Missionary Hobbits

Dear family,

It has been a wonderful week! So many great things have happened, my heart is full of joy! Sister Clancy and I are having lots of fun together.

One of the great things that happened is that we had zone conference. It was my last-ever zone conference as a missionary and probably the best I've ever been to. I got to play the piano for it and one of our wards provided the lunch. The Spirit was so strong and there were so many times when I knew that my prayers were being answered. My favorite part was when we got to sing all together!!! I found out that our mission (all 250 of us) get to sing at the visitors center on Christmas Day. It will be so wonderful!!!!! One of my most favorite things to do is to sing with a choir with people I love. This will be so special!!! I also get to play a bell for one of the songs. I also found out that all of my MTC buddies (4 sisters that came out together) will be singing a song in a fireside in December. I love it!!!! I'm so excited for that.

My second favorite part of zone conference was when President Jenkins instructed us on the Doctrine of Christ. Wow! That was amazing. He gave us all a packet that he had prepared for about three months. It is full of study ideas and scriptures to read about the Doctrine of Christ. I love it!!! Ever since I went to the MTC I have tried to learn as much as I can about the doctrine of Christ. It is the center of the gospel and the most important thing you can understand. President Jenkins said that if you truly understand the Doctrine of Christ you will never go inactive or leave the Church. It is the most important thing we can teach other people and should be at the center of every lesson and talk.

I have studied and thought about it a lot since Wednesday and I've learned a few  things. One thing I realized is that gratitude is closely connected to the first principles of the gospel. When we're grateful, we choose not to dwell on the things of the natural man (like being discouraged by weaknesses, comparing yourself to others), but instead focus on all the things the Lord has given us (spiritual gifts, the Holy Ghost, opportunities to learn). At this point, we are ready to apply the Atonement. We accept and acknowledge that we are imperfect and that we are stained by sin, but we're not held down by it. When we can see and feel happy about our blessings, we realize the greatest blessing and gift is the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It is then that we happily and gratefully accept it, by acting in faith, repenting, making, keeping, and renewing covenants, and receiving the Holy Ghost more fully into our lives. As we make this our pattern of living, we discover even more things to be grateful for and it becomes a cycle and a continuous process. I think this is what is meant in the Book of Mormon when it says "they lived after a manner of happiness."

Another great thing that happened this week is the temple dedication. The Spirit was so strong, it felt as if we were actually inside the temple. I felt so motivated to re-dedicate my life to the Lord and make every moment count for the rest of my mission. I will consecrate all I do to Him and His work. Another thing I learned from the dedication is that I want to always go to the temple often, no matter what sacrifice needs to be made. Going to the temple protects us, strengthens us, and prepares us for eternal life. It is there that we come to know our Heavenly Father better and understand the Atonement better. I want to go there often and continually have the feeling of the temple with me, wherever I go. For me, the feeling of the temple is calmness, peace, order, quiet, and inspiration.

After the dedication, we were blessed to have appointments all afternoon and evening. Because we couldn't invite investigators to church, we were told to watch a General Conference talk with them and that this would count for church. This was so fun! We got to pick out specific ones for them and enjoy being spiritually filled with them.

We had a wonderful lesson yesterday with our awesome investigator, Cade! (He's the 14 year-old brother of our investigator who just got baptized.) He's getting baptized on December 13 and he's really solid. He used to be apathetic about the gospel and we never got to see him when we came over, but now that he's felt the spirit he is really excited to learn and be baptized. He's even bringing friends with him to lessons and church! We watched the talk from Priesthood Session with him and he loved it. We decided to send him a scripture every day (through texting) and he's really excited to read. He also give the most sincere prayers. We are so blessed to be able to teach him!!

Some of our other investigators are also progressing! Toni, a middle-aged lady who lives in the trailer park is progressing slowly! She used to be against the church (her son got baptized a few years ago), but now she loves for us to come over and teach her. It was her birthday on Friday, so we went to Golden Corral with her and Sister Jackson, the Relief Society President (who is really good friends with Toni).

It was fun! Toni's heart has been softened because of health problems she's had. She's been through so much in her life, but she's finally starting to realize that God does have a purpose for her and that she needs to find it. We gave her a present-- a framed picture of Christ and a DVD about the Plan of Salvation.

Another miracle we had this week was when our plans fell through with one investigator, so we decided to try to visit someone with the member who was with us. Sister Clancy and I both felt inspired to visit a guy named Josh, so we went over. Josh is a middle-aged single guy who we helped a few months ago. (this is when we were driving around and a guy flagged us down and asked if we could help him find his elderly father who was wandering the streets). When we knocked on the door he let us right in and we had a great conversation. He really opened up and told us how he's been making changes in his life (he's quitting smoking and drinking). He is trying to turn back to God after ignoring him for 10 years. We told him, "that's great! We can help you with that!" He's also reading the Book of Mormon on his own. (We didn't even give him one. We're not sure where he got it!) Josh told us the only reason he let us into his home is because we helped him try to find his dad. That made such a big influence on him that it changed his heart. Wow! We are so blessed that everything turned out how it was supposed to. We were made instruments in the Lord's hands!

Another great thing that happened yesterday was that Gary felt the Spirit in our lesson yesterday!! Gary is a middle-aged single man who lives in a half-way house (he has mild schizophrenia). We teach him slowly (one principle at a time) so that he understands and this week we taught him about the Great Apostasy and the Restoration and during the part where we recite the first vision, he said that he felt a warmth and an energy right here! (He was pointing to his stomach) We explained the Spirit to him and he was really happy that he was feeling it.

I love this work!!! I love these wards!!! I love my investigators!!!!

I know I'm exactly where I need to be right now. We got to play dodge ball with our zone this morning and it was super fun! It was good to exercise and to let my competitive juices out. I think I'm going to be sore tomorrow.

I'm excited for Christmas lights to start at the visitors center! I love that I get to have one more Christmas on my mission. It's such a special experience to focus 100% on Christ and serving others. I have more time to ponder the birth of Christ and His mission and Atonement. I'm also excited because our mission has big Christmas and New Year's Day activities.

Thank you all for your support and love! I hope you have a fantastic week!!!

Love, Sister Sallstrom

P.S. Explanation of the title of my email: we have been eating multiple dinners lately so we like to joke that we're missionary hobbits. We had normal dinners and then we went to a block party and to Golden Corral with Toni. Part of being a good missionary is knowing how to eat well:)