It's been a long time since an update on Sister Lythgoe. Here are a few highlights from her last few months in the mission field:
September 2013:
We continue seeing miracles daily...even onthe hard days when its hot, we're tired, and no one answers. Those days are long. We're doing are darnest though to keep our heads up and keep pluggin away. We had a neat experience yesterday with a guy that came to the door with dress...looked a bit scary. But we ended up stepping outside for a few minutes and teaching him about prayer. The spirit just took over. It was powerful. We left him with the spirit...and then sent him to the YSA elders. Who knows what's going to happen with him but the seeds were planted.
September 2013:
Our district is getting split up. Ahhh! so sad. I've never had such a tight district before. They're all so great and have impacted my life forever...especially my district leader. He's amazing. Such a great, loving leader, hard worker, yet humble and love to laugh. My companion and I are constantly talking about how great the elders in our district are. It'll be sad to see everyone part, but good as well. My testimony about the power of the priesthood has just gone sky high since before the mission. I tell you what...I've been blessed to have so many great powerful, yet small experiences with blessings that have just helped me know how much Heavenly Father knows me personally. I'm so grateful for worthy priesthood holders. Life is good.
October 2013:
Just finish 'marinating' in the temple for 3 hours. Wow, I tell you that new video is amazing! Amazing! You not only see and hears God's love...but you get to FEEL it. I loved it so much. I could spend days in the temple. We had our Zone Conference this week. My companion and I gave some sister trainings and practices. I feel like it went really well. It was a very good meeting. They are always very spiritual.
I had a real great week and felt many of the ole' burdens lifted. I went on exchanges with two sister missionaries. These two sisters are very opposite missionaries but none the less with a great desire to be out here. The more I get to know some of these missionaries and their strengths and such the more I realize it is almost my time to get booted:) They need to advance which pushes me out of the picture. That is a sad thought to me but I know it's good. We have great sisters here in the mission! I learned a lot from both of my exchanges. There has been an increased focus on companion unity recently. That's been so great. It's amazing how much the unity within your companionship really does affect the work.
November 2013:
We had a mission leadership council last week and Elder Packer (Pres. Packer's son) has such a humble sweet spirit about him....yet he's so stinkin' funny. I had to stop myself from laughing a couple of times. He's a great guy. He talked about the spirit of Elijah a bit and his passion for family history. Then told us about the great responsibility we have as leaders of the mission. He did it in such a way that was so powerful. I wish I could explain but I really can't. He talked about how the spirit of Elijah is really just the spirit testifying of the divine importance of the family. I loved that. That makes so much sense. Was a really good meeting. I can't wait to get more involved in family history afterwards.
December 2013:
Well this week was a good week. Consisted mostly of....food. For Thanksgiving we ended up having 3 dinner appointments. Oh baby! One right after the other. Started in right around 4 p.m. and finished up around 8 p.m. Non stop eating.
The work continues to move forward. We had an amazing experience with an investigator yesterday. He's very skeptical. It started out a bit rough but I tell you what...it ended so well. The spirit was soooo strong, especially around the time when we were talking about Joseph Smith and shared his experience. Tears filled the investigators eyes---whether he'll admit it or not. It was powerful to see him completely calm as the words of Joseph Smith's experience came from our mouths. We both testified and left him with the spirit. As we talked about it afterwards my companion and I both felt like this investigator knew it was true. Although he didn't accept the baptismal invitation too well...he is going to think about it. It just goes to show the power of the First Vision. I've had so many experiences like that on the mission that its impossible for me to deny the First Vision. I've seen it have an amazing effect on other. I love Joseph Smith. Can't wait to meet him one day. I love being a missionary.
