Yo, I'm a Psychic!!

Hello to all! 

What a beautiful week to get into the Christmas spirit! The caroling is still going strong as well as the freezing weather.... A new addition though is that this past week I've been signing all the songs as we sing. It makes me happy and keeps my hands a little warmer so it's a winner all the way around! haha. 

Yesterday I helped interpret for one of the HQ missions' devotionals again. Sister Swinton, the author of President Thomas S. Monson's  biography “To The Rescue'' spoke and shared with us more about his life as well as some of the behind the scenes of writing the book as well as working with President Monson. I ended up interpreting for a good half hour which was very apparent due to the tired feeling in my arms haha. It was so good though and so fun to hear more stories and lessons we can learn from dear President Monson. 

As many of you know I really enjoy giving tours. They're one of my favorite parts of the mission and just make me so happy everytime we show people around and I'm able to learn something new. The stories and history we share each time are the same but the people are different. They all have something else that the spirit needs to teach them and they each have a unique way in which the stories resonate and relate to them. This week we gave many tours, some in person and others virtual all of which were such a light. One that particularly sticks out to me is the virtual tour of the conference center that we gave to this man who has been investigating the church for the past 10 years. In setting this tour up we didn't know who it was for but when the elders told us who it was for I realized this was the guy me and Sister Cummard gave a tour to last transfer! FRIENDS the tour went so well and the spirit was so strong. I don't think I've ever bore my testimony with so much boldness and intensity of the spirit than I did in that moment. Though I know it was the words Heavenly Father needed me to share, I will never forget that moment. 

One of the highlights of this week was that our friend Deseray got BAPTIZED this past Saturday! Sister Cummard met her this past May and we have been teaching and supporting her ever since. It was a beautiful service and there was so much peace and love! So so happy for her!

With the square being closed at night there are security guards that will stand near some of the barricades ensuring that no one slips in. Sister Bradshaw and I have made it a goal to learn all of their names and this week we decided to talk to them for a second. As we began chatting I noticed the one whose name I didn't know was wearing a lanyard and at the end had his name written on a card. After getting to know the one I turned to the other and said "And you're Barry right". You should've seen this dude's face. He was so thrown off only to finally realize it was on his badge. It was hilarious and as we continued talking he continued to bring the convo back to that moment. What can I say I'm a psychic who passed kindergarten ;).

During that tour I mentioned earlier I shared this poem that another sister had shared in one of our meetings that I really liked. It goes like this 

"Come to the edge

  It's too high

  come to the edge

  we might fall

  come to the edge

  and they came

  and He pushed 

  and they flew." 

I imagine this as being something the Savior is saying to us. Sometimes we will be asked to do some hard things or to make some scary jumps. BUT He knows us and wants us to come unto Him and when we do He'll give us the needed strength to fly. Whatever you're scared of or whatever may be holding you back know that when you put your trust in Him He will give you the ability and strength necessary to overcome anything. 

I love and miss you guys so much! Hope you all have a stellar week!

God is good!

Sister Mac

• some Heavenly FOOD, fun adventures on the tracks, friends!!!

• also I totally forgot to attach my notes from Brad Wilcox so please enjoy them this week! :))

Brad Wilcox Devo Notes

• Grace is right here, right now. 

• In regards to grace instead of talking about two parts, His part, my part. Lets talks about two hearts, His heart, my heart. Working together and loving each other. 

• God is more concerned with the offerer rather than the offering. He does not compare offerings. 

• Pro + offer= proactively offering. Putting everything we have into His hands.

• When we’re trying we are not earning his grace, we are receiving it. 

• You can see grace in your life even when you don;t see answers to your prayers.

• Tender mercies: you can;t say it was an answer to a prayer because we weren’t smart enough to pray for it. 

• When you say there is no way you can do this, and heaven says yes you can or when you say you just can’t break this bad habit and heaven says try again. THAT IS GRACE!

• Grace is more than a consultation during hard times.

• If the goal was just getting back to God then why did we leave in the first place? 

• Go home (to our heavenly home) better, because Christ came.

• Christ's atonement is what makes grace possible.

• In thinking of a long trip one does not say “ I’m just going to drive as far as I can without stopping for gas.” The Gas is the thing telling you that God knows the journey is long and hard and He wants us to be strengthened through it. Grace is not available once we have exerted all the energy that we have. Grace is with us through the process. Is the reason we are able to make it so far. 

• In life it’s easier to look sideways than to look up. 

• You don’t have to apply His grace, you just have to be humble enough to recognize that it is with you.

• We are saved regardless of what we do and we are still saved after all we can do. 

• What does saved mean to you? Often people think that being saved just means making it to the other side. Though we know that salvation is much bigger and broader than that. 

• To implement grace is to just keep trying. 

• We don’t pray because we’re worthy, we pray because we need His help. 

• At the end he shared this game to pose as an analogy. Now you may have heard of it before though I have not so I’m sorry if I butcher this explanation. So basically he told us a game in which school kids would play on the bus. You sit waiting to hear your name or number called and when you do without hesitating you call on someone else. If you mess up then you move to the back of the bus, though if you are successful you move forward. This goes on until someone makes it all the way to the front without messing up and then they are crowned the winner. When Brother Wilcox was a kid he was playing this game and he had made it all the way to the 2nd place seat before he hesitated and was sent to the back of the bus. He was of course was frustrated and pouted about how stupid the game was as well as how stupid any other student was that enjoyed it. That was until he got closer to the front again and then it was game on haha. As you can imagine this game could last forever, but in Brother Wilcox telling us this there was one point he wanted to stress to us. It was that it didn’t  matter what seat you had on the bus whether that be in the front or the very back. What mattered was that the bus was still moving forward taking them home. The biggest mistake one could make would be getting off the bus. The bus is this gospel and as we stay on board we will find ourselves safely delivered home.