Sister Bailey Guthrie: Let Us Go Up to the Mountain of The Lord.

Hi family and friends! It probably feels like I just emailed y'all but here we go again. Sister Feinga and I were able to go to the temple today with two recent converts in the ward to participate in baptisms for the dead, which is why I'm emailing today. It was such a great experience. I love the temple. It is such a peaceful place. Im thankful to live in a time when temples, true houses of the Lord, are upon the Earth and we are able to attend so often. In Isaiah chapter 2 verses 2 and 3 we read, "And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem". The prophesy found in Malachi chapter 4 verses 5 and 6 is also being fulfilled as we work to unite all of the children of God through family history and sacred ordinances performed in the house of the Lord. God has said, "I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers.." (Malachi 4:5-6). What a great and marvelous work. It's all missionary work!!! It's all the work of salvation. It's all to fulfill Heavenly Father's purpose "..to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" (Moses 1:39). Sister Feinga and I have had a really successful week so far! On Wednesday we were able to have a lesson with a lady named Jenny that sister Lange and I had met a few months ago. Sister Feinga and I decided before going in that we needed to just establish our purpose with her right away and then teach the restoration. Well, from the minute we walked in the door Jenny was completely ready for us. She sat right down with her daughter, put her copy of the Book of Mormon in her lap, and said something to the effect of, "ok, we are ready to listen". Sister Feinga and I looked at each other, looked back at Jenny, and then got to teaching. The spirit was so strong as we taught the message of the restoration. She loved it and asked a lot of sincere questions. She was really excited about a living prophet. After the lesson Jenny looked to her daughter and said, "well what do you think?" to which her teenage daughter replied, "it's pretty cool". We have another lesson scheduled with them next week and hopefully they will be able to come to church tomorrow. Sister Feinga and I have had some really spiritual experiences with visiting teaching this week as well. President Hansen invited us to start visit teaching certain less active families and individuals in our wards and branches. Our relief society president prayed and selected about 15 names for us to try to visit, so we've been working on that for the past couple of weeks. It's been a testimony builder to see the Lord put individuals into our mind at the time that we need to go visit them. God's timing is perfect. Many of the women we've started to visit have children and spouses who are not members of the church. Our goal is to teach them the restored gospel and invite them to come unto Christ. Yesterday we were able visit the family I wrote about a few weeks ago. We met the wife of an inactive member of the church by chance (or by God) while visiting someone else in an apartment complex. She had invited us in for a bottle of water and to use the restroom. So, last week we brought them cookies to thank them and now this week we were able to sit down with them in their home and talk about the gospel. The husband has such a sincere desire to return to church. It made my heart so happy to hear him talk about how thankful he is that we came and that he knows it's time for him to move forward and get active again. His wife goes to another church but is open to taking the missionary discussions. They just had a baby and I know that it is part of Gods plan for them to learn of the gospel at this time. Before we left the husband said, "you know you've gotta leave me with a fresh copy of the Book of Mormon before you leave right?". I love being a missionary. I love being able to represent my Savior, Jesus Christ. I'm thankful for the blessing it has been to learn to see every person as a son or daughter of God. We are all God's children and He loves us. I know that's true. That's all I've got for you today. I won't be emailing this Monday because today became our pday with the temple trip. I'll talk with y'all again the next Monday.

Much love,

Sister Guthrie