"If we don't have the spirit we can't teach, and if we can't teach then why are we even here?"

WOW! this week has been crazy! Ups and downs... but mostly UPS! Withers and I have learned SO much, and have had so many incredible experiences together. Every day was like a spirit punch in the face!! (yes... if you couldn't tell, that's a really good thing. :))

On Monday, Aug 20th,  Sister Withers and I did our laundry at our relief society presidents house. Her name is Sister Thordson. (MAN is she amazing!! I have never met someone in my life who serves and solves problems like she does. Her entire life is dedicated to helping others live better.) She and her husband have sacrificed so much and have given so much to Sister Withers and I... We look up to them and love them dearly! Of course as we were doing laundry there, she filled us up with chocolate and Italian soda's...(TOTALLY a fat joke, right?! haha secretly we love it.) After that we hurried over to the stake center and played like crazy with our AWESOME zone! We literally have some of the FUNNEST people here in the Yuba City Zone.

On Wednesday, Aug 22nd, we had the most AMAZING and INSPIRING Half Mission Conference of my life time! (Granted, it WAS my first... but still absolutely Life changing! Elder Cardon from the first Quorum of the 70 came and we had a meeting that went from 9:30ish-4:30ish with a small break in between for a nice lunch. It was LONG, but didn't feel that way. The spirit was there and I learned SO much. I had been asked to give the closing prayer at the meeting, and was really nervous to get up in front of half the mission to pray... Don't worry though.. I survived the experience... and didn't even say anything blasphemous in the prayer..phew.

One of the coolest things I learned at that mission conference was the importance of having the spirit. If we don't have the spirit we can't teach, and if we can't teach then why are we even here? Right?... WOW. I had a lot of time to think about what qualifies me for the spirit and how important it is in this work. I have always tried to follow the spirit for guidance in my own life. But here on the mission I have begun to have the unique challenge of following the guidance of the spirit for someone else. Every day we meet different people with different and unique challenges, each person having a story and life of their own. How could we possibly know what they need?... We can't. The lessons and the doctrines are set in stone. But the way we teach them is something very specific to each individual. How grateful I am to be learning this wonderful skill of receiving revelation for someone else and having the discernment to KNOW what to do with that revelation. WOW! Spirit punch in the face, right?!... One last thing Elder Cardon said really hit me like a ton of bricks. I don't have the exact words with me here so I will paraphrase..

"Every morning when you wake up, fall to your knees and plead with your heavenly father to give you the strength so that you can give all that you HAVE and ARE. then get up and do just that... give all that you HAVE and ARE. That night when you come home, feeling more exhausted then you have ever felt. Fall to your knees again and tell your Heavenly Father that you gave it all you had that day... Thank him for strength through it, and then plead with him to help you get a good nights rest, because tomorrow... you're going to do it again."

WOW... My heart just swells as I type that. This is the type of service I want to render for the REST of my life. These habits and this relationship I am forming with Heavenly Father will not end in a year and a half as I go home. This is the kind of Servant I want to be from now all the way to the eternities!