Dear family and friends,
Hello!! Shout out to Josh Burley and to Mom, Dad, and Justin for the letters and pictures this week! I will attempt to write you back soon...haha. #struggleisreal
Also, congratulations to BreAnne and her hubby!!! Have a happy honeymoon! I am excited to meet her husband when I get home :) And on that note, to meet Marissa's baby!! I can't believe I haven't met him, either.
And finally, Happy New Year!!! Make 2015 the best year yet :) Make this year the year of miracles.
This week was super crazy but crazy fun as well! FYI: I hit my 16-month mark yesterday. What the?! So odd. AND I got my "pink slip" this week, which is the slip of paper you get when you are close to going home that asks you where you want to fly into and such. Bah. It motivates me to work even harder and to bring as many souls to Christ as I can for this last transfer and a half I have left.
I was in my area for a total of 36 hours haha. We had pday last Monday - which was so much fun, by the way, since we played volleyball and my 6'2" companion and my 5'1" self tore it up - and later that night we went to FHE and STILL managed to reach the "high expectations" President Alba has for our mission (20 contacts, 3 lessons, 1 baptismal invite). It feels so good to be obedient and to work hard. I am thankful forever for my mission for that testimony of obedience, sacrifice, diligence, and hard work.
Then Tuesday we had a great district meeting all about the Book of Mormon, and it helped me so much to have a renewed desire to spread the Book of Mormon throughout Vacaville! We also got kicked out of contacting in two of our favorite contacting places - however, that is GOOD - it means people know who we are and that we are here to spread the good news haha. It's been a tender mercy because lately we felt like the people were turning more into numbers. Without our two favorite contacting places (which also happen to be busy places), the contacts we have had this week were much more in depth and personal. I feel so grateful for this fresh year, and that I get to start it off on a mission. What better way to begin?
I was on exchanges from Tuesday evening to Wednesday evening and I absolutely loved it :) I was with Sister Poulter in her area, and she is such a fireball - we worked SUPER hard and almost reached the high expectations that day (21.2.1.) She is such a good example to me of humility and desire to be better. I always feel privileged to be Sister Training Leader and work with these absolutely amazing sisters in the California Santa Rosa Mission. This mission truly is the best in the world ;) Sorry all other missions haha.
Then the highlight of the week, and also, the highlight of my mission: Camp Liahona!!
For our MLC (Mission Leadership Council) for the month of January, the 1st to the 3rd - Thursday, Friday, and Saturday - all the Sister Training Leaders and Zone Leaders met up in Santa Rosa Thursday morning, then packed up some vans and drove up about 2 hours north into the redwoods to a Girls Camp place called Camp Liahona. It's all a pretty big blur, but I have NEVER felt the Spirit so strongly my entire life than there in the beautiful Redwood forest during that MLC. President and Sister Alba also gave us SO much to take back to our zones about this new year of 2015. I am so excited to share a little with you!!
The first day we got there we ate lunch and then immediately split into groups and did service - my companions for the MLC were Hermana Nimmer, Sister Day, and Sister Anderson. My companion for service was Hermana Nimmer and we had a BLAST. We had to move broken asphalt from a big pile to a washed-out road from the rain and basically Tetris-ed the pieces together to build a road. It was very heavy for my little arms but it was fun haha.
Later that night we had dinner and MLC began. I learned the neatest thing about Redwood trees from a training President Alba gave us: for every foot a redwood tree grows, the roots only grow three feet outward instead of downward. Their roots are not these incredibly deep roots, but these trees are ENORMOUS. Redwood trees do not grow by themselves, either. They grow in clusters, otherwise the wind would push these towering trees over. But here's the neat part: the roots. Because they grow in clusters, their roots grow and intertwine with one another. They create a strong, unbreakable system under the ground that allows these trees to grow and tower over all the other trees.
I took a picture in front of one that is 2,400 years old - it was there before the time of Christ! It had only been there for 200 years when Lehi and his family came over to the Americas. What is even more amazing is that these trees' seeds are tiny - about the size of a walnut. And yet, they become something magnificent.
There is so much spiritual parallel to the Redwood trees. We have families and wards and stakes and this church itself and the Gospel of Jesus Christ to grow our roots strong - to intertwine them with others so that when the wind blows, we stand strong. Also, that our faith, our hope, our life does not have to start off in great circumstances to be successful. These incredible, HUGE Redwood trees start off as small seeds that take thousands of years to become these towering trees. But with time and lots of rain and fog, they grow :)
I had the most incredible experience in the forest - on Friday, we started the morning with a short hike to a grove of trees. It is called the "Sacred Grove." We all sat down in the cold morning and President Alba talked about Joseph Smith's story - how he was just a young boy trying to find out what church was true - which one was God's. A few people shared their testimonies of when they came to know Joseph Smith was a prophet, and then an elder, Elder Olson, got up and recited the First Vision according to Joseph Smith:
"I saw a pillar of light, exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. When the light rested upon me, I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of Them spake unto me, calling me by name, and said, pointing to the Other, 'This is my Beloved Son - hear Him.'"
As I heard the words, "This is my Beloved Son," my heart burned within me and I just started crying. I have never received such a strong confirmation that Joseph Smith is a prophet, but when I thought I couldn't feel more confirmation, then a group of 5 elders stood up and started singing "Joseph Smith's First Prayer." Then I was REALLY crying and my heart was just beating so hard inside. After the song, then we sang a closing hymn, "We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet" and I just broke down into sobs and couldn't even sing or talk or anything haha...poor Elder Wright and Sister Holguin sitting next to me. It was amazing though.
I cannot deny the feeling I had - I know Joseph Smith was called as a prophet of God. I know he saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and that he restored the Church of Jesus Christ back to the Earth one more time before Christ comes again. I also know with all my heart that the Book of Mormon was translate by Joseph Smith by the power of God and that it truly holds the Gospel of Jesus Christ in its purest form. I know the Bible is the word of God as well. I know that families are forever, and I am so excited to share this renewed conversion with all those I meet :)
I have so much more I want to say, but I have to go! I'll tell you about it post-mission, I suppose haha. Ask me about Camp Liahona!! For reals, though. I want to tell everyone all about it. Oh yeah, and I taught at it haha. It was scary, but I felt good - I taught about charity and it fit perfectly into President Alba's talk about introspection. Man, I just love President Alba! I know that he and his wife are so inspired :)
We got back Saturday night and we had an awesome Sunday - two investigators came! Yay!!
I love you all!! Hope you have a wonderful week :)
Love,
Sister Kolee Decker
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