My Heroes

GENERAL CONFERENCE WAS THE BEST!!!!! Truly the Prophet and his apostles are some of my greatest heroes.

I cannot believe that young men can now go at 18, and young women 19! That was just the craziest thing! I hope all of my little cousins getting close to that age are super excited, because I'm way excited for them! Part of me wishes I was 19 so I could go all over again! What a monumental change that will bless the entire world. I am so excited for all of the new missionaries that will now serve because of this.

I seriously loved every minute of General Conference. I felt like it was Christmas morning for me to hear from the Prophet and his Apostles. I felt like there were a lot of shout outs to my mission! President Monson talked about the jumbo tron that broke right before the cultural celebration, and then President Eyring spoke about the Liberty Jail as I was sitting in the very place listening to him bring it up, and then Elder Oaks told a story (from which he quoted from Elder Holland) about the cop who was in the home where the 5 kids were huddled on the floor. Well that man he was talking about is a guy in my ward! Brother Freestone- who is the man! Seriously. He and his wife are so amazing. I love them so much!

Here is a bit from Elder Hollands talk-

"Here is my third example: While participating in the dedication of the Kansas City Missouri Temple just a few months ago, Sister Holland and I were hosted by Brother Isaac Freestone, a police officer by profession and a wonderful high priest in the Liberty Missouri Stake. In our conversations he told us that late one evening he was called to investigate a complaint in a particularly rough part of the city. Over the roar of loud music and with the smell of marijuana in the air, he found one woman and several men drinking and profaning, all of them apparently totally oblivious of the five little children—aged about two through eight years of age—huddled together in one room, trying to sleep on a filthy floor with no bed, no mattress, no pillows, no anything. Brother Freestone looked in the kitchen cupboards and in the refrigerator to see if he could find a single can or carton or box of food of any kind—but he literally could find nothing. He said the dog barking in the backyard had more food than those children did.

In the mother’s bedroom he found a bare mattress, the only one in the house. He hunted until he found some sheets (if you could call them that), put them on the mattress, and tucked all five children into the makeshift bed. With tears in his eyes he then knelt down, offered a prayer to Heavenly Father for their protection, and said good night.

As he arose and walked toward the door, one of the children, about age six, jumped out of bed, ran to him, grabbed him by the hand, and pled, “Will you please adopt me?” With more tears in his eyes, he put the child back in bed, then found the stoned mother (the men had long since fled) and said to her: “I will be back tomorrow, and heaven help you if some changes are not evident by the time I walk in this door. And there will be more changes after that. You have my word on it.”

"If we don’t take gospel blessings to our communities and our countries, the simple fact of the matter is we will never have enough policemen—there will never be enough Isaac Freestones—to enforce moral behavior even if it were enforceable. And it isn’t."

That just tells you what kind of man Brother Freestone is. But yet, he is so humble and you would never know that Elder Holland had stayed in his home.

Anyway- back to conference! My particular favorites were from President Uchtdorf, Eyring, and Elder Bednar. And then I loved Elder Nelson's when he said, "Ask the missionaries.." Ola actually texted us after conference was over and said, "Ask the missionaries.." Haha, apparently he really liked that too! He's so great.

This week I have been thinking a lot about service, and how much I love to serve. It makes me sad when we go into some of our memeber's homes or investigators and they won't let us serve them.. It's like I have to beg them. Haha. In Independence many people were more than willing to accept service. I never realized how much I loved serving until I couldn't do it for someone almost everyday. I mean, of course there are the little things I try to do for those around me, and missionary service in general, but it's just not the same as being able to constantly serve the members. It makes me really grateful for the times when I do get to serve. Anyway.. random thoughts..

Well things are going spendidly in our little trio. I love Sis Ogletree- she is hilarious! It is a good thing we have Sis Jones to calm us down sometimes because we are always laughing. She is such a hard worker! And you'd never guess she is a new missionary. The 3 of us all get along so well. This time is slipping from my hands, and I cannot call it back. I want all of you to know how much I love this gospel. Not only do I have a testimony of its truthfulness, but I am converted to the Lord and His work, and I will continue to strive to be converted to it. I know that it is the little things that keep you on the straight and narrow path. How do people fall so easily? It is when they forget to do the small and simple things, as Alma has said. Church, Pray, Read. C.P.R. Those things are the breadth of life. I love the M.I.M. I am so thankful I still have a month to serve in this glorious place! I love you all!

Love, Hermana Conrow