D&C 29:9-10

We had a Zone Meeting last Tuesday and it was really great and has got both Sister Knutson and I are energized and overwhelmed at the same time. Our Zone Leaders set a bunch of goals for us this transfer and it is going to require a lot more work, not like we aren't working already! :) But we are ready to take the challenge and hope that we can do what is required of us. We are on the Lord's errand so we are entitled to the Lord's help. That's what I keep telling myself! We have to teach 20 lessons a week, tract 30 minutes per day, get 5 OTMs a day (OTM stands for "open thy mouth" and it means that we just talk to random people), and do at least 2 hours of unplanned service. Our weeks are going to be packed!! Being busy is the best thing you can do as a missionary! It is the worst when you don't have anything planned and you have no idea what to do. You feel like you are wasting the Lord's time and that is exactly what you DON'T want to do. So I'm glad that we have all of these new goals that we have to accomplish!

We had an investigator get transferred to us from some elders. It is a Young Single Adult female so we probably should have been teaching her the whole time, since we are over the YSA Branch, but oh well. She has a baptism date for September 8th so we couldn't be more excited! She is a really great gal who has been coming to church for a couple weeks! We really love her! More about her later!

We also had a good lesson with Tiffany. She is the friend of a recently returned missionary. We talked a lot about having a sincere heart and real intent when asking if the Book of Mormon is true. She is really devout in her faith and wants to do what God wants her to do so I think that once she knows the Book of Mormon is true that she will do what she needs to do follow what Heavenly Father wants her to do. Josh, the returned missionary, is a great member missionary and he is really an asset in our lessons!

We helped host a booth at the county fair. We were there for 5 hours on Thursday morning. There wasn't a lot of people there and the booth wasn't set up very well and we had been told not to move the display, so we didn't. When the Elders and their Ward Mission Leader, who used to be a mission president, showed up, we told them about how unsuccessful we were and Bro. Abram, the Ward Mission Leader, said, "There's a new sheriff in town! Let's rearrange the display!" So that's what we did and from what we heard, they had more success then we did, so that's excellent!

The Bella Vista Relief Society had a Super Saturday this week and they did dry pack canning. We went and helped out. There were probably 20 sisters who made a food order and all the food needed to be canned! So Sis. Knutson and I went and helped them can all of their food! It made us so happy to see that these sisters are following the counsel of the prophets and doing their food storage! It makes me excited to go home and do my own food storage! I've always had a desire to do all this preparedness stuff but never really did any of it so once I come home, I'm going to start my food storage and everything like that! We all need to be prepared for natural disasters!

As a missionary I'm learning that I am literally an instrument in the Lord's hands. I am a guitar or a piano or a violin and I just wait for the Lord to play my music that he blessed me with! It reminds me of an old movie. I believe it's called "The Maker's Touch." It's about the old beat up violin that is being auctioned off and no one wants it. The movie goes through the life of the violin and how it has had a rough life where it was not taken care of and not played then gets sold and the same thing happens. At the auction, nobody bids for it. Then an old man comes forward and plays the violin so beautifully. All of a sudden, everybody wants it! That's how I feel. I haven't had a terrible life like the violin, but I have definitely had my own challenges. Now I'm on my mission and I'm trying to share the gospel, just as the auctioneer was trying to share the violin. If I teach by the Spirit, the Spirit will be able to testify of the words I speak and everybody will want to partake of the things I share with them, just as everybody wanted the violin after the old man played it. I pray everyday that I will be able to know what to say and to speak by the Spirit so that I can help the people I come in contact with. We all can pray for this, even if we aren't full time missionaries. Members are supposed to be full time finders and the missionaries are full time teachers. EVERYBODY needs the gospel! It is the ONLY way we can live forever with our Father in Heaven and our families!

I'm so grateful to be out here! I hope I can continue to grow and become a better person!

I love you all!!

See you soon then!

Love, Sister Pahl