This week was awesome! We had really great lessons with a lot of really great investigators and learned a lot of really great stuff. But really, I just want to focus on how AWESOME this Saturday was because...drumroll please...ELDER BEDNAR came to speak to us! Every missionary in the mission got together at the Brampton Stake Center and for three whole hours we got to be taught by an apostle. It was amazing! For a few weeks now, we've had some reading assignments he gave us (Seek Learning by Faith, Ask in Faith, and Converted unto the Lord) and have been studying them like mad. We were told that the meeting would be interactive, but honestly we all thought it was just going to be a long talk. WE WERE SO WRONG. For three hours, Elder Bednar asked us about our thoughts on what we had learned as we had studied. He asked us questions and asked us to ask him questions. It was so powerful. Getting to have such open and two-way communication and learning with an apostle, with one of the Lord's special twelve representatives on the whole earth was...amazing. The Spirit was so strong as we all learned exactly what we needed to learn.
During the discussion, I rose my hand to share how I had learned the key role that gratitude plays in conversion. And he called on me. And after I had stood up and shared my thoughts/experiences from my study, he asked me how old I was. When I told him I was twenty years-old (which I almost got wrong, I was so flustered to be speaking with an apostle), he proceeded to explain to everyone how there was no way I could have learned that if it hadn't had been through the Spirit. I was so embarrassed having everyone looking at me, but it was such a meaningful and motivating experience as a special servant of the Lord expressed his confidence in me. I felt so absolutely tiny and so strong at the same time. Definitely an experience I'll never forget.
One of the most moving experiences of the meeting though was as one elder stood to share his thoughts and just started crying. Elder Bednar came down from the stand, walked up to the elder and just gave him a hug. He stood there hugging him, telling him that the Lord had sent him to Toronto so that he could tell that one elder that he could do that work that the Lord had in store for him. There was hardly a dry eye in the room as Elder Bednar returned to the stand to continue his instruction. The Lord truly does love each and every one of His children. He is looking out for each of us. And none of us are ever too big, too high, too mighty to help His children feel His love. I know that the Lord calls His Holy Apostles to represent Him. They truly are here to help us get closer to Him. I am so grateful for the Holy Spirit which leads and guides this Church, from its leaders down to us as individuals.
As he left, Elder Bednar gave us an apostolic blessing that as we asked, seeked, and knocked, studying about covenants throughout our lives, we would always have the Lord with us. Powerful.
This gospel is true everyone! It WILL make your lives better. Live it, love it, embrace it.
Love,
Sister Makena Bauss
包爱蕾姐妹
During the discussion, I rose my hand to share how I had learned the key role that gratitude plays in conversion. And he called on me. And after I had stood up and shared my thoughts/experiences from my study, he asked me how old I was. When I told him I was twenty years-old (which I almost got wrong, I was so flustered to be speaking with an apostle), he proceeded to explain to everyone how there was no way I could have learned that if it hadn't had been through the Spirit. I was so embarrassed having everyone looking at me, but it was such a meaningful and motivating experience as a special servant of the Lord expressed his confidence in me. I felt so absolutely tiny and so strong at the same time. Definitely an experience I'll never forget.
One of the most moving experiences of the meeting though was as one elder stood to share his thoughts and just started crying. Elder Bednar came down from the stand, walked up to the elder and just gave him a hug. He stood there hugging him, telling him that the Lord had sent him to Toronto so that he could tell that one elder that he could do that work that the Lord had in store for him. There was hardly a dry eye in the room as Elder Bednar returned to the stand to continue his instruction. The Lord truly does love each and every one of His children. He is looking out for each of us. And none of us are ever too big, too high, too mighty to help His children feel His love. I know that the Lord calls His Holy Apostles to represent Him. They truly are here to help us get closer to Him. I am so grateful for the Holy Spirit which leads and guides this Church, from its leaders down to us as individuals.
As he left, Elder Bednar gave us an apostolic blessing that as we asked, seeked, and knocked, studying about covenants throughout our lives, we would always have the Lord with us. Powerful.
This gospel is true everyone! It WILL make your lives better. Live it, love it, embrace it.
Love,
Sister Makena Bauss
包爱蕾姐妹