Angelica came to church! I'm doing super well here in Ibiporã!

.so, turns out that transfers are NEXT week.  I had heard somewhere that this transfer would be only 5 weeks, but I was wrong.  So you'll all just have to wait one more week to find out what will be happening next transfer.  :)

This week has been good.  Normal, and good.  Sister Passos and I have been trying to focus on finding new people to teach...it's amazing how quickly your teaching group can dry up if you're not constantly finding new investigators during the week.  We met a few interesting people this week, and hopefully will be able to continue working with them and helping them progress through the next few weeks.

The best part of the week was Sunday - Angelica came to church!!!  Sister Passos and I were both SO excited.  I don't remember if I've already mentioned her in past emails - she is Iago's mom (the 11-year old boy who was baptized a few weeks ago), and we've been working with her a lot the last few weeks.  We have been inviting her to come to church ever since we first met her, but something always happens last second that keeps her from being able to make it.  We showed up at her house at 8:40 am on Sunday morning, expecting to have to persuade and push her to come to church with us - and when we got there, her neighbor told us that she had already left to walk to the chapel alone.  I was surprised - it's rarely that easy to get someone to go to church, and Angelica had never showed too much enthusiasm whenever we passed by her house on Sunday mornings.  But sure enough, she was there in the Relief Society room when we got to the chapel!  She really enjoyed the church meetings and is already planning on coming next week.  She has a baptism date set for next Sunday, but that will depend on if she is able to quit smoking by then...We have been working so much with her and really trying to help her finally decide to quit.  You know?  She really does have the desire and knows that it's something she needs to do, but I think she still has a lot of doubts that she'll actually be able to do it.  But I know that with faith and determination, EVERYthing is possible.  :)

Well...that's about it from me for now.  Sorry, not a whole lot to report, but I really am doing super well here in Ibiporã!  It's so hard to believe that I've already been here for 5 months. :P  I'm getting so used to the members and the streets and the neighborhoods and everything...so while I wouldn't mind staying another transfer, a change might be good for me.  :)  We'll just have to see where the Lord wants me! 

Love,

Sister Gee

Conference was AMAZING! "so grateful this weekend to be a member of this Church"

Ready for General Conference

Hello Family!  I'm here a little bit later than usual today...Sister Passos and I got up early today to go for a jog around the park by our house, which was an amazing way to start the morning...We watched the sun rising through the clouds and I just couldn't help but singing a bit of "Oh, What A Beautiful Morning" as we ran.  It was already in my head thanks to Conference yesterday, and it just seemed so appropriate at the moment!  :)  It was beautiful and refreshing and though I'm definitely not a runner, I loved it!  Now our P-Day time is running out fast, but hopefully we'll still have the time we need to get everything done today.  I was joking with Sister Passos earlier that missionaries have this idea of P-Day as a "day of rest" where you get to relax, nap a little, write letters, and basically do everything you want...when it really is just a "day of preparation", washing clothes, cleaning the house, grocery shopping... :P  There's really no resting involved at all!  But it's all good.  :)

 

First of all, YES, Conference was AMAZING!!!  I love love love love Conference.  :)  I always leave each session with a smile on my face, feeling a little bit lighter and closer to my Heavenly Father.  It's an amazing feeling, and I don't want to have to leave and go back to the daily routine.  I just felt so grateful this weekend to be a member of this Church, to have a prophet on the earth and to have the chance to hear their inspired counsels and guidance twice a year.  I was super nervous that I wouldn't be able to watch in English this time, because I'm the only American sister in the zone at the moment, meaning that I would have to leave my companion and watch alone with a bunch of elders. :P  But, I watched the first session in Portuguese with Sister Passos, and President Tavares gave me permission to watch the rest of the sessions in English.  What a blessing!  :)  I was surprised by how much easier it was to understand the talks in Portuguese after just 6 months since the last General Conference, but I was still so grateful to be able to watch in English.  Unfortunately, none of our investigators were able to make it...it was so sad, because I kept thinking "AHH, this talk is perfect for So-and-So..." but they weren't there to hear any of it.  :P  It was so sad to me that sometimes people don't realize what an amazing thing they're missing out on, and how much they could be blessed by attending Conference.  But I will definitely be putting the beautiful messages to use in my teaching over the next few weeks!  And Sister Passos and I kept the Priesthood Session tradition - stopping for ice cream!   :D

 

Ice cream during the priesthood session

 

Let's see, what else happened this week....our District Meeting was in Cornélio Procópio, a neighboring city where our leaders are working right now.  It was Sister Passos' and my first time visiting there, so it was a bit of an adventure.  :)  We got a little bit lost, but the loooong bus ride was a nice opportunity for a nap!  It was a really good meeting, and I am always so impressed by our leaders - Cornélio has a reputation in the mission as one of the hardest areas - an extremely small ward and A LOT of hills - but they don´t EVER complain, and they are working so hard and being blessed with success.  I really admire their example and I'm trying to put out the same dedication and faith here in Ibiporã!

Well, next week will be transfers once again....can you believe it?  Time is flying!  :D  I'll be sure to let you know all of the changes and news in my email next week.  I am so so grateful to be here serving a mission - I am learning SO much every single day, and I love being able to help people come unto Christ and learn of this amazing gospel.  :D

Love,

Sister Gee

Ups and downs; Kauani, "I can't miss church!"; Easter activity

Ovos de pascoa  -- Easter Eggs

Hello everyone, and Happy April!  I'm so excited for this month, it's got so many exciting things in store - Conference, most of all.  I just love Conference, it's always so good to hear the inspiring messages from our prophet and other Church leaders.  I feel like the last General Conference was just a few weeks ago, I can't believe that it's already time for another one!  I'm praying super hard that I'll be lucky enough to be able to watch in English again this time...but either way I know it's going to be amazing!

This week has been good - ups and downs, just like the mission usually is.  We've been focusing lately on a new family we found last week - Silvio and Sandra, and their 5 kids: Kauani, Gabriel, Kamila, Gustavo and Kemile.  :)  We met them through a member, which is always a plus.  It is so much easier to bring an investigator to church, help them build a testimony and decide to be baptized when they already have the support and friendship of the members!  They are a wonderful family and I already can see so much of the potential they have.  Kauani, the oldest daughter, is 12 years old and has already been to church two or three times.  We're working with her and Kamila, 9, to help them prepare to be baptized this weekend!  The rest of the family still hasn't come to church yet, so their baptism will be a few weeks from now.  It was so sweet - on Sunday, we were a little bit disappointed because Sandra and Silvio hadn't shown up to Church.  Kauani arrived a little bit late, and as we went to greet her at the door, I gave her a hug and said something like, "I'm so glad you came!"  She smiled and said, "I can't miss church!"  She is so young and already is such an amazing example to me.  Hopefully she'll be able to continue being that strong example of faith and dedication to the rest of her family as well.

Thursday was ZONE CONFERENCE!  Ahh, I love Zone Conference.  We get to go to the stake center in Londrina, all chique and dressy, see all the other missionaries in our zone, hear awesome talks and training from our leaders, including President and Sister Tavares, and basically just spend the whole day receiving spiritual nourishment and learning and growing together.  It's the best!!  I think one of the themes of the conference was definitely FAITH.  We started out with the story of David and Goliath, the FAITH that he had to prepare, trust in the Lord, and then RUN into the battle.  It was super fun - complete with a life-size Goliath and an elder that got to defeat him with a sling shot and tennis balls. :)  Sister Tavares shared an inspiring message about Authority and the Priesthood - even though it doesn't apply directly to us as sisters, I really appreciated the things she taught us.  As members of this Church, we have a responsibility and a calling - we are agents that ACT, not just wait to be acted upon.  "To break this covenant, it's enough to simply do nothing".  How's that for motivating, right?  :P  :)  But it was so good to be there and learn and learn and learn.  I'm always amazed by how much I'm learning here on the mission - and at how much I still don't know. :P  :)  But it's such a blessing to be here and I'm always so grateful for the opportunity to hear and learn from President and Sister Tavares!  They really are inspired.

 

Friday was super crazy - we had come up with the idea to have an Easter activity on Sunday last week, brought it up in the branch leadership meeting on Wednesday, and the members decided it would be better to have the activity on Friday than on Saturday like we planned, so we got to throw everything together in one day (as we spent all day Thursday in our zone conference in Londrina).  It was stressful and not very well thought out, but we somehow managed to put together an activity, and it actually turned out okay.  And you will not believe how hard it is to find egg dye here in Brazil!!!  haha :)  We presented a short movie clip about the Resurrection and afterwards had games - an egg race and of course the Gee Family Egg Spinning Contest.  :)  It was super fun and I think the members here really enjoyed it.  It was fun to bring a little bit of my Easter traditions here to Brazil and share it with others.  :)  

 

We spent Sunday morning running around the city hunting down our investigators as usual, and walked in to the chapel about 15 minutes late to find a BIG surprise waiting for us - President Tavares at the front of the class, teaching the Sunday School lesson!  Neither of us knew that he would be coming to visit the branch, so we were definitely taken by surprise.  Fortunately we had a pretty good turnout of investigators, so he knows we're not slacking around here in Ibiporã!  haha :)  I think he probably had felt bad for missing the fireside last week, so decided to make up for it by visiting the branch.  He taught the Sunday School class, participated in our Gospel Principles class and spoke in Sacrament Meeting.  It was really special to have him there, and hear a little bit more of his counsel and testimony.  He and Sister Tavares left us with a few Easter presents - ovos de pascoa and a big brand new water filter for our house.  Woohoo!  :)

Anyways, dear family, I love you all so much.  I am so so so so blessed to have such an amazing group of people who love me and support me and pray for me during this time of my life as a missionary in Brazil.  It's something that I really truly am so grateful for.  I hope you all know how much you mean to me!  I know that this truly is the Church of Jesus Christ and I am so grateful for the countless blessings that we receive as members - a living prophet, the companionship of the Holy Ghost, the beautiful temples, eternal families... and so so many more!  I know that we are here with a purpose in our lives - to learn and to grow and prepare to go back to our Heavenly Father's presence.  I hope you are always looking to improve and prepare a little bit more each day.  I hope you are treasuring the words of the prophets, both modern and ancient - read the scriptures, read the Ensign, apply the things you learn to your every-day life!  I know it's what God expects of us and I know it will make all the difference.  

Well, until next week.  Tchau!

Love,

Sister Gee

Cleonice; Special fireside; Pioneers here in the branch of Ibiporã

Hello Family!  

It has been another great week in Ibiporã!  We had a zone meeting last week and this week will be our zone conference!  I'm so excited.  :D  I love every chance we get to spend time with and learn from the other missionaries in our zone.  We have awesome leaders, Elder Ramos and Elder Hutchings, and they help us not only to see where we need to improve, but to learn HOW to do it!  It was a really motivational meeting and we learned a lot of things that have been helping us to work more effectively and more with the Spirit.

This week we've been finding and working with a bunch of new investigators, and a few super old ones.  Remember João?  From...November?  Haha, we stopped visiting him a LONG time ago when we realized that he wasn't going to progress, but somehow he keeps popping back up every now and then.  We were finally able to mark a baptismal interview with the zone leaders on Saturday, but he didn't show up...it seems like he always has one excuse or another.  This week we're going to have to find out what he really needs and if he actually has the desire to be baptized or not.

While contacting references, we met an awesome lady named Cleonice.  She has 5 kids, including a daughter who is deaf  - she is 6 years old and adorable, and I really wished that I knew at least a little bit of sign language to communicate with her... Anyways, they are an awesome family, and Cleonice had already been taught by the sisters and is reading the Book of Mormon!  She started at the beginning and is already reading in Alma.  :)  She is really curious, has a huge desire to learn, and had a TON of questions for us to answer.  It is so much fun to teach people who are actually interested in our message and really seek to understand what we teach them.  :)

This Sunday we had marked a special fireside with President Tavares, but when we called to confirm everything Sunday morning, it turned out that he was headed for a zone conference in Foz do Iguaçu, 10 hours or so from Ibiporã.  So he wasn't able to make it...  :(  We were disappointed and worried that everything would fall apart, but President Tavares sent his first counselor, President Frois, to give the fireside instead, and it turned out to be a GREAT meeting.  He did a great job of getting the members excited about missionary work, and even I found myself planning out how I would give a pass along card to a friend...and then I remembered that I'm a missionary, and talking to people about the gospel is what I do every day.  haha.  :)  But it was such a good fireside!  He talked about SACRIFICE, and how it is not only a commandment, but a way to help us become more Christ-like and more prepared to return to our Heavenly Father's presence.  He talked about pioneers - the pioneers who sacrificed in the early days of the Church, as well as the pioneers here in the branch of Ibiporã, pioneers who were the first members of their families to accept the gospel.  And then he challenged us to think about the people we know who aren't members of the Church - THEY could be the pioneers of THEIR family, if we just have the courage to open our mouths and share our testimonies.  

Anyways, that's about all the news for now.  We're just working on finding and teaching and bringing people to Christ!  It's such an amazing, rewarding and fulfilling work!  Oh, and Happy Easter this week!  :D  Sister Passos and I are thinking about planning an egg-spinning contest for the branch activity next week....a good family tradition that I think the members here would love.  :)  Anyways, I love you guys!  I hope all is well back there in the U.S.  I think of you and pray for you every day!  Keep being amazing and looking for the tender mercies of the Lord in your lives always!   

Love,

Sister Gee 

9 months already!?! Our area doubled in size!; Working with less active members; "I want to come back!"

Hello once again to everyone back there in the US.  :)  Things here in Brazil are as awesome as ever!  As you probably know, the week of transfers is always CRAZY, lots of exciting changes and news.  As I told you last week, Sister Passos and I are both going to be staying in Ibiporã for one more transfer....but this time there's a twist - Sister Marques and Sister Ramirez were both transferred to different cities, and no new sisters were transferred to Ibiporã to take their place.  So yep, Sister Passos and I are taking care of all the investigators and members in TWO areas, which cover the entire city of Ibiporã, as well as Jataizinho, the neighboring city where Igor and his family live.  It is a BIG area.  Last week we had three sisters staying in our house while waiting for the house in their new area to get ready, and they helped us visit our investigators and take care of the area a little bit, so it hasn't been TOO bad so far.  But then their house opened up and they left Ibiporã early Saturday morning... so now it's just me and Sister Passos.  :)  It's definitely different - the first time in my mission that I've been living in a house without another companionship - but there are definitely some positive aspects to it.  More space in the closet.  Less competition for the washing machine.  A shorter line for the bathroom.  Stuff like that.  :)  It will take some getting used to, but I think that Sister Passos and I will have fun together here.

This week we spent a lot of time teaching Iago, the young man that I mentioned last week.  He is a good friend of Lucas', and has been coming to church the last few weeks.  We met his mom and taught the whole family the message of the Restoration, and they both accepted to be baptized!  Iago was baptized yesterday and his mom, Angelica, will be baptized two weeks from now.  It was a really great lesson, and Sister Passos and I are both excited to continue teaching the family.  

Another focus of the week has been working with less-active members.  I don't remember if I've mentioned this already, but there are a LOT of less active members here in Ibiporã.  I think the membership list has something like 400-ish members, and only 70 of them come to church regularly.  The hard part is finding them, as many of them have moved or passed away or lost contact with the church in some other way.  And that's why it was so crazy this week...it seemed like less-active members were popping up all over the place!  We had people stopping us in the street (which does not happen every day), saying "Oh hey!  I'm a member of your church, and I want to come back!"  And it happened not once, not twice, but SEVERAL times this week!  It was a little startling, but exciting, and we have been trying our best to help them make and keep goals that will help them return to full activity in the church.  

 

This week there was a special priesthood meeting in Londrina for our stake, and President Tavares had asked us all to make goals for how many recent converts and less active members we would bring to the meeting.  He promised us that if we got a less-active member to attend, they would be reactivated.  Sister Passos and I definitely didn't want to pass up such a powerful promise, so we got to work visiting and calling all of the people that we had been finding over the last few weeks.  It was amazing how the timing was so perfect, and even though I don't think we had as many attend as we invited, it was really great to see how the Lord is guiding us to the people who need us in the exact moment when we can help them the most.  It was such a special testimony to me that we're here for a reason, and that we're not doing this work alone!  He is with us, and He is leading us every day.  :)

Well, I love you all so much!  Sounds like St. Patrick's Day was great - I actually forgot about it until the day of, and didn't even think to wear green.  Fortunately the people of Brazil don't know about the pinching tradition, so I got off easy.  :P  :)  

OH YEAH, and can you believe that it's already been 9 MONTHS????!  I can't.  :P

OH YEAH, and more good news - President Tavares emailed us this morning to let us know that the email rules have been changed, and we can now email non-family members!!!  Woohoo!!  :)  So if there's anybody out there reading this email who has neglected to write me because of laziness or the cost of postage stamps, I am pleased to announce that you no longer have an excuse.  haha.  Send me an email!  It's faster.  It's easier.  It's cheaper.  And I love it just as much.  :D

I hope everyone is happy and awesome and enjoying the gorgeous spring weather there in Utah.  I hope you are all doing the small things that make a big difference - prayer and studying the scriptures and going to the temple, etc.  And I'm sure that you are, because I have the best family in the whole world.  :)  I am so so so so grateful for you guys and the love and support that you send me every week.  I realized this week that not every missionary in the world has it as good as I do, so I just wanted to send a super big thank you to you guys for all you do for me.  I love you!!!  :)

Com muito amor,

Sister Gee   

Physical therapy; International Women's Day; Lucas' Baptism!!

Hello family!  I'm here in Londrina with Sister Passos, anxiously awaiting the news of the transfers....we're here early today, so the emails haven't arrived yet.  As you know, I've been in Ibiporã for 3 transfers now, so there's a pretty good chance that I'll be leaving.  But then again, Ibiporã is one of those places where you get to stay for a loooong time... so we'll just have to wait and see what happens.  :)

It's been a crazy week.  A crazy, crazy week.  Physical therapy 3-4 times a week, and besides all that, we got to help the Relief Society plan and prepare an activity for International Woman's Day on March 8th.  That was something that I don't think anybody really celebrates in the US, but it was fun to have a special day just to celebrate how great women are.  :)  The activity was AWESOME.  Lots of chocolate and decorations, and the men of the branch put together a little tribute to the women.  They sang songs, gave little speeches, and afterwards served us all refreshments.  Our contribution was a poster board with a picture of every sister in the branch - we spent the whole week hunting down the photos to put it together, and it turned out really well.  :)  (see picture attached!!)

Adventure of the Week - One day, Sister Passos and I were in a neighborhood cleeeeear on one end of the city, and realized that we had to get back to the OTHER end of the city to teach a lesson for Lucas.   We caught a bus (which we usually avoid doing since the bus fare adds up fast) and headed back to the city center.  I'm pretty sure the bus driver was in a hurry too - he drove SUPER fast over the bumps and turns, and I nearly flew out of my seat several times.  We finally arrived in the bus station, got off, and started to walk towards Lucas' house - when Sister Passos realized that our cell phone was missing.  Yep, it had flown out of her backpack going over one of those crazy bumps...and by that point our bus had already pulled out again.  We asked all of the bus drivers in the station what we could do, but nobody really knew.  They all kind of just laughed and wished us luck....eventually we ended up IN THE BUS GARAGE searching empty buses in the hope that we would be able to find our phone.  haha... And miracle - we found it.  :)  So while we lost an hour or so of time searching for our phone, we saved ourselves the R$200 that it costs to replace a cell phone.  Phew*.

We stopped by the chapel Saturday night for Lucas' baptismal interview and to fill up the font (don't worry, we didn't flood it this time), and Natalino was there with Lucas and 3 or 4 other young men, cleaning the chapel.  The funny thing is that all the young men who were there cleaning aren't even members, but they stayed after the weekly soccer game to help clean anyways.  :)  They all helped Sister Passos and I clean and fill the font, and get everything ready for the baptism.  And two of them, Iago and José Henrique came to church yesterday and stayed to watch Lucas' baptism afterwards!  They both expressed interest in being baptized as well, so Sister Passos and I have two more young men to teach this week.  :)  Irmão Natalino is really becoming an awesome member missionary.  

Sunday was Lucas' baptism.  It was such a special day!  He is an amazing kid, and understands SO quickly everything we teach him.  He wanted to be baptized ever since he came to Jean's baptism two weeks ago.  He has been coming to church and spends a lot of time with Natalino, the Young Men's president.  He has been through some rough stuff already in his life, but he doesn't want to follow the same path as his parents and other family members who he's seen make some pretty serious mistakes - he wants to be different, and he's already becoming such a great young man.  We were really nervous that his grandma wouldn't let him be baptized - she's a stern, kind of intimidating lady, and thinks that 2 weeks is WAY too fast to baptize someone.  We talked with her and explained that baptism ISN'T an end point - it's the beginning of a life of learning and growing as a member of the church.  Finally she softened up, and eventually even started to talk about going to church with him as soon as she can get a job with a better work schedule.   

Anyways, I've got to run.  Still no email about transfers, so it looks like I'll be staying in Ibiporã a bit longer!  Woohoo!

Love you all so much

Sister Gee

"I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving:  To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it, --but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor." - Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

Awesome investigators, Nilton and Lucas; 35 new missionaries coming in!

Hello Family :)

It was so exciting to get the pictures of the baby blessing today!!!  You all look great, and Celecta Rose is adorable as ever.  It´s so crazy to see how much she is growing every week you send pictures.  She´s going to be so big by the time I get home.  :) :) :)

Exciting news this week  - 30-something new missionaries will be arriving in Londrina this transfer, 5 of them sisters!  That´s an incoming group quite a bit bigger than average - the group when I arrived had 7 missionaries, and me, the only sister.  :)  So yeah, it´s going to be a crazy transfer.  And that´s just the beginning of the surge of missionaries that will be arriving here over the next few months.  So cool!  :D

This week has been different than usual, as Sister Passos and I have been going in to Londrina 3 times a week for my physical therapy.  It´s nothing too crazy - exercises and stretches and stuff - but it sure takes up a lot of our time and we´ve both been feeling less productive as a result.  But I have to keep reminding myself that if I don´t take the time to take care of my feet NOW, missionary work could get a lot more difficult for me in the future... So I´m following the doctor´s orders, and I´m sure it will make a big difference.  :)

 

The time we´ve been able to spend working this week has been focused on our most promising investigator at the moment - a 9-year old boy named Lucas.  He is a reference from the Young Men´s president in the branch, Irmão Natalino.  He is a great president and you can almost always find him in the lot behind the church playing soccer with the young men.  He´s not exactly young, but he sure acts like it.  :)  He has been a big help to us as many of our recent investigators have been young men, and it is so great to have members who are so good at helping people feel welcome and excited to come to church.  That can be especially hard to do with teenagers, so we´re for sure grateful for Irmão Natalino.  :)  Anyways, Lucas is a neighbor of his who he has been bringing to church the last few weeks.  He is excited about the church and already wants to be baptized, but Irmão Natalino told him that he had to receive the missionary lessons first, haha.  :)  So we´ve been visiting him and trying to help him be able to be baptized.  The only problem is his grandma, who he lives with...she is not too open to the gospel, but has been softening up a little bit because of a lot of things that have been happening to her son, Lucas´ dad.  Apparently he´s gotten in to a lot of problems and she doesn´t want Lucas to follow the same path as his dad, so she´s a little bit more willing to let him be baptized.  We´re still going to have to talk with her and help her to see how much it will bless his life!

We have another awesome investigator that we taught yesterday, Nilton.  He is the husband of a lady who was taught by the elders a loooong time ago, and though she still isn´t too interested in the church, Nilton has been reading the Book of Mormon like crazy.  He loves to read and learn, and he really wants to understand the gospel of Christ.  However, he is a very, VERY devoted Catholic.... We taught him the Restoration yesterday, and it was a great lesson.  I´m not sure he completely understood everything, but we did our best to teach very clearly so he could recognize the truth of our message.  He gave the prayer at the end of the lesson, and it was so sincere...it´s always so amazing to hear your investigators pray for the first time, before they get into the mechanical routine of prayers that we all end up in sometimes.  The first few prayers are completely from the heart.  :)

Anyways, times up again.  I love you all so much and pray for you every day.  I´m always amazed by how fast the time flies here in the mission.  March already!  Is it going as fast for you guys??  :) :P  

Oh, and thank you for the Valentines cards and candy!!!  It was soooo good to get everything, and I felt so loved.  <3  :)   And yes, I already finished all of the chocolate. hahaha.  :D

Until next week!

Love,

Sister Gee

Citação da Semana!  - This is from the monthly email I got from the Edgemont stake presidency, a SUPER awesome quote from last General Conference :)

"'If ye love me, keep my commandments,’ Jesus said.  So we have neighbors to bless, children to protect, the poor to lift up, and the truth to defend.  We have wrongs to make right, truths to share, and good to do.  In short, we have a life of devoted discipleship to give in demonstrating our love of the Lord.  We can’t quit, and we can’t go back.  After an encounter with the living Son of the living God, nothing is ever again to be as it was before ... To all within the sound of my voice, the voice of Christ comes ringing down through the halls of time, asking each one of us while there is time, “Do you love me?”  And for every one of us, I answer with my honor and my soul, “Yea, Lord, we do love thee.”  And having set our ‘hand to the plough,’ we will never look back until this work is finished and love of God and neighbor rules the world.”   - Elder Jeffrey R. Holland