Time To Say Goodbye... :(

Ok, so I have like 5 minutes to write an email today, so I will do my best to bring up the highlights of this past week. 

First off- I have never gained a greater desire and love for my mission than I did this past week. There's not necessarily a particular reason, I think I am just finally adjusting to the work. I have learned how important it is to let go of the past and focus on the present. I need to look at the path that my feet are on. Weights are lifted from my shoulders when I apply the atonement and forgive those who have offended me in the past. I feel more confident, happy, and successful. I've realized that all I can do is my best, and that's the best I can do.

Words cannot express how I feel about Sister Loo leaving me to go home to St. George this week. I have learned more than I know from her. She was the greatest mission mom Heavenly Father could have given me. I will never, ever forget her and the impression that she has forever left on my heart. There's just no trainer greater than Sister Loo. She was the perfect role model for me and I hope to be half as good as she is by the time I near the end of my mission. Ah, I just love her. 

This past week has been filled with so many wonderful tender mercies and miracles from the Lord. He just really loves me I guess. Haha. I was able to take a non-member couple through the Visitor's Center and had the most amazing spiritual experience. Their hearts were so open even though they are active in another faith. By the end of our 2 hour tour, I didn't want them to go. I was able to give them a copy of the Book of Mormon as well as my personal testimony of the Gospel inside the copy (which they asked for, which I thought was super cool!). We shared many personal experiences with each other and even shed a few tears together. Haha. I know that the Lord allowed me to be a tool in helping this couple come closer to the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We promised to write each other and I cannot wait to see where their path will go now. 

I love this Gospel, I love this work. For reals. There is just nothing that can even compare to a mission. I promise. Hold firm to what you know is true. I know Heavenly Father is aware of every single one of us. We are His children. I love all of you, and I am so grateful for your letters of support and love. Never give up! 

Love, Sister Conrow :)  

Me, Sister Loo & Sister Moe

Our Ward Mission Leader!!

Pride Cometh Before The Fall...

Pride and Disobedience.

The 2 greatest sins that will separate any relationship. Why are these things so hard to swallow? Because Satan will do anything that he can to make sure these 2 sins do not go down the pipe. Isn't that so rude of him?! But guess what, Christ overcame both, so that means I can as well.. Now, please do not think that I am being extremely disobedient or that my head is blowing up like a balloon. These are just my thoughts from the past week. I realize that every bad thing we do, or that someone else does, really boils down to these 2 things. Sometimes, it's frustrating because we don't even realize we are being prideful, or necessarily disobedient, especially as a missionary, but something I am learning is that it is more than possible to overcome these things.
So how do we overcome them? Sister Conrow says, "Suck it up, and just do it. You'll be way happier." Haha, I can't tell you how miserable I am if I don't swallow my pride, especially because I can be pretty stubborn sometimes (all of my family is probably nodding in agreement right now, haha). Sister Loo is a great example to me of humility, as well as other sisters. She is so happy all the time and I know it's because she is constantly serving others, and confident enough to swallow her own pride. It's a process. Resolve doesn't just happen over night, but I know that if i can constantly remind myself to just become as a child, and to love everyone else around me, these sins will start to diminish, and missionary work will get a little easier.

I know you're all probably thinking this is a super random topic for me to bring up, and to be honest, I don't really know why I brought it up, it's just something that seems to be a continuous topic for me as a missionary. Humbling myself before the Lord. I guess it's because that's the only way I can be happy and ok with the fact that I still won't see my family for another year, that there are nasty spiders in my apartment, and so on and so forth. Haha. Granted, these really aren't major issues, but sometimes Satan likes to make them out to be greater than they really are.

Sister Loo and I have really been focusing on having a positive attitude this week. So we came up with this- I.Y.A.P. (Is Your Attitude Positive?) So every time we're yapping away about something, we can stop and remind ourselves with the phrase- IYAP. It helps us to have a greater perspective, and to find joy in the journey instead of weeping and wailing over the little tragedies in our lives that don't really matter a whole lot. For example: a couple weeks ago I told the story about the mom, and his son that we street contacted that we're super interested in the church, and just golden investigators. We ended up having to give them to some other sisters because they didn't live in our area, and the other day I found out that both the mom and the son are getting baptized!! Now, I could have been disappointed that I didn't get to teach them, or be excited that the Lord led Sister Loo and I to them, and that they are now going to be able to enjoy the blessings of exaltation and eventually eternity with their family. I'm grateful to Sister Loo for reminding me to be positive and to look at the bright side of things. It makes things way more fun, and enjoyable.

Sorry this email isn't as exciting as others haha, but I want all of you to know how much I love the Lord and this work. There's just nothing greater. Everyday can be a challenge, but at least the Lord is still allowing me to grow, right? Right. I love you all so much and even though I haven't heard from anyone for a good 3 weeks, it's ok, just be sure to send me a new pillow case, since mine is soaked in tears every night. Haha jk jk, but seriously. I would love to hear from you! Mom told me that my blog is boring because I don't send any pictures, but hopefully within the next month I'll be able to spice up the blog here! Everyone, I love you. Don't allow Satan to drag you down! 

Love, Sister Conrow

Live, Learn, Love & Laugh!

Me and Sister Clarke

Time is going too quick, and I don't like it... The end of this month will be my 5 month mark. I feel like I'm still stuck in January sometimes...

I am growing to love my mission more and more and I don't know how I will ever be able to part from it come next November. I realize that's a ways away, but I know time will go by fast, and before I know it, the time will come for me to go home.. I guess I've been thinking about time a lot because my companion is getting ready to go back to St. George in 2 weeks! I seriously cannot believe it. She's been handling it really, really well, and has been a great example to me of how you should be when you go home..

I am spoiled in this mission! Friday all of the sisters were able to go on a history trip where we got to see Liberty Jail, Far west, and Adam-Ondi-Ahman. It was SOOOO COOOL. I feel so so so blessed to be serving in this mission where I get those opportunities to learn about what the Saints went through, and where Christ will come again. It was the neatest experience. The spirit was so powerful and I was just so grateful. I can't wait to go back again!  
     

Something I have really learned this past week is the importance of having fun and laughing. It's the greatest release. I cannot tell you how much fun I've had this past week just by laughing at the silly mistakes I make. Sister Loo is a big ball of fun and she has really taught me how to just enjoy the small moments and not be so serious (I have a tendency to be that way sometimes). I think that's one of the greatest reasons Heavenly Father put her as my companion, so she could teach me to just stop and smell the roses and love every moment of every day. Regardless of what happens.

For example: last week we got home and we were welcomed by a ginormous spider on Sister Loo's side of the room. Well in her attempt to kill the spider at the top of the ceiling, she dropped her shoe on her dresser which caused everything to fall off, and Mr spider never got killed. So she moved her entire bed and dresser away from the wall and threw all her pillows on my bed in her attempt to continue searching for the spider. She moved a big mirror we had, to the floor and ended up stepping on it and shattering the whole thing, while in the meantime still searching for that gosh darn spider. Haha meanwhile, I'm just laughing my head off in the background at how much damage had been caused all in an attempt to kill a lousy spider. Well the funny story doesn't stop there. She finally went and got the vacuum and started vacuuming all around her bed and the floor and all the spider webs on our wall.. well I decided I would do the same to my side of the wall just in case he tried to come snuggle with me.. Well I had to stand on my bed to vacuum the wall and so I had to lift up the vacuum. When I did that, the stupid vacuum starting sucking up Sister Loo's favorite pillow case she had for her whole mission and it burnt the whole bottom of it. Haha, I  felt soooooooo bad, because I knew how much that pillow case meant to her, but I just could not stop laughing at how ridiculous all of this was.. Long story short, we never found that blasted spider until yesterday morning, where he greeted me by my feet. I guess he knew not to bother sister Loo again. 

Haha another release sister Loo and I have found is Sudoku's. They are our bestest friends at night after we've gotten ready for bed and said our prayers. We race each other to see who can get their Sudoku done first, starting with the easiest ones to the hardest ones. I love it. After a long day of missionary work and rejection, Sudoku's are the perfect medicine for us.

Haha well.. enough with the fun and games, I promise we do actually work everyday.. even though this email may not seem like it. Last week I was on exchanges and my comp and I were able to teach this young man about the Book of Mormon and the purpose of life on his doorstep. It was really awesome. He had never grown up in any religion and didn't even really know about Jesus Christ. It amazed me! He was very receptive and open to learning more. We promised him that if he would just take the time to read from the Book of Mormon he would be blessed, that he would be so happy, and that he would know what his purpose was for this life. He said he would, but that he was moving to WA. So hopefully the missionaries will find him there!

I love the Gospel, I love this work, and I am sooooo thankful to be apart of it. Thank you all for your love and encouraging words. It means everything to me! The church is true! Don't give up on it!

Love, Sister Conrow :)

My Spiritual Feast!!

GENERAL CONFERENCE WAS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't think I need to say anything else in this email, except for that. Hope you all have an awesome week!!!

Hahahaha, jk, jk... but seriously. General conference was the greatest spiritual feast I have ever had. I loved it, and I couldn't get enough of it. I just loved how bold all of the speakers were and how powerfully they testified of the Book of Mormon. I loved the comment with one of the general authorities that said, "If God had prophets in the Old Testament, and He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, why wouldn't He have a prophet here on the Earth today?" Haha, it makes sense. The Gospel of Jesus Christ makes perfect sense. All that we, as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints believe in is what Christ established when he was here personally upon the Earth. God loves us, and He will never confuse us or lead us astray so he has placed a prophet on the Earth to lead and guide his children today. And that was manifested to me even more so as I listened to the prophet, Thomas S. Monson, this past weekend. I just love him! He is a man called of God.           
 https://lds.org/youth/video/prayer-and-inspiration?lang=eng

Man, I could just go on and on about how much I loved General Conference, but I simply don't have enough time for that. Anyways, miracles have been popping out of the seams left and right this past week. The Lord has placed his mercies upon my companion and I. We were able to contact this man who belongs to the Catholic faith, taught him about the Book of Mormon on his doorstep, and about the Restored Gospel and his eyes just lit up and he said, "All of this just makes sense..." It was then, when he said that, that I knew the Lord had been preparing him to hear about his true Gospel here on the Earth today. Anyone who has a relationship with Heavenly Father and studies his word, will know that this church has the fulness, and that the doctrines we teach make sense because they are the true doctrines of God. I am so grateful for all those who have helped prepare people to hear about the words of our Savior. 

Anywho- I've had a lot more exciting things go on, but I am running out of time. Something I've been thinking about this past week though is how important prayer is, and what a powerful role it can play in our lives if we allow it to. Heavenly Father is real, He is in Heaven above, and He wants to hear from us. If we have faith in Him, and earnestly pray to Him and tell him exactly how we're feeling, or what's going on in our lives, He will answer us according to our faith. J. Devn Cornish of the Seventy made this comment in his talk, that "we must pray, and then live our prayer." Ha I loved that. So simply put. He said, "prayer is the passport to peace." If we want peace, we pray, if we want answers, we pray, and then we go to work. Faith without works is dead. Anyway, I'm just rambling now.

But I want all of you to know this- A mission is hard, in fact, it's REALLY hard, but my life would be so much harder without it. I know that Christ lives, I know that Thomas S. Monson is His living prophet today, and I know that Heavenly Father hears and answers my prayers, and I know He can do the same for you. I love all of you so much. I truly am so grateful for the challenges and trials the Lord has given me. I'm grateful that He loves me enough to allow me to struggle and stretch so I can grow into who He needs me to be. I love this Gospel. The church is true! If you have doubts, all you have to do is ASK! 

Love, Sister Conrow :)