We began with introductions where each sister told who they were, where they were from, where they were serving and one thing they were thankful for. We got everything from cats, dogs and fuzzy socks, to being a missionary, the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, Jesus Christ, and lots of gratitude for families. I told them since I made up the game, I got to be thankful for a few things, not just one. One of mine was being together with all of them, and one was for prayer and the priesthood power. Then I told them what I called 'the miracle of the Sister's P Day cough'.
All of last week I was battling a really horrible cough. With me, they hit hard and long and it moved from sinus congestion to settle in my chest. From about Thursday to Saturday I was coughing so hard. We did interviews on Thursday and Friday and the poor missionaries that I talked to those days probably thought I was going to die. I sucked non stop on cough drops, I brought my tissues and my hand sanitizer and had them sanitize before they left the room, I had to leave the room several times to have a coughing attack. I didn't know what I was going to do or how I was going to get through Sister's P day. I knew I couldn't do it in the condition I was in, because I would break into coughing about every 10 minutes. I had Scott give me a blessing and then we both started praying. On Sunday morning I asked all of my family to pray that my cough would go away for Sister's P Day and that I would be able to get through the day without coughing. I was also praying that I could get through church on Sunday. Well, on Sunday, I didn't cough during church, but I coughed quite a bit that night. We went to bed praying and knew all of our family was praying for me and Sister's P Day. On Monday morning I had to be there quite early, but I woke up feeling really great. I didn't cough all morning and I knew it was a miracle and it was an answer to a priesthood blessing and prayers from a faithful family. I didn't cough at all, for the whole day. It was wonderful. My favorite part of this miracle though occurred as we were pulling in to the driveway after it was all over. I got out of the car and started coughing again, and I coughed quite a bit the rest of that night. It was a strong witness to me that when we pray for specific blessings, God answers in specific ways. We had all prayed that I would be able to get through Sister's P Day without coughing. And I did. I think I started coughing again when I got home as a little tender mercy from Heavenly Father, so I would know that He answered that specific prayer, and so I wouldn't have a tendency to think 'good thing my cough ran it's course before Sister's P Day.' I will forever be grateful for that beautiful reminder that God answers our specific prayers.
Anyway, back to the day... I had chosen as our overriding theme, one of my new favorite scriptures "Live in thanksgiving daily for the many mercies and blessings which he doth bestow upon you." (Alma 34:38)I had a few opening remarks focusing on that and then explained that I had prayed about what Heavenly Father wanted for us that day and I had the distinct impression to go back to the words of our dear prophet. Each of our three Sister's P Days have been based on the most recent counsel of President Nelson. I think there is a lesson in that. Follow the Prophet and you can't go wrong. We were going to live in thanksgiving for the blessing of a living prophet and the ability to study his words and follow his counsel.
In his talk to the women at General Conference, entitled Spiritual Treasures, he asked us to study D&C 25. So I pulled a few of the phrases that stuck out to me and we focused on those in the morning.
The first was a bit of a stretch, but it was 'thou art an elect lady'. I asked Sister Graham and Hermana Christensen to do a get to know you game, where we could get to know more about each elect lady in our mission. They had such a fun game that got everyone involved and we all had a blast getting to know things such as: who has the longest pointer toe, who has the most animals, shortest hair, and lots and lots of other fun and informative questions.
I asked Hermana Hall and Sister Prettyman to talk about 'expound scripture and exhort the church'. How to study, learn and teach more effectively from the scriptures.
Fixing the technical difficulties
Hermana Freeman and Sister Decker taught on 'Lift up thy heart and rejoice'
Unfortunately, we couldn't get any pictures of Hermana Quesenberry, Hermana Johnson and Sister Knaphus teaching about 'Lay aside the things of this world and seek for the things of a better', because they were teaching in the chapel.
They were all so incredible. I was so touched by their teachings, their knowledge of the gospel, their ability to relate it to each of us, and mostly the spirit by which they taught. They are remarkable women and I am continually amazed by their abilities. The thing is, I could have asked any one of our sisters to do these trainings and they would have been remarkable. The church and the future families of the church are in good hands with all of our wonderful sister missionaries.
We met back together and I finished the morning by talking about 'that all things might be revealed'. President Nelson counseled us to 'immerse ourselves in the glorious light of the restoration.' I felt we needed to go back to Joseph Smith, who ushered in the restoration of the gospel, but to go more personal than just dates and historical facts. I wanted them to understand that the restoration was not for the 'church' it was for God's people. The restoration is for each of us, personally, to be restored to what God wants and knows we can be, even as He is. Jesus Christ's church had to be restored in order for that to happen, and it was restored through Joseph Smith. I had asked them to come ready to complete in this sentence: Because of Joseph... I wanted them to think of how their life is blessed and what in their life is better because of Joseph Smith. We spent about 20 minutes just listening to sister after sister stand and say because of Joseph...and then share the feelings of their heart, what they know and feel and love because of the prophet Joseph Smith. It was powerful and the spirit was so strong.
When the church celebrated the sesquicentennial of the birth of Joseph Smith, as a family we talked a lot about that statement and then we made a quilt that still hangs in our home. I had each of our family members write their 'because of Joseph' statement on a quilt block. It is a treasure to me. I wanted to do this again with our Sisters for a surprise gift to give to their President at the end of the day. My darling daughter Stacie sewed the quilt for me, and then I explained to them that during lunch they could write their 'because of Joseph' statement on President's quilt. It was really sweet. And I will say, when we gave it to him at the end of the day, he got emotional, and they loved that.
We broke for lunch, which was deliciously catered by "Love at First Bite", owned by our friends the Ruiz family.
During lunch we also had a table full of thank you notes for them to write to people who have made an impact on them, and also a table with some charms that they could put on a chain. The charm said 'thankful and blessed' and was their gift as a reminder of the day.
They absolutely love having time to visit, to reconnect with former companions, and to take mission family pictures. I continue to be eternally grateful for our dear friend Patrick Twomey who comes and captures these beautiful moments for us.
Our dear friend Gail came by at lunch time to say goodbye to her beloved North Sac Sisters
Twinning with Hermana Christensen and Sister Mair
We adopted a few on the end! Ha Ha
Gathering this crew for a group picture is quite a feat
But it's worth it in the end...
The beautiful sisters of the California Sacramento Mission, November 18, 2019
We finished up the day with a discussion of President Nelson's Spiritual Treasures talk. I had them read it prior to coming and had them mark all of his counsel and all of his prophetic promises. It was a great discussion on covenants, blessings and priesthood power. I told them that women who keep their covenants are always blessed. It has always been so and it will always be. It doesn't mean our lives will be easy, but we will be blessed and we will have access to priesthood power. I told them that it is good to look back to examples of covenant keeping women and the blessings they received as they held on to their covenants. Then I told them I had invited 5 of them to come and share their stories.
I feel bad I didn't get pictures of these 5 sisters. They told the stories of these women in first person, as if they were that woman. It was so powerful. They all truly got into the heart of the woman they were portraying and the spirit was amazingly strong. Hermana Bretzing represented Hannah from the Old Testament. Hermana Bowen represented Mary, the mother of Jesus, Sister Weckesser represented one of the mothers of the stripling warriors, Hermana Speas represented Emma Smith, and Hermana Lewis represented one of her own covenant keeping ancestors, Brenda Lewis. President finished up with a lovely and tender testimony taken from the phrase 'my daughter' in D&C 25:1, and talked about how daughters are special to their fathers. I so loved being with each of these beautiful daughters. Sister's P day is a very special day.
As I mentioned, we were blessed to have my sister in law Marilyn and her granddaughter Alayna Hymas come to visit. I was a horrible hostess, but they are easy guests. They just went and explored each day and we would meet up at night. We were able to get to the Broadway touring company production of A Christmas Story one night and it was magical. We loved having them here.
Last week we also had MLC. We had such a good council, with much input and counsel from the council! I was also able to introduce the Light the World initiative. This year it is so focused to missionaries. We are so excited to get started. Let the missionaries in to your homes to give a short FHE in conjunction with a new nativity video, The Christ Child, that will be coming out on November 24. It is SO beautiful. I cry every time I watch it.
This was Gail's last MLC. We are going to miss her so much
A few other random things. We had a Senior Family Home Evening and we finally got a picture of Elder and Sister Burton, who are our new MLS missionaries serving down in Murphys. So grateful to have them here.
We were blessed to attend a wonderful and spiritual baptism of our new friend Tim
Tim is amazing and studied everything so much. He had a lot of questions and got a lot of answers. But after his baptism, Sister Christensen, Sister Olsen and Sister Shu gave him an award for 'stumping the missionaries' with his many questions.
We left the baptism and were able to meet up with one of our former missionaries, Elder Isaac Buckley. We had such a nice visit with him and his parents. We were grateful to see them again.
We also had a visit from Sister Wilding. It is always so great to talk and visit with her. We love her so much
We had to recreate the picture I took of her and President on her final night in the mission. Neither of them have taken this pillow counsel to heart. They are both still worriers.
We also had a wonderful visit from Sister Fausett and Sister Baldwin. It was so fun to visit with them. They are darling and we had so much fun laughing and reminiscing. We love them so much.
We are looking forward to having some of our family come and spend Thanksgiving with us. We are so very grateful for each of them. We feel so thankful and blessed to be serving here at this time with wonderful missionaries and members, and with each other. I have the very best companion in the whole world, and for that I am very, very, eternally grateful.
