God's Love Is Perfect

POV: You know on Christmas Eve how you go to bed so anxious for Christmas morning to come? Or when you go to Disneyland, and the night before, you can't fall asleep because you're so excited and anxious to get there?

This is how I feel every day! My mission just keeps getting better and better. I find more joy every minute.

This is truly the happiest I've ever been in my entire life.

The BEST decision I have ever made was choosing to serve the Lord.

I love that I get to go to bed and wake up with His name right over my heart.

I can't wait to hype up my mission to my kids one day, like my dad has done with me. I now understand why my dad talks about his mission so much.

Anyways, I can't wait to give you all some highlights from these past 2 weeks!!!

To start, I want to share some personal experiences I've been having. These are very sacred to me, but I feel comfortable sharing. Before I came on my mission, everyone talked about "the one." I always heard stories about people who they met on their mission that they just knew they were supposed to meet. I've met and taught so many people on my mission that I know I was supposed to teach. I've watched some of my favorite people enter the waters of baptism, and I truly felt connected to them. But I still felt a sense that there was someone, that I needed to be led to. Someone specific. I've prayed almost every day on my mission to be led to "the one" and to know where to find them. Just a couple of weeks ago, as time has been ticking, when I was in Indianola, I started to get upset because I felt discouraged as I felt like I was getting so close to the end and I still hadn't found them. Transfers came, and I found out I was leaving Indianola. Flashback to my last email, how I wrote about a lady who approached us at church and told us she wasn't a member but that she wanted to meet with us. We met with her the following Wednesday, and she said, "I want to start taking the lessons and get baptized." She told us her whole life story and how being a member was never something she wanted but in her words, "that Sunday I felt my heart soften." We invited her to discuss with her husband and pick a baptismal date. A couple of days later, she sent us a picture of her program. She made it herself. She's getting baptized December 30th!!! We then taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and she with tears in her eyes told us, "The only thing I want before I die is a priesthood blessing." My favorite part is how she talks about her husband. He never forced her to come to church or read her scriptures or anything. He just led by example. The leading factor into her meeting with us is "I want what he wants, I want the testimony he has." He is the PERFECT example of leading by example. They do scripture reads every day at 7 am before the kids go to school. I hope to be like them someday.

Okay, now back to how I was saying that I felt discouraged. I then found out I would be leaving Indianola and coming to Waukee. I've been praying hard that I would find "the one," then Marisa approached us. After the first lesson with her, the spirit hit me so hard.

I feel so strongly that she is "the one."

The one that led me on a mission and I didn't even know it.

She's the reason I am here.

I was never even supposed to be in Waukee. Our mission president told me and Sister Kinghorn he felt so prompted to send us here after switching the transfer board last second but "I didn't know why" and neither did we.

We now know, it's for her.

God is so good at what He does; He reminds me every day that He is aware of me and what I need. I love Him so much.

Another cool story: a couple of weeks ago, we stopped at Casey's (of course) and got some beverages before we drove to Cedar Rapids. A lady saw our tag and approached us. We started talking to her and asked if she was interested; she said no. We asked if we could do service for her, and she hesitated. We then handed her a card and told her to call us. We're dumb and put the wrong number, smh, but she called the church, and they got into contact with us. We called her, and she asked us to come do service! She then told us she looked up the church website and started telling us things she loved about it. We asked if she would want to do a church tour, and she said she would love that.

If there's one thing I've learned on my mission, it's that service softens people's hearts.

There's nothing I love more than the feeling of being an instrument in God's hands.

We've been teaching the Luogon kids (Edric, Eric, Princess, and Karen) who all accepted a baptismal date for December 2nd, so please pray for them! You should've seen their face when we invited them to be baptized! It looked like we had just told them we were giving them $1,000,000 each. They were so excited.

Other fun/crazy highlights:

Zone conference!!! Zone conference is always such a big highlight in the transfer! This zone conference, there was a lot of focus on thinking celestial, keeping Christ at the center and focusing on the why behind everything we do. And of course, me and Sister Kinghorn won cleanest car out of 4 of the zones. I guess my dad teaching me how to shine my tires paid off. We got rewarded real medals and an air freshener with President Barney's face on it hahaha. It's elite. We get to look at his face every time we get in the car.

I was cutting Sister Kinghorn's hair and just finished the front when she said, "Sister Liljenquist, I feel like I'm gonna pass out." So I look up, and she's literally grey, and her lips are blue. I almost called 911, but I got her to sit down and called the mission nurse, and luckily she's okay! My life flashed before my eyes tho fr. You can imagine that the next couple of days I didn't let her out of my sight, not even in the shower. I sat on the toilet while she showered (with the curtain closed); I wasn't gonna let anything happen! She's all good now :)

Had interviews with President!! I know I was sent to this mission specifically for President and Sister Barney. They are so amazing. They have shaped the rest of my life, truly. I love them so much.

It's been so crazy I can't remember what else haha. I'll write it down as I remember, and it will be on next week's email, I promise.

Quick spiritual thought:

I've been studying Heavenly Father's love for each of His children.

I came across this quote in Preach My Gospel, and I love it so much. It's also from Elder Ballard, so that was a big tender mercy.

"There is one important identity we all share now and forever, one that we should never ever lose sight of, and one that we should be grateful for. That is that you are and have always been a son or daughter of God with spiritual roots in eternity. Understanding this truth—really understanding it and embracing it—is life-changing. It gives you an extraordinary identity that no one can ever take away from you. But more than that, it should give you an enormous feeling of value and a sense of your infinite worth. Finally, it provides you a divine, noble, and worthy purpose in life."

Elder Ballard

My favorite part

"It gives you an extraordinary identity that no one can ever take away from you."

Think about it.

I love that I get to promise people that Heavenly Father loves them, so personally, so individually. Even when they don't believe.

Knowing and feeling Heavenly Father's love for me has changed my entire life.

Life is SO GOOD serving the Lord!

Heavenly Father loves you; it's always there. I promise.

Love, Sister Liljenquist

Have the best Thanksgiving this week!!! Don't forget to express your gratitude to God and those you love. Everyone needs to feel loved.