Monday, January 27, 2014

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

11/25/13

Hello Family!

What a wonderful week it has been! The work in American Lake has been picking up and we were blessed with a visit from Elder Neil L. Anderson and Elder Craig C. Christensen this weekend! What a powerful and special weekend it was for me!

Sister Phillips and I braved the big gated apartment complexes in our area and have been blessed with so many new people to teach! The Lord is good and He answers prayers! Also: In our district, there is Sister Phillips and I and Sister Stucki and Sister White. Sister White has been extremely sick and was sent home this morning to get better, so we are in a trio again! Sister Stucki has joined our companionship! I am so excited to have her be with us! It will only be for the next 3 weeks (until the end of the transfer) but it is going to be an amazing 3 weeks!

SO: this weekend! Elder Neil L. Anderson and Elder Christensen came and had a meeting for our mission! Every missionary got to shake their hands. I even got to sing for them! I was in a little group and we sang a really pretty arrangement of "Be Still My Soul". It was such a special experience! The meeting was a spiritual feast! I was exhausted afterwards because it was such a powerful experience! President and Sister Weaver and Elder Christensen all spoke before Elder Anderson and they all basically bore their testimonies on Elder Anderson and the keys he holds as an apostle of the Lord. It was an incredible set up as we prepared to hear the words of this powerful apostle. Elder Anderson spoke to us about "a missionary's understanding of the Atonement". Some things he said that stood out to me were that the best way we can come to understand the atonement is by using it and experiencing it. He stressed the importance of  sealing our testimony of Jesus Christ in our hearts. He talked about how you cannot preach something you do not believe, that you must have a testimony of something before you teach it! He reminded us to not baptize anyone if they have not experienced repentance. He talked about memorizing scriptures and having them in our minds and our hearts! It was such a powerful meeting!

The next day we had a special stake conference and Elder Christensen visited the Lakewood stake! The meeting was all about missionary work! It was exciting to be in the room and to hear some of Elder Christensen's experiences and feel the excitement for missionary work!

WHEW! I am so grateful for these experiences I am having! I feel so blessed everyday! I am so excited for thanksgiving this week to be able to spend some time with the wonderful members in our ward! The Lord is good, He answers prayers, and He knows and loves His children! Something President Weaver said this weekend really struck me, he said "there is not one plan of Salvation, Heavenly Father has a plan of salvation for each one of us individually!"

On top of this weekend, we had zone conference also! This week has just been a spiritual feast! It is a great time to be a missionary in the Tacoma Washington mission, in the Lakewood Stake!
I am so grateful for the time we have this week to focus on things we are grateful for! What a special time of year it is! I love you all so much! I am grateful for all of your wonderful e-mails and notes that lift me up! Tell the Valley View ward 7th Primary thank you for the package! My companion and I put the tree together right away and decorated it!

This weekend is going to be pretty special as well as we anticipate the baptism of 3 wonderful people I love so much!

I love you all! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

Love,
Sister Tingey

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