Pictures from the mission

These are pictures sent to us by a recent convert in Sister Saal's area.  It was his 65th birthday!!  Love the cake.





Sister Duffy and Sister Saal

 



Sisters Brown, Duffy and Saal



June 17, 2013 letter

Hello everyone.

 

Happy Father's Day! Didn't you get the email, you could have called me yesterday on Father's Day. Sorry, too late. :) Just kidding, but I hope it was a wonderful day for you. I hope you got/ get my card soon.

 

Also, thank you so much for the BEAUTIFUL flowers and the package mom! I got them both on my birthday so it was special. I loved the flowers. They brighten our apartment.

 

Well, like the title of the email suggests, I saw a bear the other day. it was a great big black bear, though it was still a baby. It was about 10 yards from us walking down the road. The crazy part is, it was in the middle of town right by the McDonalds. We went to stop by a potential and we were talking to her. She then said "Be careful," and pointed. We turned around to see a black bear trotting down the road. Everyone was talking about watching out for the momma bear, but we didn't see her. She probably saw us though. Creepy. However, it reminded me of my time on the island. It was really cool.

 

Yesterday at church I was talking to our Ward Mission Leader. He was telling us about the time he went to Africa with Elder Christiansen to work on one of his orphanages. Through all the stories I have decided that is going to be my calling in life. I am going to talk to Elder Christiansen and work in one of his orphanages in Africa or Haiti. As Brother MaCrae was talking, there was a special spirit about the things he was saying. I really want to go. I know mom wants to go with me too. He was sharing about how more important than building the buildings is the time that you spend with the kids. He shared this story;

 

They brought a bunch of things that people had donated to the kids. They were passing out toys to all the kids when two little girls came up to him. It was the last two girls so there was no one else in the room. One girl told how the other didn't receive a toy. Brother MaCrae handed her a toy and as she turned to leave, she said "Thanks Uncle". Since these kids don't have family, they teach that they have an extended family. It brought tears to my eyes. That is my calling in life.

 

One of the highlights of my mission occured yesterday when I saw Erick Villanueva passing the sacrament in church. He was baptized a few weeks ago and was sustained to the office of deacon. Now he is exercising the priesthood he holds to pass the sacrament. He was so nervous but I saw the smile on his face. I could tell he was so happy. It made my heart soar to see that. He looked at me a few times with a half smile. I gave him a thumbs up and his half smile turned to a full smile. It was truly a tender mercy from the Lord to see.

 

We had the opportunity to go on exchanges this week. I was able to work with Sister Davidson, she is a transfer younger than me and has been one of my good friends and supports here in the field. We were able to go on an exchange once before when we were both on the island. It was an amazing exchange. I am so thankful that I was able to work with Sister Davidson again. She is a powerful missionary and I am thankful for her example. We were talking about the new sisters that have been coming in and how wonderful we think they are. She was trying to plan a district meeting and I threw in some ideas. Together, we planned one of the best district meetings I have ever been to. The Spirit was so strong and we both received so much revelation. It was crazy. We talked about the talk, Forget Me Not. We applied that to missionary service and it has changed my mission. I love the petal that talks about "Forget not the why of the gospel". It was truly powerful. We have to remember why we are doing what we are doing. It is easy to remember what we are doing- sharing the gospel- but sometimes I think we tend to forget WHY we are sharing the gospel. This is the only way for our brothers and sisters to return to live with God. I have heard that many times, but it never really stuck with me until now. How true it is though.

One thing we hit on, that seems to be a common theme among the newer missionaries, was glory of the Lord. We talked about "just because you are not training after 6 weeks, doesn't mean the Lord doesn't love you and what you are doing." I feel that a lot of the new sisters are really focused on "I will be happy when I train... or when I baptize someone... or when..." I know I have done that. Not necessarily with training, but "I will be happy when I have a new companion... or when I have more poeple to teach..." The Lord is blessing us with so many things that it is almost a sin to say that. We have such great reason to rejoice and I will praise the Lord my God forever!

 

A scripture I read this morning hit me and I want to share it with you. It comes from Jacob chapter 5 verse 72
"And it came to pass that the servants did go and labor with their mights; and the Lord of the vineyard labored also with them; and they did obey the commandments of the Lord of the vineyard in all things." I love that! The Lord did labor with them! The Lord is with us always. Then the wonderful promise in verse 75 " And blessed art thou; for because ye have been diligent in laboring with me in my vineyard, and have kept my commandments, and have brought unto me again the natural fruit, that my vineyard is no more corrupted, and the bad is cast away, behold ye shall have joy with me because of the fruit of my vineyard." I wonder what the joy the Lord feels. I can only imagine it is the best joy ever!

 

Love you family!

 

Sister Saal

June 10, 2013 letter

No official letter from Sister Saal this week, but she is doing good, working hard, and staying busy.

June 3, 2013 letter

Hello everyone,

 

Another week has come and gone. Seems like time is flying by now. I can't even think about where the past 16 months have gone. Wow. It seems like just yesterday I was putting in my papers. Life is funny that way. It seems like when you want time to speed up, it goes slower, but when you want it to slow down, it speeds up. Paradox of life?

 

I want to take a moment to share with each one of you how wonderful my companion, Sister Dean is. She is the best! She has helped me out more than I can even express. The past month or so our love has increased. She makes me food all the time and serves it to me when I am laying down. She cleans everything, even when I want to help. She has taken on the role as senior companion without even flinching! She is the best. And no, I am not just saying this because she is sitting next to me. :) She truly is wonderful and I am excited for another 6 weeks with her in Maple Ridge.

 

Yesterday at church the bishop had the Villanueva boys go up to the front next to him. He had everyone sustain them to their respected classes. How amazing is that! I loved it. I almost cried. Well, then later in the meeting we found out that the boys are going with the youth to the temple tomorrow to do baptisms for the dead! YAY!!!!!!! I am so excited for them. It is such a powerful thing. I wish I could go, but I am so thankful that they have this opportunity to go and they have a temple so close. It is only 20 minutes or so away. They were also signed up to go to Moroni's Quest. it is a stake thing they are doing. It is kind of like Trek, but they will be re-inacting scenes from the Book of Mormon. How tight is that? I want to do that when I get home. I vote that I get to be Captain Moroni! Anyone else want to sign up for a role? Speaking of acting out the Book of Mormon, someone told me they are making the Book of Mormon into a movie and Liam Nesson is going to be Captain Moroni. Is that true?

 

We had the opportunity to go out to Richmond on Thursday and attend the transfer meeting, though neither of us were being transferred. We had a wonderful time and something Sister Tilleman talked about really stuck out to me. I would like to share it with you now.

 

So, over the past 3 weeks or so, two of President and Sister Tilleman's sons return from serving missions. They were both there at the meeting and Sister Tilleman shared an experience. I am not going to go into too much detail without her permission. Moral of the story was how much the Book of Mormon can heal you. Sister Tilleman challeneged each one of us to deepen our studies in the Book of Mormon and read at least 30 minutes every day. I have taken that challenge to heart. I know that as I read from the Book of Mormon, the Lord can help me heal quicker. I have seen it a tiny bit already and I have only been doing this for a few days.

 

I am so thankful for my Savior and all He has done for me. I am thankful for a loving Father in Heaven that answers prayers. If you don't believe that, test it out. I know that He is there and waiting to bless each one of His children. I have felt it too many times to doubt it.

 

I love you all. 

Sister Saal