February 5, 2010

I'm so glad the show went well! I've been praying for things to go well for the business
and for dad especially. How is Elaine doing without Garrett?? He will be such a great
missionary. I'm so jealous you got to listen to my cds. They have made it so music isn't
allowed here at the MTC but it is allowed in the field so I haven't heard any music
since I got here. It's crazy.
I'm being so blessed every day I'm here. We had the opportunity to go to the temple this
morning and I love it. Our session is so early in the morning that it's always the same
workers and the same people attending. We have had the opportunity to get to know a few
of the sisters that attend and they are just amazing. One of the sisters is from price
and her husband is in a rest home in Salt Lake. She goes to the temple every Friday
morning and then goes to spend time with her husband. He suffers from parkinsons.
She is always so positive and happy and it just really puts the important things of life
into perspective. We have also been trying to get to know more of the senior couples here
at the MTC and help them. The elders help us so much that our opportunity to serve is
with the older couples and the single sister missionaries. We love it! They have the
greatest stories and it's just like having our parents here. They are only here for one
week and then go to the field so there are always new people here. Although things
haven't been easy this week the Lord has really blessed me. I was reading D&C 80
remembering why I was here and I looked at the word know in verse 4 (I think). The
footnote reminds us of the things that we should know and have to share with others.
I then looked at the other side of the page and read D&C 78 v17-19. The Lord knew I
couldn't bear all things at that time but if I was willing to do my best and have a
positive attitude He would lead me along and continually bless me. The Lord is so aware
of me and my weaknesses and my need for his help. I'm realizing that as long as I have
the Spirit things are going good. We all know I hate confrontation and we had a huge
misunderstanding this week where our teacher tried to help our companionship and pretty
much made everyone really upset about things that weren't true and I was really
worried about it because confrontation kills me. But the spirit told me to just shut
my mouth, take it, and fix it later. I did just that and we were able to fix everything
and in a calm manner without any hard feelings. If we wouldn't have had the Spirit it
would have been a disaster.  Something else that has really helped me this week is a
quote from Orson F. Whitney. He said "no pain that we suffer, no trial that we
experience is wasted. It ministers to our education,... builds up our characters,
purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable; more
worthy to be called the children of God..." I'm so blessed to be where I am right now.
I just needed to change my attitude and perspective. Our teaching has improved SO much.
We no longer have parts or prepared topics. We take in our scriptures, start with a
prayer, and rely on the Spirit. We have been so blessed to know the needs of those we
teach and the words that they need to hear. Starting Saturday all teaching is in
Spanish. i know it won't be as easy but it will work out. Also, I'm so glad you found
those phone numbers for Hermana P, she is AMAZING. She is serving in the LA
visitors center once it opens in July and is proselyting until then. She took referrals
from all of us and called our friends to share a message with them. She left this week.
We walked a bunch of the sisters to the bus this week to go to the airport at 5am.
It's so hard. I never thought I would come to love people so fast and it would be so
hard to watch them go. A few other girls I have come to love leave this next week.
Everyone leaves us. The girls leaving this week are from Tonga and Tahiti. They learned
English when they got here and they are amazing. I love them. Our sisters in our room
also leave in a week. It's just amazing how much you can love people you just met.
yo se que dios vive y nos ama. sabe cada persona y su corazon. yo se que jesucristo
sufrio para nuestras pecados y es el hijo de dios. yo se que jose smith fue un profeta
de dios. yo se que el libro mormon es verdadero. en el nombre de Jesucristo amen.
I love you all!
Hermana Hendrix