Jen didn't have time to write a letter separately for everyone on her email list and that's what I usually post on here, but today some of her personal experiences were too sweet not to share. If you only read one paragraph from this letter, read the third one. I love the way she says "she just cried, and we just loved"....truly, that's what this work she's doing is all about.
Man.. Conference was incredible.. I cried when the new apostles spoke.. I have been feeling incapable and inadequate recently and the spirit testified to me so strongly about the incapacity and inadequacies these men feel but how truly through Christ we can be strengthened. They shared D&C1:23 a couple times.. Which ps is my ponderize scripture for the week! :) haha but about how truly the Lord calls weak and simple people to proclaim the gospel. When Elder Andersen came he talked about how if we feel inadequate or if we feel like we can't do it, we are right!!! We can't do it, it's too hard for us as mortals but with Jesus Christ, the spirit and Heavenly Father we can do all things. They said the things I needed to hear and the spirit testified so strongly to me that truly as I rely on Him I can do hard things. It was beautiful! The spirit is so incredible, I wish I could tell you all the things I learned this past weekend and all the things the spirit pricked my heart and told me to do better or to work on. Man.. the list would go on forever, but for now I am working on being prepared, ponderizing, just like the rest of the world! ;), and focusing on what we do right and also what others do right, asking more questions, then more then anything simplifying!! :D I am doing pretty good about that one already but I just want to get even better at it! When we recognize the simplicity of the gospel and of life truly it makes it so much simpler! :) So GOOD!
Things are going really well out here! :) I had 2 great trade offs this week! I was able to be with Sister Bates in Holland which was wonderful! Oh my goodness it was great! Here are some of the cool miracles that came from that one.. We were able to go out to Holland and see the lake again which was way fun! Then sister steele and I had a little dinner date because the sisters really wanted to go to their dinner together and so they went and we went to dinner, but we went on this super cute street that had some awesome stores!! The whole time I was like oh my gosh.. my mom would love this!!!!! Seriously.. it was kind of like gardnier village.. you would have been in heaven! haha so that was fun! :) Then sister bates and I took the sisters back to wyoming because we still didn't have a car and then we drove back to holland, so we had a couple minutes before 9 and it was dark and we didn't really know what to do, but we went to this street and there was this house with Christmas lights on it.. weird right? But anyways we saw it and then we drove a little farther and decided to say a prayer and during the prayer I felt super impressed to go to that house so we got out acting on faith, and there was a guy just outside, which was perfect cuz then we didn't have to knock! He started talking to us and we invited him to learn and he said he had met with missionaries before and would love to meet with them again!! We got his number and all that jazz and then since he was hispanic we got to refer him to the Spanish elders! It was awesome!!! Oh my goodness.. the spirit is real! :) Even in the littlest things. That was just the start, we had an awesome trade off, lots of door knocking, we met some awesome people and worked a lot on getting numbers and getting return appointments! Sister Bates is great, I just love our trade offs! :) She teaches me so much, which I am grateful for! She gave me the sweetest compliment at the end she said, our first trade off you changed my mission by helping me understand the importance of testifying and this trade off you have changed my mission by the way you follow the spirit and act on it's promptings. It was great. I just loved it. Being an STL is so great! :D I get to learn so much from so many different missionaries, we have MLC tomorrow which will be good to! I am excited! :)
Then I had a trade off with Sister Brockbank which was also great! We stayed in Wyoming and also knocked a ton!! That was super fun though too, oh my goodness we were walking from one house to another and then this girl was walking with these two cute twins in a stroller and we stopped her and told her that we were talking about families and Gods plan for us all. She started to cry and told us that he boyfriend is in a coma, her dad passed away from cancer and her brother also passed away from cancer.. I couldn't even believe it. I walked over and just hugged her, this complete stranger that was just so in need of the gospel and the understanding that families are forever, that God has not forsaken her and that she is loved. She just cried and we just loved. It made me think about how the Savior went about His work, I was reading this week in 3 Nephi 17 when Jesus Christ asks them to bring any that are sick and afflicted to come and I thought so much about how truly we are all sick and afflicted in any manner, as the scriptures say and that he just prayed for them and cried with them. In that moment with Kelsey I was able to feel that true love of Christ. It was amazing. She gave us her number and hopefully one her boyfriend will be okay, and two that she will be able to understand more fully the true plan of happiness! :) That was something else that hugely stuck out to me in conference, how much they talked about how this life is not all fine and dandy, but that it is full of trials and that is to be expected but that we get the opportunity to learn and grow the most from those moments! :) So cool! We met some awesome people and taught a couple lessons! That was a great trade off as well! So good!
Okay I only have a couple more minutes, but we haven't done a ton of service recently.. :( We are planning to do one soon though for a member! Oh Elizabeth came to conference this week though!!! That was great!! :) I don't know if she wants to start learning again or not but she came! That was a huge tender mercy!! :) 
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