It's Like a Symphony

May 25, 2015

The group of leaders from around the mission

The group of leaders from around the mission with friendly gesture.

me, frimpong, dlamini and falco. love these sisters.

All the STLs

Lusaka zone leaders and Sister Frimpong and I

Sister Falco and I. This girl is the best.

Blantyre zone leaders and sister dlamini and I

Darling People all over the world,

The stats have come in and the best rejection of the week is as follows:

*talking to an azungu at his door*

"Hello, I'm Sister Proctor"

"Hi, I'm busy."

*slammed the door*

Good times.

Nevertheless, this week was wonderful. Mission Leadership Council has come to be the highlight of my mission and this time around was no different. President began by reading part of the talk from conference about knowing the dance steps verses hearing the music. That became the theme of the whole two days and hour after hour it seemed that the music became more sweet and clear in my heart.

Sister Frimpong and I got the opportunity to teach the council about the "why"of lesson 5 (temples, priesthood, family history, etc) before baptism. As we prayed and studied for this the Spirit directed us away from the general presentation and we began with the question, "How do we become like Christ?" It seems like a simple question but as we left the silence, the Spirit became the teacher and the lesson unfolded until everyone felt in their hearts the "why". As missionaries, we are not here just to baptize and be on our way but we are here to give people a vision of what they can become because of Christ. They need to know even before they are baptized that baptism is only their first step to eternal life--and oh what a glorious journey this is. It was a temple moment in that mission home with all of those leaders. I feel so incredibly blessed to be apart of that council.

We had a breakout session where the Elders and sisters discussed seperately different things and all of us sisters sat around President's conference table and shared how we "hear the music". I love all of these sisters so much. I have had the privilege to serve with most of them now and we all just wept together for our love of the work and the Lord. In that moments I felt poignantly again my gratitude for my time in Blantyre and the hard and beautiful lessons I learned. I definitely learned how to hear the music there.

I finally got to see "Meet the Mormons" for the first time and it was so great! It made me proud to be a Mormon. It was funny to see that missionary get called to South and then go to the SA MTC. I was totally there like a year ago. It was also cool to see people in Nepal wearing CHOICE shirts and Kate Hargadon talking about Bishnu. So many familiar things that made me smile. I think the best part though was hearing David Archuleta's song that said, "It's like a symphony" after just talking so much about hearing the music. The music of the gospel is like a symphony in my heart. It just keeps getting better and better.

Another prominent theme of MLC and the week was the Sabbath day. It seems to be a prophetic priority set by the brethren from the General Conference training sessions. We discussed it at length as a council and then at our ward council yesterday (it is still so weird to be serving in a WARD but also the best thing ever). As I have studied on the subject more something I have learned is what it means to rest. Sometimes we think that rest on the sabbath means laying around all day and watching movies. Then I read in Alma 12:34, "Therefore, whoseoever repenteth and hardeneth not his heart, he shall have claim on mercy through mine Only Begotten Son, unto a remission of his sins; and these shall enter into my rest." Rest is a state of remission of sins and of grace not of lazy days on the couch. What a blessing it is that once a week we have a day to focus on the Atonement and a remission of our sins. My Sabbath day observance will become more sacred to me now, especially as I want to strive to give a sign to God of how much I love Him.

We had very few lessons this week as a result of MLC but the ones we had were great. John is doing really well. Sister Erickson has been coming to teach him with us and that has been fun. He has a alcohol addiction but he also has the greatest desire to change and after teaching him the word of wisdom he said, "I know it will be a long, hard journey but I am ready to go to battle." I nearly cried. I love watching him progress. And like I said last week, he is already excited to go to the temple. He has caught the vision.

Joseph didn't get baptized this week but we are still working with him. He is still preparing himself and a few guys from Utah are now here with Mother's Without Borders and they live in the same house with him so he has 24/7 missionaries in the house. 

We found an amazing new investigator this week. I am just giddy about it. His name is Chombe and he is so ready to change his life. He sort of reminds me of John actually. We contacted his mother and she said she had been taught by missionaries in Botswana and was willing to learn. He promised he would come to church and then he actually did (that never happens). He hasn't been to church since some time last year but like I said, he is ready to put the world away, sober up, and come closer to Christ. I think he is the key to his whole family. Yeah, so we're pumped. 

On Saturday we had a ward activity and it was planned like two seconds before and we felt like no one was coming but slowly the room filled up and everyone ended up laughing like crazy and having a great time. We played a bunch of our family games we usually play on Christmas Eve and they loved it. I am coming to love the Lusaka ward so much.

Life is simply lovely.

Love,

Sister Proctor