries to a whole room full of not very happy members. But all in all I think, hope and pray by the end of the meeting, they now know just how much teaching does go on in Temple Square. We teach constantly and talk to people all day everyday.

Not much else funny has been happening. We have this family that lives in our apartment complex that we have been friend/stalking. Missionaries are like the best stalkers.... seriously. But its all good, they're cool with it and they love us! haha Today is our Mission President's birthday so after this we are going to 'break-in' and decorate his home and leave cake for him. Pictures will follow!

I love you all so much!
Sister Eging

Me and my companion!

Oct 3, 2016 – Blurry

Well our week was quite the blur. So much happening. We had three days straight of Zone Conferences. This is where we are able to help the President and his wife train all the sisters in the mission. The focus for Zone Conference was on personal conversion and also on increasing our faith.

The Zone's have increased their vision and with the next month of October are looking to help even more people enter into the waters of baptism. They were wonderful conferences with some really amazing trainings.

And then the week ended with GENERAL CONFERENCE!

I LOVE GENERAL CONFERENCE!

It is one of the best weekends ever and some of the greatest times of my mission have been running around Temple Square at Conference time. What a wonderful time to remember the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Everything that God desires for His children. He loves us and so He called prophets to give us the scriptures. He sent His son to die for us and show us how we can return to Him. Then as Christ and His apostles were rejected, God in His love for us, called a prophet again in the 1800' to bring back that same authority that Christ was baptized by. This same authority is held by the prophets and apostles today and we are able to learn from them. What a privilege to know these things for myself. To be able to study the Book of Mormon and to gain my own witness from the Spirit.

I love you all!

Keep building your testimonies and helping others build theirs. Our testimonies grow as we bear them!

(Also we pushed a piano across Temple Square today, it only took us two hours because we were contacting people along the way)

LOVE,
Sister Eging
(taken from the Temple Square blog, http://slctemplesquaremission.blogspot.com/)