Week 33 - Dendo!! :D

Dear Family -

Things are really warming up here in Sapporo now - we even went out to go grocery shopping without our jackets today! I am loving the spring weather.

The most exciting thing this week is that I was finally able to meet Becky's cousin's family - the Katos! They are an amazing family!! I was able to meet the Mom and two daughters on Tuesday and then the whole family again on Sunday afternoon - they are such a cute family!!! Kotaro kun and Yume chan and Megumi chan are all super nice to each other and just adorable. And Yozo and Ryoko are such nice parents too - I really felt at home at their house - even though it was the first time I had ever met them they really felt like family! Which I guess they are if you really think about it :) That threw some of the members at church for a loop when they asked what we were doing after church and I said i was going to go visit my 100% Japanese relatives that lived down the street :) If all goes well with work, they are going to come to a big Family Home Evening at the ward on Saturday - and the host family is actually Kotaro's kumon (juku - after school school?) teacher! So they already have a good connection with the ward which is great! I am excited to see them again.

Well, being a missionary is a pretty crazy experience. I swear I have never had so many emotional roller coasters in my life! haha - but what is life without a few amusement parks every once in a while? I love being a missionary, I really do. I don't know if there is anything else in the world that will bring such great joy as sharing the gospel - but I also don't think there is anything that will point our your weaknesses quite as clearly. Just when I think I am starting to get it down - I fail completely and feel like I have to start all over again. For example, just a couple of hours ago actually we had an appointment at the park with a lady we met last week and gave a Book of Mormon to - we were at the park at the appointed time, but it is a HUGE park and we realized we were at the wrong end of it. We texted our appointment and asked her for the address, and told her we were on our way - that we were super close - but she texted us back and said that fate was just not meant to be that day - that time and trust were very important to her and that we would just have to see if fate allowed us to meet again - because today was just not going to work. We continued, running now, to where she said she was - but when we got there,15 minutes late now - she was already gone. My companion and I found the nearest bench and sat down and texted her an apology and cried, and repented and talked things out for a long time. I have always known that one of my biggest weaknesses is dependability. I try so hard to be as dependable and trustworthy as I can - but I am not perfect and there are times when I fall short. But this time it was not just my reputation at stake - but the church's and more importantly Christ's. As a missionary I am a representative of Christ, and I had let him down. It has been a while since I have felt so disappointed in myself. My companion was very loving and we worked things out together - she shared a scripture with me that we all know very well - Mosiah 18:8-9. It goes "As ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another's burdens, that they may be light, yea and are willing to mourn with those that mourn, yea and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at ALL TIMES, and in all things, and in all places..." I learned the importance of standing as a witness of God at all times today. I also learned about repentance. We truly felt regret, and sorrowed for what we had done. We did our best to make amends with our appointment. We mourned with and comforted each other, and then promised to never let the same kind of thing happen again. We prayed and talked about all of this with God. He listened, and he gave us both peace. I don't know how things will work out for her from here on out - but I know that somewhere along the line things will work out. We learned. We will grow. "These things gave us experience and shall be for our good".

I am so grateful for this missionary experience. I am so grateful for this chance that I have been given to realize my weaknesses and improve. I know I can never be perfect - that is not part of the plan for anyone - but I know that through his grace and his help I can be better than I am now - and that is so exciting! I will do my best. I know that God lives and hears and answers prayers. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that God has given us the scriptures to guide, comfort and bless us. I know that this gospel is true - and I am so grateful for it!!

Sorry I am out of time - until next week!

I love you all so much!

- Sister Budge

Week 32 - I Love Conference!

Dear Family,

Well the weather is warming up every day here, and we even started riding our bikes this week which I am super excited about!! It feels so much better to be out in the sun with the wind on your face then down in the subway train. It is also so much faster to get places now! We got to the Honbu in 10 minutes instead of the usual 30 to do email - I am looking forward to spring!!

I hope you all had the chance to watch conference - it was amazing!! Some of my favorite talks in a nutshell were
Quentin L. Cook - Christ does not promise universal peace - he promises personal peace if we choose to accept it, and it is only through individuals at peace with themselves that anyone can hope for universal peace (it reminded me of one of my favorite scriptures, Ether 12:4 - "Whosoever shall believe in God, shall with a surety hope for a better world") Sometimes we get people who reject us on the street on the claim that religion causes war - if they only knew the peace it could bring to them.
Craig A. Cardon - Christ wants so badly to forgive us, and help us to improve. He allows for improvement over time - he doesn't demand immediate perfection. How grateful I am for that!
Dieter F. Uchtdorf - Darkness exists - but so does light! No matter what dark circumstances we may find ourselves in - nothing can take away the light within yourself. That light, that comes from the light of Christ can shine and overcome any darkness in the world.
Rosemary M. Wixom - Talking and writing to children - they are so influenced by the examples around them, and we have so much to learn from them if we take the time to listen. As a missionary I have seen just as many if not more honest faithful examples and disciples of Christ in children as in adults. I love kids so much!

There are so many more that I really loved and that I felt were really speaking to me, but these were some of the highlights :)

I know that this gospel is true! I know that God loves each and everyone of his children, and that he knows each one of them perfectly. Because of that he knows exactly who we need around us to help us become who we need to become, and he knows who needs our help to grow as well. If we trust in the Lord I know that he will guide us and teach us not only what we need to learn from those around us, but also how we need to help.

Jeremy and Lizzi, I loved reading your letter and seeing those pictures! That is so neat that 27 people all got baptized on the same day, and that you got to baptize one of the kids you are working with! I wish I could have heard Lizzi's talk on the Holy Ghost - I bet it was wonderful! By the way, Jeremy you have grown quite the impressive beard!
Danny, I am glad that everything worked out with your cut/bite/thing! You had me worried for a few minutes there with that email! That is so neat that you were able to watch conference with some of your friends too! Did you have a favorite talk??

I hope everyone is doing wonderfully! I love you all with all my heart! I am so grateful for the knowledge that we will be an eternal family. I am so grateful to be a missionary here in Hokkaido and feel my family growing larger with every person I meet!

Love,

Sister Budge

Week 31 - Transferred to ODORI!!!!

Hello!!!!

Yes, I transferred this week from Atsubetsu to Odori!! Odori is a unique area in that we can go anywhere we want as long as it is within the Sapporo city limits. It is a HUGE area, and I am so excited to work here! It is a four person apartment - each companionship has a focus ward, but we can all go anywhere. Interestingly, my trainer Sister Kise is one of the sisters in the other companionship so we are back in the same apartment! She has Sister Peterson, a Canadian sister as her companion, and my new companion is Sister Tokeshi from Okinawa. She is a really hard worker and has such a powerful testimony - I am so excited to work with her!!

This week has been super busy with transfers and exchanges and everything, but we are slowly getting settled in a little bit. On Saturday we were able to do some Dendo around the Toyohira church (where I will be focusing, and where the Ward Mission Leader is actually a return missionary from Tokyo - Brother Matsuhashi - he said he served in Shibuya when Dad was a bishop there - small world! ) We did a new type of dendo - we started by visiting a lessacitve member, and then after we talked with her for a while we left to go house around her area. Before we left we asked her to pray for us to be able to meet people that would talk to us. In the next hour or so we found 5 people that we were able to either make an appointment with, give a Book of Mormon to, or people that said they would be willing to meet with us again sometime. At the end we went back to the members house and reported to her our work in the last hour and thank her for her prayer. It was so neat! It really strengthened my testimony of the power of the members, and I think it really helped her feel excited about missionary work too - one of the people we found actually turned out to be someone she knows! It was the first time either one of us had dendoed that way, but we want to do that a lot more!

I'm sorry this email is so short this week - from now on I will be emailing at the honbu which means that there are a billion people around waiting to email after me, so the emails might be a little shorter than usual from here on out - I will do my best to write good emails still!

I love you all so much, and I love this gospel!! There really is no happier work in the world!!

Love,

Sister Budge

Week 30 - Miyu chan Got Baptized and Confirmed!!

Dear Family,

How are you? Mom and Dad and Danny, are you enjoying the cherry blossoms in Tokyo still? What a perfect Easter background :) Its a little embarrasing actually, but I had absolutely no idea that it was Easter yesterday until one of the speakers in sacrament meeting mentioned it at the beginning of her talk. It was probably the most un-Eastery Easter I've ever had (that one speaker's comments were the extent of Easter related events), but in retrospect it was the best possible Easter weekend I could ever want! On Saturday we had the privelege of seeing Miyu Nakandakari get baptized, and on Sunday we got to see her receive the gift of the Holy Ghost! I can't think of anything that is more related to and celebratory of the Savior's atonement than a child covenanting with Heavenly Father to always remember Christ and do her best to follow him and accept his infinite atonement in her life. Easter specifically celebrates the Savior's resurrection - and baptism is a symbol of that resurrection. Because Jesus died and was suffered for our sins, we are able to live again, and be cleansed from our sins - to be born again. Miyu chan was able to be born again spriritually by being submerged in water (representing the grave) and coming up again completely clean and ready for a fresh start. It was beautiful! And although I was totally unaware that it was Easter this week, I have gained a deeper appreciation for Easter and for the Savior this year than any year before!
Saturday and Sunday were definitely the highlights of this week - and we spent the whole week preparing for and leading up to that event. I will share just one experience that we had on Thursday. We were scheduled to go in the afternoon for a lesson - but they called an hour before and cancelled because they had to go to their grandparents house for some reason. As I was setting up for Eikaiwa that night though, Nanjo shimai called to follow up with the family. Miyu's Dad still had some issues with Miyu getting baptized - he still doesn't feel like she is old enough or ready to make a commitment like baptism, and apparently that day Miyu ddin't do her chores as well as he expected her to, and now he was saying that he was not going to come to the baptismal service - he believes in her right to make her own decisions and therefore would not stop her, but he wouldn't support her until after about the first year when he begins to see a real change in Miyu. We have a really good relationship with their family, and as Sister Nanjo was talking to him on the phone he was in no way rude or disrespectful - he repeatedly told us that he has nothing against the church or anything - but that he was decided and he was not going to come to the baptismal service. He ended up sticking to his word and not attending the service which was such a dissappointment - we wanted him to see the baptismal service so badly. Not for us, not even for Miyu, but for him as a Father we wanted him to see this important moment in his daughters life so much. While Nanjo shimai was talking on the phone I knelt and prayed that she would know what to say, and that everything would work out. We love their family so much, and it was breaking our hearts that there was this contention happening, and that he wouldn;'t be there to support her. We began to wonder if this was really the right time for Miyu to be baptized or not. When the call ended we were already five minutes late for a lesson we had scheduled just before eikaiwa - she was waiting and chatting with the Elders in the next room - but we were both on the verge of tears and decided that even though we were late we needed to pray. Nanjo shimai said the prayer. It was simple and not very long, but it was one of the most heartfelt prayers I think we have offered together as a companionship. In her prayer she prayed, as we have been praying for a long time, that some day the Nakandakari family would be able to go to the temple and be sealed for time and all eternity. When she said that I felt the spirit so strongly, and I knew that one day - whether in this life or the next - they would be sealed. A warm feeling swept over my entire body from head to toe, and I knew that someday they would be sealed and I could imagine in that moment the joy that they would feel, and that I would feel on that day. When the prayer ended, before I said anything about what I had felt, Nanjo shimai said she had felt the same impression - they would be sealed, and we should not postpone the baptism. I will never forget that prayer.

I know that this gospel is true. I know that Christ lives - that he suffered for our sins and died on the cross and rose again the thrid day. He did it for us. He did it for Miyu chan. He did it for Miyu's Dad. He did it for me. I am so grateful for that knowledge, and for the opportunity I have to share this message of hope, joy, and truth with everyone that will listen her in Hokkaido.

I love you all so much! I hope you all have/had a wonderful Easter weekend, and enjoy watching conference this weekend too! (or the weekend after that as the case may be for some... :) )

This week is transfers again - this is probably the most unpredictable transfer I have had yet, so I'm a little nervous. Of course I will be excited to go whereever I am called, but I love Atsubetsu so much! I don't want to leave.

Until next week!

Love,
Sister Budge

Week 29 - Yamashita Choro and Miracles!

Dear Family -

 

That is so neat that the cherry blossoms are already out in Tokyo! I always loved the cherry blossoms - I guess them come out around May or June in Hokkaido so I am excited for that! We don:t have cherry blossoms yet, but it is starting to feel like spring! I even switched from my down jacket to just my normal peacoat today - and I was actually feeling hot on the walk over to the church this morning! Everyone is saying that the snow is over for this year... we:ll see if that holds to be true. But honestly, I much prefer the snow to the rain, so I am a little sad about winter ending - who would have guessed!

 

Well this week was great! We started a little slow because of our colds, but we are doing better now - I am totally fine - Nanjo shimai has lost her voice alittle bit and has a bit of a cough, but its on the recovering end I think. The highlight of the week was definitely Friday. We had our zone conference with Elder Yamashita and a lesson scheduled with the Nakandakari family afterwards. I was also able to sing Savior Redeemer of My Soul at the conference - I was a little worried about it because just in the 10 minutes before I was supposed to sing my throat started hurting worse than it had all week! I said a little prayer asking Heavenly Father to just let me be able to sing well to bring the spirit - I just needed 5 minutes thats all, and He gave it to me! I was able to sing without worrying about my throat at all. That was the first prayer answered that day.

After the conference ended we went with the Elders in our area (one that transferred away last transfer was back on exchanges) and we went with them to find an old investigators house that they wanted to pass to us, and then they came with us to the Nakandakaris - they were also really good friends with them. That turned out to be a huge blessing! When we got to the Nakandakari family's house we found out that they had actually tried to call us about an hour before to cancel our appointment- not only that but also to tell us that Miyu chan was not ready to be baptized yet. Earlier this week her Dad got upset at her, and said that her attitude was not good enough to make a commitment like baptism - so they made an aggreement - a way for Miyu to show how commited she is. The agreement was to go to bed at 8:30 and wake up at 6:00 everyday - if she did that then he would let her get baptized and attend the service - if not he would not attend the service, and although he wouldn:t stop her from being baptized he wouldn:t be supportive of it. Friday morning was the first morning of this agreement and Miyu woke up at 6:15 - 15 minutes late. As a result her Dad told her that she was not ready to be baptized, and finally made her call us to tell us that herself. Blessing number one that day - Nanjo shimai accidentally left the phone at the apartment that morning, and we didn:t have time to go back and get it afterwards so we never saw those calls or texts!! Blessing number 2: We had Harada choro with us, who they hadn:t seen in a long time and were excited about meeting again which allowed us to go in the genkan. If he hadn:t been there I am convinced they would have explained the situation and had us go home.  Blessing number 3: It rained that night, and none of us were prepared for the rain so all four of us were pretty soaked when we arrived - which made them have sympathy on us and let us in the houe to dry off. Usually they let us right in - but that day we were all smashed in the genkan for a good five or ten minutes before they finally invited us in.

We ended up being there for a good three hours or so - the first hour and a half was mostly listening to her parents explain their points of view - which were all very valid and good parental perspectives. They don:t want Miyu to make this commitment half-heartedly and because she broke that first agreement they felt that she wasn:t ready for it. It wasn:t at all that they are against baptism - but if she decided to be baptized they wanted her to be 100% committed because as parents they end up supporting her and taking her to activities and church and things, which they are very willing to do, but only if Miyu chan was actually committed to do it. It was a very fragile situation, and I can tell you that I was praying very very hard the whole time. It would take forever to write everything they said, but to make a long story short we went from one point where they told Miyu that if she didn:t say the real reason she wanted to be baptized than they would tell us to stop wasting our time with teaching her and that would be the end - to a point where her parents began to understand the testimony and commitment that Miyu has already been showing - by coming to church every week for a month, reading the Book of Mormon, praying, setting goals of what she needs to do before and after baptism and posting it on the walls - she was already showing a lot of commitment that her parents weren:t noticing. Miyu chan through this whole thing was very very quiet. There was a spirit of contention there, mostly directed at Miyu that made it almost impossible for her to say anything, let alone bear her testimony. We knew we needed to bring the spirit in so we finally asked if we could sing, and say a prayer together. We sang their favorite song, Love at Home, and said a prayer, and were able to share a message about the Plan of Salvation, according to our original plan, and then give MIyu a chance to stand up for herself a little bit. She wants to be baptized because she believes that God lives. She believes that Jesus Christ lives and that he loves her. She believes that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is true, and that is why she wants to be baptized. That was her perfect, simple. beautiful testimony - and that is enough.

As always, this story has turned out to be really long and its probably really hard to follow - but I learned so much that night. One, God knows his children, and he wants Miyu to be baptized. He made everything work out just the way it needed to so that she is still scheduled and supported by her parents to be baptized this Saturday. I always knew, but had it emphasized to me how much her parents love her, and want what is best for her - that is why they are tough on her. And don:t get me wrong they were very upset, but they are really loving - they are such a solid family and really just honestly and sincerely concerned parents. I have a lot of respect for them. In the end, things returned to normal - we made an appointment for the next day, Miyu came to church on Sunday, her family came to pick her up and met a lot of the ward, the Bishop and everyone and we even set the baptismal program up. We have appointments to meet with them every day this week, and I have faith that everything will work out.

 

This is the Lord's work! He knows his children and what they need. He is behind every detail and guiding every step. I am so grateful for that.

 

Love you all! Till next week,

 

Love,

 

Sister Budge

Week 28 - Hello!

Hello Everybody!

How are you? I hope you are all genki and happy and doing well :) Sister Nanjo and I both got a little bit of a cold yesterday, but we are both feeling a little better today, and were able to come to practice a song that we will be singing at the zone conference this week for Yamashita choro. So for the first time I am emailing today from the Honbu! Sorry if this email ends up being a little short, there are a lot of distractions here... !

I dont know if I mentioned before that Miyu Nakandakari, the 10 year old that we have been teaching has a baptismal date - originally it was for her birthday on August 4th, but about a month ago we were able to change it to a little sooner - March 31 - and it looks like it is actually going to happen! We met with their family 3 times this week, as we have been for a few weeks now. I love their family SO MUCH! They are so much fun, its ridiculous. We have kind of an interesting set up going on right now - for the first hour we serve them - I teach the mom English (from the Book of Mormon Stories book :) ) and Nanjo shimai has recently started helping their 8 year old learn math. Then we have a gospel lesson after that - Miyu chan is progressing really well! She said she really feels like God is real, and thats why she wants to be baptized. Her mom is always there for the lessons, and though she doesn't say that it is for her, she is learning, and I feel that she is starting to become more and more open to the idea of this gospel being for her as well. We have a really good relationship with the Dad as well, although he usually isn't around during the lessons. But this week we had what I count as a miracle - Miyu chan and her sister Yuki chan came to the Primary activity on Saturday and when it was over we had a lesson with them to review the Restoration and show them the Restoration DVD. We had a team up Sister, and another girl in the same Primary class there at the beginning. Just a few minutes into the lesson however, their Dad showed up to take them home (they were originally going to go home by them selves). We asked him if he had a little bit of time to hear the lesson before they went home, and he did, so we there to here all of Lesson 1, see the restoration DVD, and we were even able to show all three of them the baptismal font after it was over. It was the first time I think he has ever fully been present for a lesson, and it was so neat to have him there. Her parents are not thinking right now about the gospel for themselves - I guess the Dad kind of had religion forced on him growing up, and so he built his family on the principle that everyone is an individual, and even if all 6 of them choose different religions that is totally fine -but if you commit you've got to give it your all. As a result her parents are probably the most diligent in following up with Miyu to make sure she is reading and praying everyday. They are really supportive. So if all goes as planned she will be baptized in a couple weeks!

It was so great to hear from all of you! Interviews, otsukaresama desu. I am excitied to read your talk mom! I'm sure it is fabulous. That is so exciting that Joe Watanabe is coming! Do you know when?

I love you all so much! Until next week!

Love,

Sister Budge

Week 27 - Snow storms, Nice Strangers, and Being in the Right Place at the Right Time

Hello Family!!

 

I think I'll start out with a story this week. On Saturday we had a couple of appointments in the morning - the first one went really well and we had a really good lesson/discussion about the Plan of Salvation with one of our investigators - a 20 year old girl who is going to be a nurse pretty soon. We left the lesson feeling really good, and left the church for our next appointment confident that we would only be in the blizzard going on outside until we made it to our next appointment. When we got there however, she wasn't feeling well, so we resorted to housing instead. Despite the blizzard we felt that we should go knock on the houses in the storm, not the apartments where we would be inside. The very first house we went to, Segawa was their name, a grandma opened the door and let us in the genkan to get out of the snow. She was a TALKER. Before we could explain anything about who we were, or that we were missionaries or really said anything at all we found ourselves sitting on her couch inside listening to her talk - I would say we were having a conversation, but that would be an exageration of our contribution. She kept telling us about her husband, and how he was a math teacher, and that there wasn't anything in the world that he didn't know, and that even now, decades later once a year students come and visit for a day or two. To make a long story short we ended up visiting with her for a good two hours - after the first hour when we finally had a chance to explain who we were and a little bit of our message she changed the topic to how she heard this rumor that people will slam doors on people like us without even listening to our message at all, and how she cried when she heard that - she had a fun time explaining the door slamming too.. "Ban ban ban ba bin binn bon - Kekko desu!" We heard that story a good 15 times or so too. I dont think I have laughed so hard with a compete stranger for such a long time before as I did with Segawa san :) wow that was a long story. gomen.

 

Later that day another appoitment fell through and we were on our way to do some dendo at the train station when all the sudden the thought came to me to visit a boy that just got baptized in the ward a few months ago. When I looked around to see where we were - we were exactly at the road where we needed to turn to get to his house. So we went down the hill to head to his house. The road was super icy, and my companion fell once, and I fell twice - but we continued. We got to parts of the road where the snow was up to our knees- but we kept going. We finally made it to his house, and when Yuma-kun ( the boy's name) answered the door we were surprised to see that he was close to tears, when he is usually one of the genkiest kids you'll ever meet. We talked to him for a while, and learned that he was feeling really distressed about things right then - with his parents getting angry at him for different things, and how he felt like no one could understand him - the best was his sister who could only understand about 50% maybe. We listened to him, and comforted him, letting him know that even if no one around him could understand him 100%, God did and that God would help him. I feel prompted to share Mosiah 24:12-16 with him, which we did, and then we said a prayer together before we left. He gave the prayer, and in it he said "Shimaitachi wa chodo nayandeita toki ni, chodo ii timing de kitekureta koto ni kanshyashiteimasu. Mata chodo ii seiku o wakachiatekuretakoto ni kanshyashiteimasu". "I'm grateful for the sister missionaries who came right when I was troubled, at just the right time and shared just the right scripture with me". I know that that was exactly where we needed to be at that time. I am so grateful that we decided to follow the prompting to visit him and that we didn't give up despite the difficult path to get there. I know that God was watching out for Yuma-kun, and I don't think there is any better feeling then to know that I was able to help him feel that right when he needed it.

 

I love being a missionary! I know that I am not strong enough to do it by myself, but I also know that I am not alone. And it is times like that that let me know that if I give my best than the Lord will make up the difference. I really appreciated what you said in your email about humilty and pride Dad, thank you so much for sharing that with me!

 

Mom and Dad, Thank you for your email! I haven't seen any yellow sand over here yet - just snow! Hopefully it will just stay at that ;) I actually dont really want the snow to end - mostly because when all the snow starts to melt the streets will turn into slushy messes everywhere - we've had a couple days where its been warm enough to melt a little bit and I am learning that I definitely prefer the snow to rain or puddles. But what will come will come!

That is so neat that you got to see the Litchfields! Are they still living in Canada? Tell them hello for me if you get the chance :) Speaking of Canada there is one sister missionary here from Canada, and I just met a Canadian man who lives in our same apartment building the other day. Kind of random, but oh well ;)

That is amazing that you had 6 baptisms in one day! How many baptisms does the Tokyo mission usually have per transfer?

What is the Candle Mama concert? I am having a hard time making an image of what that could be in my head... right now I am just remembering Dad's Santa story - you don't have a beard, but watch out if you wear a scarf! Insights on Love at Home.. well I dont know if this will help you or not, but We are teaching a family right now, The Nakandakari's - they have four kids and the oldest one has a baptismal date right now. Whenever we go to their house we usually start with a song and a prayer. They have been to the FHE that the Evans have at their house every month a few times now and "Love at Home" is always one of the songs they sing there. Their five year old, Samu kun loves that song, and his mom said that he will just start singing it randomly all the time "ai aru, ie yo!" "katei no naka ni, ai araba". That's all he can remember so he just sings those two lines over and over :) So now everytime we ask what they want to sing they all are super excited to sing "Love at Home". We sing all three verses everytime and they all sing - the 5, 7, 8, 10 year olds and the Mom all sing together with us. It is a beautiful sound - other times in the lesson the little ones lose focus and it can get pretty crazy, but during that song it is peaceful and you can feel the spirit so strong. There are many different religions in the world and many different ways of thinking, but the family is something that can reach every heart. Yesterday we met with another investigator who started talking about marriage how family and how strongly she believes that you can't understand love until you get married and have a family. I couldn't agree with her more - I obviously haven't been married before, but I know that the love that I feel in our family now is what has taught me to love others, and to feel God's love for me. Love at Home is the basis of any other love. It is the key, it is the foundation that any other kind of love is built on. That is why our families are so essential to everything in our lives, and in the gospel.

I don't know if any of that will help - but that is what I have learned just in the past day or two about Love at Home :) Let me know how your talk goes!

Mom and Dad, thank you so much for making our home a home full of love. You are both incredible examples to me, and I feel so blessed to have been sent to you!

 

Have a fabulous week in your spring weather!!

 

Love,

Sister Budge

Alma 26:37