Happy Mothers Day!

Hello everybody! This week was a pretty busy one for us! Our investigators right now are Steve, Sam, Kathy, and Anna. We were able to have a solid lesson with Steve this week on the Word of Wisdom. He will have a pretty hard time with that one and told us he would think about whether or not he is ready to commit to live it, I was bummed to hear that. Kathy is still avoiding us (she was sick haha) so we haven't been able to see her for 2 weeks now. Anna is having a tough time accepting the fact that if she gets baptized into our church she won't be able to go to her other church with her friends. We are trying to find a way to explain that once she is truly converted she will WANT to come to the church she is baptized into. Sam is amazing! He came to stake conference this weekend and reads his Book of Mormon, and texts us questions all the time! I really like him a lot! Challenges early on in his life have really prepared him to receive the restored gospel!

We also met a new investigator this week! His name is Joemel, he is from the Philippines! We had an awesome lesson with him and are super excited to teach him again this week!

We are working with Ann and Errol our less actives. Errol has always been very against having people come fellowship him but this week he actually brought out his scriptures when we came over and read along with us! I am so excited and glad that he is letting the spirit back into his heart!

I got to play volleyball this week with all the islander men in our ward! Something we are trying to do as missionaries is a sports night every friday that we can invite investigators and less actives to so they can be with the ward members but have a good time! It was WAY fun! I don't think all the guys realized that volleyball was my sport so they were pretty shocked when I jumped in and kept up with them! haha.

President Hudson and his wife came to Christchurch this weekend for Stake Conference and we had a district meeting with them on Saturday! It is always so good to be able to spend time with them! Stake conference was so wonderful and I received a lot of personal revelation and enlightenment from it!

This week I was also able to Skype my family for Mother's day which was SO wonderful! It was exactly what I needed to boost myself a little bit! I am so glad to have such a wonderful supportive family!

This week I have been studying Obedience, and I chose a scripture from the Book of Mormon to "ponderize". The scripture I chose actually goes along with Mother's day pretty well! So, in Alma Chapter 56 it is talking about the 2,000 stripling warriors and how they did not fear because their Mother's had taught them to trust in the Lord. The scripture I chose to ponderize is in Alma chapter 57 verse 21, and it says the warriors obeyed and performed all commands with exactness, according to their faith which they had in the Lord because their mother's had taught them to trust in Him. I LOVE THIS STORY! Mostly because who I am today is because of the faith I see in my own mother, and other mother figures. I am so blessed and grateful to have examples to watch and follow in my life to help me gain my own trust in the Lord. I hope we all take the time to think about those in our own lives who have taught us to trust the Lord.

Love you all! 
Sister Golden