Temple Square Adventures! 11/7/13

Ang simbahan ay totoo (The Church is true in Tagalog!)

Ahh!! So awesome!! Basically, I love being a missionary more than anything in the world! Every single one of my entry's in my prayer book/journal at night starts off with "Heavenly Father - You are the BEST!!!!" Because seriously, He is!!!

Sister Retuta makes this transfer so much fun. She always is keeping me laughing. It snowed for the first time this winter and she had never seen snow before. We were anticipating it and she's over here praying for it to come and I'm like STOP ITTTTT.... hahah. It will come, I promise you!! But anyways so when it snowed it was just around the time we are supposed to wake up and I hear a snow blower outside. I'm like "Urghhhh, Sister Retuta.. do you hear that? It's a snowblower" And she just pops out of bed super excited and the whole rest of the morning is on energy overload, dancing, and trying to decide what to wear to take pictures in the snow... It was quite entertaining. Haha :) And then when we step outside she's like "I feel like I'm in a movie!!!" and was taking pictures of everything. It was a really fun experience seeing her get so excited. It made me appreciate how I was lucky enough to grow up in Chicago where we get all four seasons. She says in the Philippines it just rains and is sunny. No fall, no spring, no winter. Weird! It is the month to be grateful!

Also, some really cool things that happened this week.... remember Stephen from two weeks ago?? The one from Tennessee? The one who was Anti for a while? The one who threatened to sue Sister Fisher if she tried calling him again? The one who we convinced to Temple Square to talk to us about his concerns? Yeah, welll -- I have exciting news for you!!! HE WAS BAPTIZED THIS PAST SATURDAY!!!! YAY!!!!! I wanted it to be a surprise. Annnnd It happened! & I am so so so thankful to have been able to be a part of it. It was such a neat experience! And my goodness. He is on fireeee with the gospel! Seriously. They are having him speak in stake conference this weekend (which is when various congregations are gathered 2 times a year) AND the coolest thing was that he went to the temple on Tuesday to do baptisms!!!!!!!! So, I'm not sure if youre aware of what that means.. but we believe that God is a loving Heavenly Father who cares about each and every single one of his children. We know that sometimes people leave this earth without ever knowing who God is or who Jesus Christ was and aren't able to take the name of Christ upon them. We do not believe that God is going to condemn them and not let them into his kingdom, BUT We believe since God is so merciful that in his restored gospel - those people who didn't get a chance to get baptized have the opportunity to accept the gospel in the next life. In the temple we can do baptisms in behalf of our deceased ancestors so that they too can rejoice in the knowledge of the Gospel, or teachings of Jesus Christ. So that's what Stephen did. He went to the temple three days after he was baptized to do ordinances for those who didn't get to receive them in this life. SO COOL!!!! He is going to be turning 25 in a few days and we are encouraging to go on a mission. You have no idea just how amazingly powerful his testimony is! I am so thankful that Heavenly Father knew that this was what he needed and didn't give up. I'm so amazed! And I attached a picture of us at his baptism!! He gave me a card and thanked me for being bold enough with him to help him take that next step. Ahh <3

OH and the last BEST part of my week was that, Andrew, 28, my Canadian investigator that lives in Maine works as an airline dispatcher for this company and they are signing a contract with some people in PARK CITY, UTAH! (which is way close to SLC!) I got to meet him!!!!!!!!!!!!! One of the neatest experiences EVER! We bought him a super nice journal for him to start a prayer book in (Adrian -- look at the influence you had on me! I'm having everyone start one of these!). He is the one that I met over chat on mormon.org who said he wanted to receive God in his life and has been progressing so quickly! Used to drink 8-9 cups of coffee a day, very addicted to cigarettes, and had never prayed a day in his life, absolutely zero religious background --- to NOW being super excited for his baptism on the 23rd, day 11 no smoking/ day 15 no coffee/ day 20 something no alcohol! with the STRONGEST testimony of the Word of Wisdom (abstaining from any addictive substances), listening to numerous talks from President Uchtdorf (who is a counselor for the Prophet, Thomas S. Monson), & loving loving the feeling he gets when praying and reading good scriptures. By the way -- enjoy the picture of us! And he got to meet sister roman!!!!

I just can't even describe the happiness that has brought me! He really loved Temple Square and so much so that he told his wife how temple square is "a total spiritual burst of awesome" which by the way -- I should give you a little bit of information on his wife. So, she is super not for him learning more about our faith, she's not religious at all but went to our church when she was a teenager for two years with one of her friends from high school (NOT coincidental...), then she went to study in Germany and then I'm assuming something happened that made her lose interest in God all together and thinks Andrew is crazy. She told him that she is okay with him learning about it if that's what he wants, but that she tried it before and it's just not for her. So you can only imagine how much Sister Retuta and I have been praying for him and for her. Last night we had just finished praying for all of our investigators and then he told us in text that when he started telling her about his experience here at temple square that she started asking questions and then told her he was going to have the missionaries from SLC (or me & sister retuta!!) talk to her and "handle her concerns" and then she said shes heard all of that before but he really feels that since he's telling her, she will listen. then he said "You seriously might have your work cut out for you Sisters. But I have faith it will work out!" Isn't that amazing?! SO exciting! I just love it! I love helping people draw nearer to God and the gospel of Jesus Christ. IT IS AMAZING!

But yeah, well... that was my week. Super amazing. Loving every second. Time goes by SO FAST here too. I was telling Sister Retuta this morning that I think God is preparing me for a super busy life... haha. Because, we are ALWAYS doing something here at Temple Square. We don't spend time walking places or driving places or things like that, but every second is so valuable. As long as the busyness that goes on in my future keeps me happy and brings joy to my life.. I think I'll be okay. I'm just thankful for this gospel and the difference it has made in my life and the lives of those that I talk to regularly. <3 Church is true!

I thought I would share with you Andrew's favorite mormon message about standing alone. He tells me all the time that in the workfield that he is in.. not drinking coffee or smokine or making sexual jokes is basically non existent. He found a lot of comfort in this video.
http://www.mormonchannel.org/mormon-messages-for-youth?v=1634378330001

And also, this is President Uchtdorf. They're short videos so watch them!!! It's about living below our privileges as sons and daughter of a loving Heavenly Father. Super funny too.
http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=2081541444001

This is also President Uchtdorf's talk from General Conference! SO GOOD!
http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/10/come-join-with-us?lang=eng

Sooo, enjoy! Let me know what you think! :D

SMILE :D, BE HAPPY :), & REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE <3

Love always,

Sister Corina Selene Cuevas

p.s. I would really love some letters....!!!! :D

Sister Cuevas

UT-TMSQ Mission

50 N. West Temple St. Rm BSVC

Salt Lake City, Ut 84150