Guess what happened yesterday?
We had two very special visitors come and see our mission: Elder Lynn G. Robbins of the Seventy, and....... Elder Holland!
We've known for 2 weeks that he was going to come, but we weren't supposed to say anything to avoid publicity, etc. It was well anticipated, as you can imagine, and all of the missionaries and a few of the area leaders (stake presidents, former mission president, etc) were in attendance. It was overall a very surreal experience - the whole time it was weird to see him walking around, talking, hearing the oh-so-familiar voice, and have him be RIGHT THERE! Pretty incredible.
We all took a group picture, so we were all arranged into our spots when he walked in, and then he and Elder Robbins shook each of our hands as we walked back into the Sacrament Meeting room.
So, the technical details probably aren't all that interesting, but I'll share some highlights from what they both taught about. :)
Elder Robbins spoke first, and he talked about Christlike Attributes and about gratitude. He said that as we develop Christlike Attributes, we are able to change the question of "what would Jesus do?" to "What would jesus Be?" and as we focus more on becoming more like Christ instead of just deciding and acting as Christ would do, our responses naturally become like those of Christs. He also shared that the difference between Grateful and Thankful is that Gratitude brings with it a level of reciprocity (well, originally it was supposed to.. the meanings currently are more synonymous) and so when we read in the scriptures or think about gratitude, it means more than just giving thanks, but of returning the act of kindness with our own acts of kindness, and that's how it should be with Christlike attributes.
Holland talked a lot about the Spirit - he said that we don't appreciate it nearly enough, and that when we really think about it, it's a being of the godhead - he literally is equal in stature and standing and glory to God and Jesus Christ, and we don't appreciate that enough. He said if we really appreciated and wanted and understood the Spirit, we would have him with us more.
Funny story - I lead the music and then was asked to give my testimony a little bit before Holland spoke and then me and a few other missionaries sang Consider the Lilies, and then while he was talking, he stopped right in front of me. He was talking about how we have to do everything by the spirit, and we had just read in D&C 50 where it talks about how if it's not by the spirit it's not God's way, and then he said "and Sister Reynolds, no matter how nicely you might have lead the music or sung or given your testimony, you're just not enough! You're human and imperfect!" and then everyone laughed. Then when I got up to lead the last song, he stood back up and went to the pulpit and said "I just want to clarify - I wasn't saying that Sister Reynolds isn't a good singer! I was just saying that she's human and needs the spirit like we all do!" It was quite the shoutout ;)
After the meeting, Sister Maluenda had asked us to drive her home, so my companion and I followed them all out and we got to talk with Elder Holland a little bit more. It was a really sweet experience - he held our hands in his, and told us how grateful he was that we're serving and said "I think you're probably the two best sister missionaries in the world... in fact, I'm quite sure of that." .. haha.
It was incredible. There was so much that we learned, and now I've probably bored all of you a bit with the whole story, but it was too good to not share. :) Anyway, I hope you learned something from that whole jumbled mess!
I love you all!
Love, M
--
Hermana Reynolds
No comments:
Post a Comment