Sister Claire Kristine Sampson: Best week ever!

I feel like I think that every week was the best week ever, but this one really was!:) every week just keeps getting better and better!:)

Well family I hope that you had so much fun on Thanksgiving and on Dad's bday! Thank you so much for the package! It made my whole week great! And I loved all the dear elders I got from you guys too! Shout out to Tadd and Julie who sent me a package. I loved it! And so did Sister Bastian! I really appreciated it:) They are so nice!

This week was amazing! I will just talk about the highlights though. On Tuesday we had an amazing devotional. Sister Marcia Nielson spoke about how her husband was called as an Area Seventy and she always had to speak with him. She told us that she always felt nervous! She felt like she lived in fear and always felt nervous to speak. Then she talked about how one time she had this realization that we just need to trust Heavenly Father and how Heavenly Father has been training you your whole life for these moments of sharing the Gospel whether it be when teaching a lesson, giving a talk, or just talking to a friend about the Gospel. All we had to do is trust the spirit and we will be prompted to say what we need to. We are always having to do thing out of our comfort zone, but we can do anything with the Lord on our side:) Then her husband Brent H. Nielson spoke and he talked about how we can't have faith and fear at the same time. He also said, "There has never been a better time to be a member of this church." And that is so true! We are so blessed to have this knowledge! One last thing he told us was something President Monson says, "He who the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies." We have all been called to be members in this church and the Lord will bless us and help us with the things we need to accomplish His work! The Lord gives us so many resources, gifts, and talents so that we can do His work in our everyday lives!:)

Then Thanksgiving!:) Sorry family, but it was one of the best ones yet! I loved Thanksgiving! We had a devotional in the morning and Elder Neil L. Andersen came to speak to us. He spoke about how we should be grateful for everything because everything we have is a gift. Our bodies and our talents are all gifts from God. They aren't really ours. Then he talked about even being grateful for our trials! That is such a hard one, but our trials really do make us stronger and we are so blessed from them. He was talking to a missionary who had had a really bad day and he told the missionary, "If you had a day like that you must have something great in your future." I loved that and I think that is something we should always remember when we are going through something hard. When we make it through those difficult times we will be blessed! We have something great ahead. The bigger the trial the greater the reward:) We need to remember that and cherish every moment even when it is hard! Then we had a yummy Thanksgiving lunch and we actually had real potatoes!! That was awesome! Then we watched Ephraim's Rescue and did this great service project! We made 359,000 meals for families in Utah that don't have food. I loved being able to show my gratitude by serving others. Then we got to have another devotional and walk around and look at the Christmas lights. My companions, my roommates, and I had some yummy sparkling cider and celebrated Thanksgiving in our room:)