September 25,2017 Email :D

I could just leave my email as the heading and just....YES!! I am so excited for General Conference!!! I love the spirit and revelation that comes from hearing the words of our dear prophet and leaders of the church!!! I know I said this last conference, but I would encourage all of you as you prepare for General Conference to ponder about and right down one or two questions of your soul that you would love an answer to! From my own personal experience and my testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ and how much Heavenly Father knows and loves each of us SO MUCH...I can promise that you will receive an answer!! It's so beautiful! 

This week I was so excited to watch Women's Conference I could almost not contain myself!! I am so grateful for the spirit that unites each and every one of us! There is a special unity, of course, that comes from the women as the church as we gather together to be edified and learn! As the choir opened with "Let Zion in her Beauty Rise" It was absolutely electrifying!! I just looked over at Sister Giles to see that she was just beaming too! The session was so good, with so many golden nuggets! I especially loved a quote I wrote down from Sister Jay D. Jones' talk.

"As the Savior lifts us, we can see more clearly. Not only who we are, but that we are closer to Him than we ever imagined."

SO GOOD!!! :D It is so true!

We had a miracle in our District this week! (one of the many, of course) But the Elders have been getting referrals like CRAZY and we just get the glorious opportunity to teach many of the referrals they receive. This last week, that got a referral from a member in Duncan that knew of a 13-year-old girl in the hospital and her single mom. The Elders went to the hospital and were able to give them both a Priesthood blessing. It went really well, and the girl and her mom excitedly asked to meet the Elders again the next day. They did, and because the girl, Tianna, was released from the hospital on Friday, she was able to come to church yesterday!! Tianna is the sweetest thing ever! Her mom couldn't make it, as she has some health concerns of her own, but Tianna came BY HERSELF to church. She sat with me and Sister Giles, attended all 3 meetings, and even went around meeting people with us. I would shake someone's hand and turn to her, and she would stick out her hand "Hi! I'm Tianna!" Her first day at church and she bore her testimony in Sunday school, sang the hymns like a pro, read scriptures and just loved it. I love her dearly and pray I can have the zeal that she has! She is golden and I am so grateful Heavenly Father has blessed me with her! She asked Sister Giles yesterday "Can I be an Elder?" "No, but you can be a Sister!" Sister Giles said. And indeed, I know someday she will be! :) 

I had some fun experiences with new drinks this week! Below I have pictured a fun drink that originates in Quebec. There is a nice member that owns a poutine shop here in Victoria and always feeds the missionaries for free! So we hustled on over there last week and enjoyed some poutine with this signature drink. It's basically like drinking a tree..a Christmas tree! A very strong, particular taste. 

​

There is a fun family that we have been visiting the past couple of weeks that are SO COOL!! They're Quakers. (Kind of irrelevant to the story, but I think it's cool) We dropped by the other night, and they talked to us on the porch. They were eating rootbeer floats with a different kind o soda, and the dad got really excited!! He was like "I made it myself! You've got to try it!!" He came back with two, little glasses and was like "That's all we have left" Guilt trip if I've ever seen one! He called it Ginger Beer, and as we sipped at it, it tasted pretty similar to the spruce beer...but...ginger. :) Sister Giles just couldn't even handle it...I just drank it quick. He explained how he made it then...in a jar...and it ferments....uh oh! Did we just break the word of wisdom?!?! I don't know!! All I know is that I was totally sick throwing up that night and I've got a new story to tell! :O Ginger beer my friends...be warned!!

Wow. Our ward mission plan (that I may have mentioned before) is getting right along!! We have a special Ward council every other week just to talk about missionary work, and we launched it yesterday! We have all these tri-fold pamphlets (glossy paper, the works!) handed out to the auxiliaries and they are now meeting with their presidencies and quorums to get us names and action plans going!! I am SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!! I know that Heavenly Father can help us reach our goals as we put this plan into action!!

I love the gospel!! I love missionary work and the opportunity that we all have every day to share the gospel with somebody!! Let's use it!! 

HAVE THE BEST CONFERENCE WEEKEND EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Sister Van Valkenburg