Sister Sarah Bennion : October 13th

Family!

General Conference was so good! I feel like being on a mission has really opened my eyes to what a blessing being able to listen to the prophet and his apostles twice a year is. A lot of the talks given were direct answers to my prayers as well as to the prayers and questions of Harry, our investigator who went to the Sunday sessions of conference. One example we had a lesson with Harry between the morning and afternoon session and he shared with us a scripture he had read in the Book of Mormon (2 Nephi 9:51), which basically states “do not spend money for that which is of no worth.” He then asked us what kind of things are of worth and we asked him to think and pray about it. Then, we went to the afternoon session and Elder Scott gave an awesome talk on the 4 keys to conversion aka: what is of worth. I love General Conference! Funny Sister Chen line of the week: We have a former investigator named John who is a member of the Baptist church. We run into him a lot because the church he attends is on the street where we often go to do street contracting. He is really nice, but it is always a little bit awkward running into him. Last Saturday I saw him walking up the street and said to Sis. Chan, “Look who it is again.” Sister Chan looked up for a second and offhandedly said, John the Baptist” hahahaha . It cracked me up.

Spiritual Thought:

I was ready this last week the Bible story of Elijah. It is one that I had not read entirely in the past and I felt like I got a lot out of it. I especially liked the part where Elijah gathers all the people to Mt. Carmel fir the showdown between him and the priests of Baal. But, the part that stood out to me most was not the challenge between Elijah and the priests of Baal itself, but the question Elijah asks to the gathered Israelites on Mt Carmel. He said, “How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him” As I watched conference this last weekend, that statement kept coming back to my head. The message I kept getting from every session of conference was that there is no room for neutrality as a member of the church. We have to make a choice and consecrate ourselves to it. Because God will make demands of us (I loved the quote by Elder Christofferson, “A god who makes no demands is the functional equivalent of a god that doesn’t exist.”) and those demands will require sacrifice. But, as we commit ourselves to following the Lord with not just our might and strength, but our mind and heart as well, we will find the fullness of peace, happiness and blessings alluded to so often in the scriptures.

Love you!!! Have a great week.

Love, Sis. Bennion