Hinihello Family! :) (sometimes the Philippino's congigate "hello")
How wonderful this week has been. I feel bad for being so "Debbie Downer" in my last email about the language. Heavenly Father is definitely testing me, but I am constantly amazed at how He will bless us if we are obedient. I have so much I want to share with you this week and I hate that my emails are timed. BUT...oh well. Here it goes. This week has been a spiritual feast in the MTC! Our Tuesday devotional speaker was none other than Elder L. Tom Perry himself! AND!!!!!! The one week we decided to sing in the choir, he came!!! I was so excited to have that opportunity! We sang, Lead kindly light. It was absolutely gorgeous. He actually based most of his talk off of a talk given by Jeffrey R. Holland before. He spoke about how teaching is the greatest call, and what it requires of us to have the spirit as the senior companion as we teach. Amazing! So..take the time this week to read these talks, "Blessed are the Peacemakers"- Elder Theodore M. Burton, "Abide With Me"- Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. Both amazing talks! I wanted to quote them on here, but I don't have time to get everything else on here that I want...but powerful! If you haven't had a chance to read Monson's from priesthood session, and Eyrings, read those too! These men speak with such power and their authority is evident! I had the chance to listen to a devotional given by Jeffrey R. Holland and Sheri Dew in the last 2 days. In these talks they spoke of the Savior and the importance to follow him, exactly. Sister Dew said, "Be obedient, be MORE obedient than you need to be! When you are, Satan loses his power to affect you. Watch as spiritual power will flow into your life!" I invite each of you to be more obedient than you need to be! I testify that if we are really striving to be obedient, to pray sincerely, to emerse ourselves in the scriptures, to keep our covenants completely and faithfully, to have charity towards those around us...that we will see blessings come into our lives that we couldn't have imagined before. I know this because I have seen it in my life as I have been on this mission. It is powerful! If God didn't have great power, He would NEVER be sending 19 year olds and 21 year olds into the world to teach His word! Haha! Remember as you set out to accomplish this goal that the Lord never, NEVER, asks too much. He does ask a lot, but if we try our hardest, Then..and only then, do we witness the miracle. I have been studying Alma 36 this week and I love verse 24 when Alma is teaching his son, Helaman about the his experience. He says, "I have labored without ceasing, that I might bring souls unto repentance." We must ask ourselves, are we truly laboring without ceasing? Elder Holland said at a friend's funeral, "We spend too much of our lives acting as though we're going to stay here--when we aren't, we can't, and we won't!" How true that is! How concerned we become with the trivial. He also said, "The battle from heaven still wages, the arena has just changed!" Pick your side! So..this week, let's all choose to be stronger, to be more obedient, to delve further into our scriptures and come to Christ. Not just for a day, or a week, but to come and stay! I'm sure you want to hear about my week instead of my lectures..lol...but this is what happens in the week. It's not that I want to preach to you, but I want us to be better, together! So, that being said, here is a quick update on my life at the MTC and then I'll share a remarkable and tender experience I had this week. We realized this week that we only have 3 weeks until we are surrounded with tiny little people in the Philippines and how excited and anxious we are! We are trying our hardest to stay completely focused in the work and to learn as much of the language as we can. To those of you who have prayed and fasted for me, I can feel the power of the prayers and I thank you. Keep praying! I have so far to go..but the language is coming. I still love my companion to death. I don't know what else to tell you!! I'm so blessed! I went to the temple this morning and it was a powerful experience. I have been really focusing on prayers and making them more meaningful. 3 days ago I felt the need to pray...just kneel and pray. And so I did. That night I knelt down after all the sisters were in bed and I pled with my Heavenly Father. I spoke of all my concerns, my weaknesses, my shortcomings, the desires of my heart for my family members, each by name, gratitude for the many blessings I have been given, and the most amazing thing happened. I have found there comes a time on our knees when revelation starts to flow freely. I did not hear a voice, I did not see a vision, but I did know that my Heavenly Father was communicating to me openly. I lost all track of time and have never before prayed for that amound of time. The amount of time I spent on my knees is not important, but my point is, WE are the ones who decide the amount of time we spend directly communicating with our Heavenly Father! I would encourage each of you, when you feel you should, to kneel down in a secret place and pour your heart out. Cry unto your Heavenly Father. When pauses come, let them come! Don't be afraid of lulls in the prayer. I promise you that as you do this, you will have a great sense of peace and you will feel your Heavenly Father's love for you stronger than you can imagine. It doesn't matter if you haven't prayed in years, He is waiting to hear from you. I have a few minutes left, I just want you to know that I know that this church is true. This is the restored Gospel of Christ on the earth in it's fulness! I know it! I don't believe it, I know. I have witnessed too many blessings to sit here and deny the truth of it. Christ lives!! Joseph Smith is a true prophet and we have a living prophet on the earth today to bless us! 10 years ago President Hinckley spoke in the Priesthood session of conference and told us to get our debts out of the way and to put money into savings because if there was a financial crisis it would being much sorrow to the world. What is happening today? We would be very foolish to not pay close attention to Thomas S. Monson's counsel to us today. I love you all more than you know! Be Strong! Do what you know is right and the Lord will send down the blessings of heaven! Till next time, God Speed! Always, Sister Stadler