Sister Hendrick's Missionary Blog: Awesome week!

Monthly Fireside! It was so fun seeing members from good old SongShan again :) I love Sister Chen!

I can't even explain how much I LOVED this week! I feel like I was really inspired this week to make some changes. As we always should be doing! But hitting my 11 month mark this week really put a perspective on things. From the beginning, I've worked so hard to become who God wants me to be through this experience, but I feel like I still have a really long way to go and have often been discouraged by not meeting my personal goals, or seeing immediate improvement as often as I'd like. However, having Zone Conference, and going on exchanges were definitely the highlight of my week, because I feel like it gave me so much motivation to start fresh again.

We had a last minute exchange with our STLs this week! Sister VanTonder came to MuZha with me, and then Sister Haupt and Sister Luo went to ShuangHe with Sister Wood. It was one of the best exchanges I've ever been on. I learned so much from Sister VanTonder. The first thing I noticed about her is her burning desire to share the gospel. When I told her we had finding planned for the rest of the night, she got so excited. And she wasn't faking it, I could really feel that every part of her wanted to share the gospel with everyone she talked to. During dinner, she talked about how being on her mission is truly the happiest she's ever been. I asked her how she maintains that happiness, and she told me that it wasn't until she understood the Atonement of Jesus Christ that she came to feel this way. Finding with her was so exciting because she gave me the perspective I sometimes forget to have, which is really sharing with people the things I know to be true.

I thought about what she shared with me, as well as her firm testimony and we had an amazing exchange as we pretty much ran to every person we saw to talk with them, turned around on our bikes if we had a feeling to, stopping whatever we were doing to say a prayer to see if we were going the right way, etc. and in that short 24 hours, I felt that indescribable joy that comes from truly testifying of Christ. Sister VanTonder really helped me remember what is truly most important. I felt such a fire within me! Seeing her example gave me the motivation to have this fire for the rest of my mission. I can't waste a minute of my time thinking about myself. This week was such an exciting turning point for me. I have never wanted time to slow down so badly in my life. The Atonement of Jesus Christ is really what brings this happiness. Accepting our weaknesses as ways to come closer to Jesus Christ is what has given me this perspective. I don't have to "fake it til I make it" or just "put a smile on my face". This happiness is real, and everyone needs to feel it!

Sister Hendricks