G'day everyone!
The sisters of Zion are called to God's labor,
We willingly serve Him with spirit and might.
We go to the nations with truth everlasting,
We teach of the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ.
We thank thee, O God, for a prophet to guide us,
We trust in his words and our purpose is clear.
The angels of heaven are walking beside us,
We'll share our glad message with all who will hear.
We go forth enlisted with Helaman's Army
In numbers much greater than ever before.
With power and spirit we'll faithfully witness
The heavens have spoken and truth is restored!
With
the Sisters singing that and the Elders singing about being the army of
Helaman there was a unique spirit that testified to all of us that we
are the Lord's chosen servants. Elder Hamula started his address and
couldn't hold back his emotions. He said, "It's been a few years since
I've visited the Perth Mission and I have to tell you Elders and Sisters
that the Spirit that I feel here with you today astounds me. He talked
about being able to hear and act upon the voice of the Lord. He said
that there are three ways we can hear the voice of the Lord.
1. He can speak directly to us. We know that to be true
because He has spoke to people in past. He challenged us next time we
read the Book of Mormon to highlight how many times it says something
about "calling up on the Lord'' or prayer. And to then mark how many
times you see the terms, 'harken' 'give ear' or 'listen'. He said that
he hasn't counted it but he is confident that the listening side of it
will come up more than the other. He said that we need to follow Adam
and Eve's example in Moses 5:4 of calling and hearing if we are to make
it home.
2. Read His recorded word! Once we call upon God we can't
just sit and wait for an answer. We must ACT. He shared with us tons
of scriptures that talk about how the scriptures are here to help,
convince, testify, persuade, and prove that God really is mindful of us
and that the gospel is true! If we can harness the lesson of likening
the scriptures to ourselves then when we pray for help and then read the
scriptures we will find our answers. We talk to God through prayer and
He talks to us through the scriptures.
3. Others can hear Him through us. As a set apart servant
of the Lord when we testify we are speaking on behalf of the Lord.
D&C 68 became a quick favourite of a lot of our missionaries.
He also spoke much about being led by the spirit. He shared a
method that Sister Murray applied in our area yesterday and saw
success. Many missionaries have a hard time knowing whether or not they
are acting by the Spirit or by their own choices. President Hamula
said, "Have you been called of God? Are you being obedient to the
rules? Have you prayed? If you answer yes to all of those then all you
need to do is ACT. If you are on the wrong path the Holy Ghost will
stop and correct your path. If you just wait for bells and whistles
then you will get bells and whistles but they won't be from God. If you
study it out, pray about it, and then ACT you will never go wrong."
That was something that I really needed to hear. A lot of our
missionaries felt the same way.
Yesterday Sister Murray and I were visited by our Zone
Leaders a few hours after Stake Conference. They expressed how we need
to find more people to teach as a zone. When they left Sister Murray
and I did what Elder Hamula directed. We studied from Preach My Gospel
about finding. We prayed together and individually. We came together
and discussed our plan of action. I could not shake this family off of
my mind. One granddaughter was baptized not to long ago. Her auntie
Kylie and cousin Jordy have not been baptized. We went to there house
to see if we could teach them. Her cousins were gone and Kylie had a
friend in the back yard. After talking to Nan for 5 minutes Kylie
brought her friend in to meet us. She said, "Sisters this is Ally. She
needs to talk to you." We sat and talked with Ally and Kylie. We
shared with power the Plan of Salvation. Ally soaked in every word.
She said the closing prayer and after she finished asked how she can go
about being baptized. She doesn't live in our area but was delighted to
know that there were sister missionaries that serve where she lives.
We left and called the Kwinana Sisters to tell them all about Ally. I
was so grateful for the prompting I had to go visit that family and that
we acted right then. If we hadn't of got in the car and left right
then, then we would have missed her. We called our Zone Leaders and
shared the miracle. It was amazing to see how when we applied the
council from our leaders we saw success. I've been richly blessed by
being able to listen to President Hamula this weekend.
At Stake Conference we received a new Stake Presidency. After they were sustained they took their place on stage. The incoming and outgoing presidencies were given the opportunity to bear their testimonies. When President Stanley bore his testimony as the incoming Stake President the spirit was so strong. I've never been so moved with the knowledge and these men are called by God. There wasn't a doubt in anyone's mind as he spoke that he was supposed to receive that calling. I'm excited to see how he transforms this stake into being fully engaged in the work of Salvation. Elder Hamula spoke about how members need to be involved in missionary work. He said, "I don't know how long you are going to have all of these missionaries. I wish I could say that you will have them forever. But when other parts of the world open for work the numbers of missionaries you see here tonight (total full-time missionaries in attendance at Stake Conference was 38) will diminish. If we dumped a mission full of missionaries in the vast land of China they would be lost. I'm confident that the Lord has not opened those lands for work yet because there are fields right in our backyards that are white and ready to harvest that we as members are neglecting. The missionaries don't know your friends like you do. Your friends don't know the missionaries like we do! Let us work arm in arm with the Lord servants that we have been blessed with." The power and authority from these meeting is indescribable. This church is the only true and living gospel. It is living because of ongoing revelation. It is true because of the doctrines that we teach, preach, and live on a daily basis. I'm grateful to be a part of this work. I'm grateful to be a member of this church. I'm grateful to be a missionary in this part of the Lord's vineyard. I hope you all feel the same. Every member is a missionary. I love and miss you all.
It's
so good to hear how well everyone is doing. I'm sure that just like
every other sport Ben will smash baseball. I'm so proud of David,
Sophie and Mum for running the the Dog Town race. Loved seeing all of
the pictures from the race. Looks like you all had heaps of fun. Josh
it's good to hear that you are still training in golf. Keep it up! The
hard work always pays off. I cracked up at the Lake to Lake race of
"Running without John." Yous smoked it anyway. Mum no worries I'll be
bringing in the rear with you when I get home. I loved hearing the
story of the missionary work that is moving along in the 5th ward. That
makes me so happy. Good things are happening everywhere!
This has been a spiritually packed week. On Thursday night I finished Elder Hamula's challenge of reading the Book of Mormon in a month. It was amazing how many things I never remember reading about in previous times of reading the Book of Mormon. I find it funny that whenever a new book in a series comes out or a favourite author comes out with a new book people can breeze through the 500+ page book in a matter of days and yet when it comes to reading the Book of Mormon (531 pages, 249 chapters) they struggle doing it in a year. Sister Lindsay shared something this weekend that I thought was really profound she said, "Never in my 61 years of life have I read the Book of Mormon at such a rapid pace. I have always tried my best to read it in a year but sometimes that doesn't happen. I worried that while reading it this fast I wouldn't be able to ponder on the things that I read. Then I realized that I've been trying to 'ponder' the scriptures for decades now that it was time to understand the story and how it applies to me. As we did this challenge I thought about the 15 pages that I read every day constantly throughout my day. I see the scriptures in a light like I never have before." I was incredibly grateful for the challenge. I too understood soo much more from the Book of Mormon than I ever have before. I understand how all of the stories are tied together. I understand the timeline of when each book was written. I understand that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is real. That the gospel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ's restored gospel. In the Book of Mormon it mentions repentance and faith more than anything else. Believing and changing. That's what God expects of us. We read story after story about ancient prophets and their lands, people, and families that learn that lesson and the consequences of those that don't. I have a great love for the Book of Mormon and it grows every time I read it. Here is the next Book of Mormon challenge that I am going to endeavor to do. After our call at Mother's Day I am going to read 5 pages of the Book of Mormon a day. I encourage every person reading this to do the same. When we finish the Book of Mormon I will be on my last fortnight of my mission and you will all have my travel arrangements for my flight home. We will all be blessed as we keep our focus on the Saviour and his teachings that come from the words of His prophets.
Friday morning we arrived at the Rockingham Chapel at 8am for
choir practice. We had all of the missionaries from the Rockingham,
Southern River, and Bunbury Zones at that chapel for a Zone Conference.
We practices our song and then all lined up in the gym for a picture.
Elder James J. Hamula, the South Pacific Area President joined us for
our photo and meeting. It was a meeting none of us will soon forget.
We opened the meeting and all of the missionaries stood and sang the EFY
Medley of 'As Sisters in Zion' with 'Army of Helaman'. The spirit was
so strong as we sang with as much power and passion as we could. The
Sisters sang these new lyrics:This has been a spiritually packed week. On Thursday night I finished Elder Hamula's challenge of reading the Book of Mormon in a month. It was amazing how many things I never remember reading about in previous times of reading the Book of Mormon. I find it funny that whenever a new book in a series comes out or a favourite author comes out with a new book people can breeze through the 500+ page book in a matter of days and yet when it comes to reading the Book of Mormon (531 pages, 249 chapters) they struggle doing it in a year. Sister Lindsay shared something this weekend that I thought was really profound she said, "Never in my 61 years of life have I read the Book of Mormon at such a rapid pace. I have always tried my best to read it in a year but sometimes that doesn't happen. I worried that while reading it this fast I wouldn't be able to ponder on the things that I read. Then I realized that I've been trying to 'ponder' the scriptures for decades now that it was time to understand the story and how it applies to me. As we did this challenge I thought about the 15 pages that I read every day constantly throughout my day. I see the scriptures in a light like I never have before." I was incredibly grateful for the challenge. I too understood soo much more from the Book of Mormon than I ever have before. I understand how all of the stories are tied together. I understand the timeline of when each book was written. I understand that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is real. That the gospel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ's restored gospel. In the Book of Mormon it mentions repentance and faith more than anything else. Believing and changing. That's what God expects of us. We read story after story about ancient prophets and their lands, people, and families that learn that lesson and the consequences of those that don't. I have a great love for the Book of Mormon and it grows every time I read it. Here is the next Book of Mormon challenge that I am going to endeavor to do. After our call at Mother's Day I am going to read 5 pages of the Book of Mormon a day. I encourage every person reading this to do the same. When we finish the Book of Mormon I will be on my last fortnight of my mission and you will all have my travel arrangements for my flight home. We will all be blessed as we keep our focus on the Saviour and his teachings that come from the words of His prophets.
The sisters of Zion are called to God's labor,
We willingly serve Him with spirit and might.
We go to the nations with truth everlasting,
We teach of the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ.
We thank thee, O God, for a prophet to guide us,
We trust in his words and our purpose is clear.
The angels of heaven are walking beside us,
We'll share our glad message with all who will hear.
We go forth enlisted with Helaman's Army
In numbers much greater than ever before.
With power and spirit we'll faithfully witness
The heavens have spoken and truth is restored!
At Stake Conference we received a new Stake Presidency. After they were sustained they took their place on stage. The incoming and outgoing presidencies were given the opportunity to bear their testimonies. When President Stanley bore his testimony as the incoming Stake President the spirit was so strong. I've never been so moved with the knowledge and these men are called by God. There wasn't a doubt in anyone's mind as he spoke that he was supposed to receive that calling. I'm excited to see how he transforms this stake into being fully engaged in the work of Salvation. Elder Hamula spoke about how members need to be involved in missionary work. He said, "I don't know how long you are going to have all of these missionaries. I wish I could say that you will have them forever. But when other parts of the world open for work the numbers of missionaries you see here tonight (total full-time missionaries in attendance at Stake Conference was 38) will diminish. If we dumped a mission full of missionaries in the vast land of China they would be lost. I'm confident that the Lord has not opened those lands for work yet because there are fields right in our backyards that are white and ready to harvest that we as members are neglecting. The missionaries don't know your friends like you do. Your friends don't know the missionaries like we do! Let us work arm in arm with the Lord servants that we have been blessed with." The power and authority from these meeting is indescribable. This church is the only true and living gospel. It is living because of ongoing revelation. It is true because of the doctrines that we teach, preach, and live on a daily basis. I'm grateful to be a part of this work. I'm grateful to be a member of this church. I'm grateful to be a missionary in this part of the Lord's vineyard. I hope you all feel the same. Every member is a missionary. I love and miss you all.
Much love,
Sister Shayne
Pic
#1 Kind of a random photo but I made this curtain this week :) We took
3 pieces of white fabric and this is what was created. It was a fun
service project.
Pic #2 This is me and Sister Murray
Pic #3 Me and Sister Atkinson :) She cut my hair the night they stayed at our flat. I really needed some new layers. They had a long drive to conference so they stayed with us Saturday night for the Sunday morning session. It was fun to have them over for a night.
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