Seek Until You Find It

The week here went really well. I don't really know where it went. Our zone Conferences went well! They come and go so quickly. But it is fun to be a part of. On our drive over the mountains to Redmond, we got a ton of snow up at the top of the pass! We were not expecting it. It had been raining pretty bad all drive, and then as we continued to climb in elevation, it suddenly just turned to snow! It was sticking and non-stop. There was definitely a lot of prayer going on. But we made it through and had a good Zone Conference the next day. 

On Sunday, we had a good experience. We had a meeting down in Monmouth where the area general authority, Elder Hansen, was training the bishops and their counselors and the stake presidency. It was a really cool meeting to be a part of. There was definitely a special Spirit there.  One thing that stood out to me was when he talked about the parable of the lost sheep. It talks about how the shepherd seeks "until he find it". He doesn't just give it an effort and then go back, but he doesn't stop until the sheep is found. In our responsibilities within the church there are too many times where we stop before we find it. We give it an effort and can say we tried, but we didn't go to the end of the road searching. It definitely made me want to do better at that. 

Yesterday we had a training for all of the District Leaders. It went really well. There was a great Spirit in the mission home during the training. That is what the picture is from. 

We had a cool experience this week. We had about an hour left on Saturday night before we had to go in. It was raining and pouring like crazy. It was really dark as well. We didn't have anything

planned, so we started driving and felt prompted to go park at a park in Newberg. As we pulled into the parking lot, it looked so dreary outside because of the weather and the lack of light. After we got out, we were walking through the park and a young woman pulled up to us on her bike. She was in tears and really scared. She had taken the bus about 13 miles from McMinnville into Newberg earlier that day around 3 and was supposed to meet a friend. That friend never showed up, so she was riding around in the rain for hours. She didn't have a phone and doesn't really have a place to live. She normally would sleep outside of a church in McMinnville that allows her to sleep there when she gets there before 9. So there wasn't much time. We were able to make a few calls and one of the counselors in the bishopric, and his wife, came and picked her up and took her back to McMinnville. We found out later that they also bought her a meal and some warm clothes, etc. It was a really cool experience to be a part of. It made us appreciate how aware Heavenly Father is of each of our lives. He cares and is always there. And it also made me think of how much charity and love these members of our ward showed. They saw this girl as one of their sisters and as a daughter of God and were willing to serve her without hesitation. Truly amazing.

The temple was great today! It was really great to be there and to feel of that Spirit. I've only got a few more days with Elder Oswald! I'm sad about that. He is going to do great though. I'm excited for him!