Week #6

Hey Family and Friends! Hi! How is everybody?! I hope you all took the opportunity to watch General Conference this past weekend. We were able to be at the main campus all day sat and sun to watch it. What about it stood out to you? what did you learn? :) There seemed to be many common themes through out the sessions. One of them that I noticed was self mastery. There was a lot of emphasis on loving our neighbors, meekness, enduring and overcoming depression, and setting our priorities straight. It was wonderful. Lots of room for improvement for me. Also, Matthew 11:28-30 was mentioned over and over again. It must be something we need to better understand. "Come all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I shall give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." What does it mean to be equally yoke with Christ? We dont have to live this life alone. Christ is there waiting for us to be humble enough to seek and accept His help and wear his yoke. "Yeah, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God. For in His strength, I can do all things." (Alma 26:12) Okay time for a funny story. Let me first preface this. Cectpa Loveless in our district and apartment is totally into essential oils and loves using them to help other people. Last sunday--not this past one, but like the 9 days ago Sunday--I had an open sore on my foot and sweet cectpa loveless had the cure. Garlic Oil. SO she proceeded to rub it on my foot. (we did it on the porch so we wouldn't stink up the house) the next morning my foot felt great! the swelling, pain, and redness had gone away and everything was hunky dory! Except that it is Tuesday!! 9 days later! and our porch and my foot still smell like garlic!!!!!! and all of my clothes because I would put my socks in the hamper. 2 Pdays have passed mind you..that means I have washed my clothes twice. I suppose only time will heal the stench. haha our poor neighbors have no idea what is going on. They probably just think we are freak sisters who are trying to ward off vampires! In other news! We are most likely moving o main campus next Pday! God changed His mind and decided West Campus should be strictly spanish speakers. So I will be getting a new address and Ill let you know when I know it. but I will only be there for like 2 weeks. It will be a fun change :) We learned how to tell time in Russian this week. I still dont quite understand it. Its the worst! I dont think that Russians understand that 5:32 could totally be read as "five thirty two." Nope, instead they find it crucial to say "six without 28 minutes." I'll learn it eventually. Ah! we had a Vocal Point devotional! It was so cool! And what a humbling experience. They told stories about their missions and sang some hymn arrangements. One, was "I need Thee Every Hour." I bawled like a baby.... two specific things that they said that i absolutely loved were : " Dont just trust Him, give yourself up to Him." and It's not enough to endure to the end. Cross the finish line with a smile." so good :) Also!!! Last night we all got together and decided how we wanted to spell our names in Russian for our new name tags that they ordered today! So exciting!!! Well I hope you are all doing wonderful and embracing the nice fall/winter weather. :) And I hope you enjoyed General Conference. Jesus Christ lives and is waiting for us to rely on Him. The gospel is true, I know it! Im in the right place. I appreciate your thoughts and prayers. Much love, cectpa downing