#Blessed&True

This is a week that will forever go down in history as one of the greatest of all weeks...for many reasons.

First off MADDIE GOT MARRIED! I remember the days when Maddie was hesitant and I was like #TeamEric and now they are married. Memories. I just want everyone to know I called it and I AM SO EXCITED THEY GOT TO BE SEALED TOGETHER IN THE TEMPLE! And yes it was hard not to be there for my best friend/sister/dance partners wedding but I am very very grateful for this opportunity to serve the Lord and am so willing to sacrifice for Him - the One who sacrificed everything for me. Also I was there in cardboard so I guess that counts for something.

But I did have the opportunity to go to someone else's sealing in the temple this week and it was amazing and such a blessing for me personally. It was for a member that Hermana Garner had been working with and so we were invited. This member had lost her husband a year or two ago so to see her and three kids sealed to him for time and all eternity was really special. I don't think there was a dry eye in the room and I don't even know them.

But second of all GLORIA GOT BAPTIZED! The long LONG awaited day arrived and it couldn't have gone better. Everyone from the ward really came together to make it special and although I was a nervous mess (who do I get that from Mom???) the spirit was there and I felt so much peace as she got baptized. Then we had a mini birthday party for her, wraunies (Glorias word for brownies) included. It was one of those moments where you just are like "This is why I'm here". IT WAS GLORIOUS. I don't have fav....okay I totally have favorites and Gloria and Ana Maria (her cousin) are definitely them. I am so pumped to go to the temple with them this weekend :')

And speaking of temples we got to see the Tuscon temple get dedicated yesterday and what a blessing temples are. Hearing President Uchtdorf and Elder Stevenson speak was powerful and just added to the amazingness of this weekend. I am so grateful for the temples and for the covenants that we can make in them that allow us to live with our families forever. They are the greatest expression of our Heavenly Fathers love for us and every time I pass by the temple I am just struck by the beauty and sacredness of it. I love to see the temple.

We were also able to go to the Mesa Visitors Center with Jimmy this Sunday and can I just tell you how amazing my mission is? We have so many great things here and it is a blessing. But we got to watch the Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration with him. It was a slightly different version than the one I've seen previously and I loved it. Every time I have watched this video I am just struck by the sacrifices that Joseph Smith made for us. It would have been so easy to just stop, to take back what he had said and live a safe, calm life. But he didn't. Because He "knew it was true and could not deny it". I know he was called of God to restore the Gospel of Jesus Christ in its fullness and that it is because of his diligence, faith and humility that we have temples today - where everyone has the opportunity to have an eternal family. I love this gospel and I will never be able to say or do enough to show it.

I love my Savior and I know He lives.


To the Moon and Back,

Hermana Showalter