I will talk about (the best)
conference (ever) later in the letter! Here is what happened earlier
this week!
On Tuesday we had a bishopric
meeting for the whole stake. That was interesting! It is still weird for me to
go to those things! I feel like I shouldn't be there until my hair starts going
gray or I have a family waiting at home! I always feel so young there! I also
had to interpret for that meeting. Seems to be a common occurrence these days.
But it was a good meeting just really long and most of it was on budget about
things that the branch doesn't have so it seemed kind of pointless.
We had the 100 year anniversary of
the Arizona School for the Deaf and the Blind (ASDB) this week and they had a
big convention that lasted from Wed. to Sun. We were able to go on Thurs. to do
a booth there! We were so excited! We got everything ready, Elder Bradley drove
back from New Mexico to help us, and then we drove over there! It was at the
Hotel Tucson so they had a big convention room that we set up in. There were
other people that had booths there as well! It was a really cool thing! We got
set up and waited for it to start at 1. And then by 2.....there was still no
one there. By 3 we had talked with all the 4 people that had gone through the
room. At around 5 and after having only about 7 people total come in all of the
other booths started to close up so we (very disappointed) followed suit and
packed up. Then as we walked out we saw the problem! There were so many deaf
people! All of them were in the lobby just talking and talking. No one made it
to the other room. It was actually really, really sad. That is to be expected
(to a point) with their culture though. So all in all it was a real
disappointment. It wasn't a total waste as we talked with some formers and less
actives as we were walking out but it was a huge disappointment. Oh well!
General Conference!!!
This was the best general conference
ever!! I loved it!! It was amazing! I am so excited that Tucson is getting a
temple! It is different to be in the mission field and have your mission get a
temple! When that was announced everyone just started cheering and celebrating!
It was awesome! Also the new missionary age requirements! That is really cool!
When they said that I pictured all of the people at home who now can go, and
what they must have thought about that! For all of you I would strongly council
you to discuss with God and find out if it is right for you! No one should ever
go on a mission because of fear, tradition, or guilt. It is your decision and
will be one of the best experiences of your life should you choose to go. Yet,
there will also be many of the hardest and worst times of your life throughout
the service. Make sure it is your choice or it will be much harder for you!
But anyway! Conference is amazing!
And even more so while you are on your mission! It is the equivalent to the
super bowl or something like that! I love it! Due to the fact that ASDB was
having their huge celebration this weekend. It was basically just me and Elder
Nelsen at the church for the ASL broadcast. Yep! It is really sad, but that is
deaf culture! It doesn't matter that the prophet of God is speaking to us, Deaf
first no matter what. But that is their loss as it was one of the most amazing
conferences ever! I don't know if it is just me, being a missionary, but most
of the talks seemed to be about missionary work, bring back those that are less
active and even Elder Nelson's talk to non-members! I loved it! The spirit and
the feelings and impressions are amazing throughout participating in conference
and it makes me extremely grateful to be a member of this church at this time.
No other time or people in the history of this world could have ever been able
to experience what we recently experienced! I encourage everyone to go back and
reread, re-watch, and relive conference! All the talks are already on lds.org. That is my experience of conference!
Also, I had another really
interesting experience on Sunday. It was T.J. Agardy's birthday on Sunday so we
went over there between sessions to have lunch and a surprise party with them!
Lunch was wonderful and delicious! But we had to leave to go back to the church
(for the ASL for Elder Nelsen) for the second session before we had the cake
and ice cream. No problem of course but as we were leaving they told us that
they would wait to have cake and ice cream after the 2nd session so we could
come back, so we did! The cake was wonderful and everything but the cool
experience was what happened after! We needed to give Sieta a blessing. She has been sick for awhile so we were a
part of that blessing for her. Afterwards T.J. wanted a blessing for a problem
he was having with his knee and he asked me to give it! That was pretty cool, I
was humbled to be asked to give that blessing especially since there were other
people there that could have done it in his family but he asked me. That was a
great experience but it didn't stop there! After that Lily and Danielle each
asked if I could give them a blessing for help in school! It was a really cool
experience and one of the few that really makes me feel as if I was really
supposed to come here for them! It was great to be in their home and teach, to
have Danielle get baptized and then to continue that friendship with her. Also
to be a part of the Agardy family and the friendships I have made there have
been wonderful! These are the types of friendships that will never break! I
love this mission!
That is it for now! I hope your
experiences were great this week as well!
Elder Banner
No comments:
Post a Comment