Called to Serve in Peru: Faith moves mountains

Mi Querida Familia,

I hope you all enjoyed Conference as much as I did! I also thought of all of you and that we were all watching the same thing, at the same time. Every single conference is special, however, I had an experience in this conference that will forever make this conference stand out in my mind that I would like to share with you all.

Sunday morning I was just feeling super happy to be in conference, in Peru, as a missionary. We had been working all week to get as many people as we could to come to conference, and it had worked! We had four investigators there (two that we have been trying for WEEKS to get to come to church) An entire family of less actives, ALL of our recent converts, all of the missionaries in our zone, and a ton of members from the ward, and other wards, that I know and love. I just felt so happy being surrounded by soo many people that I love and that are so special to me, and I was so excited that we were all going to get to watch conference, and especially listen to the Prophet President Monson. It was a feeling that I can`t explain. I was just, happy. So happy. And then conference started! .... and the opposition set in. For some reason, the internet connection decided to go bad right at that moment. We were all watching it via Internet in our chapel, and we had watched it without problems the day before, but for some reason, in that moment it went bad. It would play for about 4 minutes, and then pause. then it would start playing again.....and pause. It was like trying to watch a youtube video that hasn`t been loaded. At first it wasn`t too bad, the pauses weren’t too long and we were able to get in most of the first talk, but as the conference went on, the pauses got longer, and the portions of conference got shorter. The feelings in the chapel changed from peace and happiness, to frustration, and anger. MY feelings had changed from happiness, to frustration and anger, and sadness. I was just praying over and over again, "Heavenly Father! we have worked SO hard to get all these people here, and we just want to be able to watch conference! Please bless the internet connection to start working, please, I just want everyone to have a good experience." and....nothing. About 40 minutes into the conference we were still trying to get through the first talk, when they refreshed the page and it actualized and jumped to the talk that was going on at that moment. We don`t know how many talks we missed, but at least we were caught up with the rest of the world. For about....5 minutes. And then it paused again. And just...wouldn`t work. At this point the stake president got up, and apologized and said they were trying all they knew how to fix the problem but for some reason, it just wasn`t working. He suggested we all say a prayer that we would at least be able to listen to the prophet. At this moment the internet just...completely went out. Many people got up and left, and a lot of people were in tears just...frustrated. (me included) when we decided to do something. Two of the hermanas in my zone suggested that we sing hymns to bring the spirit back into the chapel and that we all pray that the internet would come back so we could listen to our prophet. (This was about an hour and 10 minutes into conference)So we did. I played the piano and together we all sang "Nearer my God to thee" and "I Know the My Redeemer Lives" At this point, there weren`t many dry eyes in the chapel, but not because of frustration, but because there entered such a sweet and overwhelming spirit to the room. After singing the two hymns we sat back down in our seats and tried the internet again. And it came back! ....but for about 5 minutes, and then it paused again. But we knew that it was almost time for the prophet to come on so we waited patiently, and then all of a sudden we heard the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing, and then, President Monson stood up and started talking. And guess what? The internet worked perfectly. Without a single problem. The spirit in the room was SO strong. I just sat there with tears streaming down my face as I witnessed a miracle and as I listened to my prophet.

I want you all to know that I KNOW that President Monson is a prophet of God. I know that God hears and answers our prayers and that he is looking out for us. It was such a sweet and special experience being able to listen to the prophet knowing that we were witnessing Gods hand so directly. Faith has the power to move mountains..., and to make the internet work long enough to listen to the prophet. It was an experience that I will never forget. My heart is still tender thinking about it. I kept breaking into tears all day yesterday, and I`m tearing up right now writing about it. :P (If I know you at all Mom, you`re tearing up as well ;))

I was able to watch the three other sessions without any problems, but what I got out of conference was an even stronger testimony of the importance of listening to a modern prophet, and of God’s love for us. Many other things as well! I loved Elder Holland’s talk, and it really stood out to me that the apostles are special witnesses of Jesus Christ. I am really looking forward to being able to read the conference talks again and get to hear the talks from Sunday morning. (I know you just sent a package mom, but once conference comes out in the Ensign, could you send it to me? :) I would love to read them in English.)

Uncle Ryan, thank you for sharing your experience! That’s awesome! Keep it up :)

I know I wanted to share other things with ya`ll, but they all kind of pale in experience to yesterday. :) I`ll try and send some pictures from this week!

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hermana Shelton