Elder Bednar and Other Surprises

Once upon a time Elder David A Bednar came to the California Bakersfield mission and made me so excited I just about exploded!

This Saturday he came and spoke to all of the missionaries in the mission (which is CRAZY because the whole mission is NEVER all together at the same place at the same time. It just never happens.) The format was mostly question and answer. First, he just asked all the missionaries to share things they had learned from some talks we had read to prepare for his visit. Then he opened it up for us to ask him questions. It was really neat because you would think that talking to an Apostle of the Lord would be pretty intimidating, but he made everyone feel really comfortable and let us know that he wanted us to speak from the heart, and that he wasn't going to be judging anything we said. It was a cool experience because he made us be active participants in the learning experience. The biggest thing he talked about, which seemed to keep coming up in everything he said, is the importance of agency. He said that having agency is more about acting than it is about choosing. And, once we make a covenant at baptism to follow him, it is not our agency anymore. It is the Lord's. We are under covenant to do the Lord's will and not our own. The way he explained it was way more mind-blowing that the way I am conveying the information, but yeah. It's crazy because the more I learn the more I realize how little I know.

That was Saturday. On Sunday, Elder Bednar spoke to just the Bakersfield East Stake. I just so happen to be serving in the Bakersfield East stake, which means I got lucky enough to hear from him TWICE!! The first half of his talk was directed to non-members and it was SO GOOD! He basically taught the Restoration of the Gospel, which is the first missionary lesson. It was so good but I was also so sad because none of our investigators came to stake conference! :( :( An Apostle of the Lord came and spoke directly to them, and they weren't even there! In my head I was like, "Hi Elder Bednar, maybe you can just come with us and teach all of our investigators for us, please?" Lol, wishful thinking. The rest of his talk was about what the Savior would teach us if he was here. He said it would be the sacrament, and told us how important it is, along with the other priesthood ordinances. What an amazing experience that was!

That was the weekend. The rest of the week was kind of insane. Normally, when an apostle of the Lord comes to your mission, you would think that that is the biggest thing that happened to you. Sadly, that was not the case.

Sister Harmon got emergency transferred this week! :( :( One of the sister missionaries in Bakersfield was sick and had to go home, and there was another companionship that wasn't getting along, so they moved a bunch of people around and somehow we got mixed up in it. And Sister Harmon is now gone. :(

My new companion is Sister Gallacher! We only became companions on Saturday so we haven't been able to take any pictures yet, but next week!

I am excited to see what the rest of this transfer will be like!

Happy November (can you believe it is half over?!)

Sister Daelemans