Too blessed but still stressed‏ May 23,2016

This week we had zone conference! It was super insightful and
President Gardner talked about the difference between having head,
heart, and soul knowledge. Soul knowledge is when you know something
is true with every fiber of your being and you act on that to share it
with others!

Sister Parsons and I visited with the Daguenons who are both from
Benin Africa and they speak French!! :) When we got to their house
they were assembling a dining table set so we helped them with it and
afterwards they were so nice to feed us yummy French ragu (some sort
of potato stew). Tres bien. J'aime manger. J'aime etudier ausi. Le
livre de Mormon est vrae! There's your French lesson for the
day...moving on.. :)

Friday was exchanges with Sister Hyde and my mom Sister Strong for the
first time! I'm under Winter Quarter's stewardship now since I'm in
the Omaha Zone. We had a blast!

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY last week to my most bestest friend - the one and
only Morgan Janda!! Your emailing/writing game is stellar and you are
the bomb. You go glen coco. :)

Soo I've been hearing comments from people saying wow you are so
positive like ALL the time how do you do it?? Are you really that
happy?? I must say the mission is definitely the hardest thing I've
ever done and probably will ever do but it's so worth it. I often feel
like the current bush that gets chopped down or the piece of metal in
the refiner's fire but I just don't care to waste time talking about
that. ( Both of which are awesome Mormon messages if you haven't seen
them the links are here:
https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2012-01-014-the-will-of-god?lang=eng
https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-11-010-the-refiners-fire?lang=eng
)

Something Heavenly Father promises us if we live the gospel is an
assurance of peace and joy. It doesn't mean that we don't have
challenges, because trust me they do come and they come even when
you're doing the right thing. Happiness comes and goes but we can have
constant joy. I think of all the examples in the scriptures of people
who are serving the Lord and standing up for the truth and they suffer
much tribulation. I love the story of Alma and Amulek! They kept
preaching and helping others even when they kept getting turned down.
You just gotta keep on keepin on! :)

Love,
Sister Irwin

P.S.
1. Nebrasquad reaches 7 months!!
2. NOM olympics...we work out
3. Played pterodactyl with the Austin fam after a lesson