Conference was so great! We were able to watch all the sessions of conference. I really enjoyed it a lot. I realized how much more I have to work on. I really need to focus on loving others and striving to serve them more selflessly, not for any other reason than to glorify God. I also loved the doctrinal clarifications by President Nelson and Elder Bednar. They were fantastic. I loved the analogies given by Elder Sabin and Elder Costa's talk on becoming a member. When they announced a new Chinese Seventy, all 20 missionaries in the stake center looked at Elder Yang (from China) as if to see if they were related. It was pretty funny!
This week was a great one. We had a lot of very spiritual experiences between having General Conference, Multi-Zone Conference, the baptisms of the 4 Davy children, and the opportunity to go with Sister Milligan to the temple to do baptisms for the dead for her first time (at which Elder Drebot and I were also able to baptize one another for the dead as well). It has been such a spiritual week! I almost felt like a straw being attached to a fire hydrant: there was so much to take in spiritually. This was the first time that I've felt ancestors accepting the work that is being done and their gratitude. It was special to be able to do baptisms for the dead again after so long. I also loved how spiritual the baptism was when I looked over to see Danielle sobbing with joy to see her 4 kids be baptized by her husband. That touched me a lot, especially their son, who is severely autistic but received special permission from Salt Lake to be baptized with his family. I loved each one and I learned a lot from them. I took a lot of notes in my journal about the things I learned from the Spirit so that I can remember them. I am truly amazed at how much the Lord blesses us when we simply try our best to do His will, be obedient, and act on the promptings we receive.
I think what I learned most this week was the need for me to continue becoming more like my Savior, particularly in the way that He loved others. I read this week in Matthew 8:16-17 where it reads that He took upon Himself our infirmities. I have heard that a lot before but in the context of Him healing people of diverse diseases and ailments I was confused. I prayed for understanding and the Spirit taught me that He was quite literally taking these things from the people He healed, knowing full well that He would then have to experience everything that they were feeling, but to an infinitely more intense level. I was blown away by how much love that would take. How often do we do one or two nice things for someone but we bail out before we have someone "take advantage" of our kindness? The Savior did not do that. He simply offered to help others and allow them to find happiness and peace, even at the price of His own comfort. That is true love, and I want to exemplify that.
It was overall a great week! I loved it and I love being a missionary. We have transfers coming up here in the next week and I have a feeling that I will be leaving, which will be really sad. But I am grateful to continue serving somewhere else and find more people to teach and baptize. It is crazy how fast time is going! It's ticking quickly!
Here are pictures from the past week, including President and Sister Mullen kissing! (yuk haha), Danielle's baptisms for the dead, the Davy kids' baptism and when our former AP David Sy came and visited! It was a great week!
Love you to the moon and back! I hope your birthday is super awesome! I love you tons!
Your Elder Jackson :)
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