Sister Jessica Lee Hollist

story- this week we were visiting one of our friends who is the absolute sweetest little lady!! she has the most beautiful testimony of the temple. as she sat there & described the feelings she felt in the temple the spirit was so strong. the temple truly is such a special place to me. she was telling us that when she went to the temple for the first time about a year ago she just kept saying I want to sleep here & I want to live here & I thought that was so cute!! the temple is such a powerfully special place. thought- I was studying this week in D&C 21 and I love verses 7-9 & part of it says, "For thus saith the Lord God: Him have I inspired to move the cause of Zion in mighty power for good, and his diligence I know, and his prayers I have heard....For, behold, I will bless all those who labor in my vineyard with a mighty blessing." I love these verses so much especially at this time when I am so lucky to be apart of the Lord's vineyard in this cap...

highlight #1- we have been trying to help one of my absolute favorite families get to church for a couple months. they have SO many kids & it is just a lot to get there w/ all corona regulations and all. but I distinctly remember sitting in sacrament meeting & seeing that beautiful marshallese family walk through that door & my heart was SO full as all those precious little kids came up & gave us big hugs !! <3 President Alder came up to us after and said, "I will forever remember when Sister Alder was bearing her testimony & that beautiful family walked in." my heart was so HAPPY as I was able to sit w/ some of my favorite people & feel the peace and comfort of being in Jesus Christ's church w/ so many of Heavenly Father's unconditionally loved children. after the sacrament meeting we were able to meet w/ all the marshallese people & President & Sister Alder. I had brought my ukulele that day & we were able to play & sing wi...

first off- conference was SO good!! we are so blessed to be able to hear the loving guidance of modern day prophets & apostles. in marshallese general conference is called kweilok eo elap which directly translated means "the big meeting." which for some reason I really loved because it is such a big meeting as far as nations across the entire world are watching & it's spiritually big for each person individually. conference is such a special experience because everybody hears the same thing but the spirit speaks different things to our hearts personally. it is so amazing to see & feel how much God loves us individually & as a whole. thought- one of my favorite talks in conference was by Michelle D. Craig (btw we watched conference with her brother, SO fun!!) BUT anyways I loved how she talked about the pure love of Christ & seeing others as Christ sees them & how important it is to show people we love them & to show them their Savior loves them...

Not even kidding, probably the best week of my mission & life. emmantata ippa!! I always wish I could explain in words why the best weeks are the best weeks but I can't write down those special feelings & experiences in words. We had a once in a lifetime opportunity to go to a marshallese keemem!! a keemem is a baby's first birthday & it is the biggest celebration in marshallese culture. everybody told me it was a large celebration but it blew my mind. we got there and there were over 500 marshallese people there just gathered in this park dancing & singing together!! it was a dream. the four of us were the only ripelles there & we definitely stuck out. but in marshallese culture they have very high respect for preachers & missionaries so they set us at this table in the very front that was filled w/ food & they were the kindest to us & they didn't even know us. they "tried" to teach us how to dance & we were able to spend the ...

Another stellar week out here in Evansville !! so many miracles this week! miracle #1- this week we were going to visit a woman that we had heard wasn't very nice so we walked up to her house and there was a boy on the porch & we said iakwe and his eyes lit up and he goes wow come in SO we went in & started talking to 3 of the sweetest teenage girls & then we asked if their parents were their and they were sleeping so we said we would come by another day. as we were leaving we ran into two people from a school that said excuse me did you just come from there because we need help & sister hassler says, "do you need a translator?" & they said, "yes that is exactly what we need!!" so we went back and helped and then the mom came out & the kids & so we asked if we could share a quick message w/ them & they said yes!! so we shared ether 12:27 and talked about how the Savior can strengthen us & make our weak things strong & they...