WEEK 23 (NOV. 18)- DID YOU THINK TO PRAY?

It's been quite the week! I'm going to get right to the point....Zone Conference....IT WAS AMAZING! We had Elder S. Gifford Nielson of the Seventy and his wife there to address us. Elder Nielson just spoke in this past General Conference. His talk was "Hastening The Lord's Game Plan!" (emphasis on the exclamation point) I highly suggest reading that talk if you haven't yet!
Some of the things that stood out from the conference was how we were not sent to the earth to be average! We are all blessed with different talents, abilities and personalities. God didn't create us to be average. He has put in us the ability to become like Him, and that is far above average! We are of divine origin. We can be happy in hard times if we are keeping the commandments. We also learned a lot about prayer. We learned a few specifics of how we can make our prayers more meaningful. Kneeling, vocalized, others, and gratitude. Several accounts in the scriptures when we read of someone praying they kneel; even the Savior Himself knelt when He prayed to the Father. Kneeling is a sign of reverence and shows that we are humble enough to receive answers. The same goes for vocalized prayers. A great example of the power of vocalized prayers is Joseph Smiths experience. Never before had he prayed out loud, but the first time that he did we all know that it changed the world....not to mention that he was also kneeling. When we vocalize our prayers, it makes it so our prayers aren't just coming from our mind, but from our heart. Praying for others. When we pray for others we are more grateful and have greater compassion on those around us. Gratitude. This one is fairly simple, the more we recognize what God has given us, the more we will recognize all that we have and are constantly blessed with. To end this little tangent on prayers I'll share the counsel that we were given. Get on our knees to ask for help and then get on our feet and do all that we can. It is after all we can do that God will do the rest, but we need to do our part.
I am so grateful that we have a Heavenly Father who hears and answers are prayers, and I know that He does! I also know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is real and is for EVERYONE. I love being a missionary and I love this Gospel!

I hope you all have a great week and remember the words of Hymn 140 :)

Peace and Blessings,

Sister Dixon

p.s. funny story time.....So a few nights ago I woke up to my companion rapping in her sleep! Totally caught me off guard. Missionary by day, gangsta rapper by night.