Love Better {3.31.14}

Hello from the lovely dowtown Cincinnati library!

Today I am once again deeming myself happiest missionary. Why, you ask?

I am spending the day in downtown Cincy with my mission mom and my 3 favorite sisters! woot woot! It's absolutely crazy down here today seeing as it's opening day for the Reds. I witnessed a dance off in the street already--I love people. I feel like I'm in the real world again.. I think I've kind of lived in a missionary bubble the past 9 months.

Anyway,

this week was great! 

THE HURST FAMILY WAS BAPTIZED!!!!!

Oh man. I don't even have words that can describe my happiness about this. Very few times have I felt the Spirit so strong as I did at their baptism. Brother Hurst was literally glowing afterward. LITERALLY! It was beautiful. I love that family so, so much. 

Funny story: The other ward we share our building with was having an activitiy that night and they had pizza. After the baptism all of the Hurst kids could smell the pizza and figured it was for them, since they had just been baptized and all. When they found out it wasn't they all started bawling. Of course this was right when we were trying to take pictures of the lovely newly baptized family and all of the kids just look heart broken. Kind of sad.. kind of hilarious. 

Then Saturday night was the Women's Broadcast and wow. Just wow. I loved it a lot. How amazing to have so many women all over the world united in living the Gospel and following our Savior. It gives me chills just thinking about it! Sorry men. I absolutely loved the video about covenant keeping. I may or may not have shed a few tears. 

Here are a couple of my favorite thoughts:

-Don't just love more, love BETTER.

- As women of all ages we walk in His light... Our path is well lit!

- As we strive to keep covenants our imperfections seem to fade

- Step forward in righteousness and say.. "Here am I.. send me"

- The best way to strengthen a family is to keep covenants!

- How deeply your covenants sink into your heart depends on how well you were prepared

- It melted my heart when he had all the little girls turn and smile at their moms to thank them for preparing them for baptism! I smiled at you in my heart mom :) THANK YOU for preparing me for my baptism!!

- We are the favored few. We were tutored by our Heavenly Father before we came to this world because he knew we would be amongst the few of His daughters who would have the privilege of hearing about sacred covenants. And He smiles down at us when we help our sisters move along the covenant path!

-Sister missionaries aren't just powerful proselyters.. we are here to be nurturing leaders! I truly agree with Elder Eyring and believe that is my purpose as a sister missionary.

- Perfect=Complete

We are beloved covenant daughters.

Let us show our appreciation for this precious responsibility by the way we live and cleave to our covenants! 

Okay, here is my big news. Tomorrow is transfers and I am staying buy Sister Denison is leaving. We were both SHOCKED because we've only had one transfer together and President just told us a couple days ago we are both here together now for a reason. Transfers never cease to surprise me!

How lucky are we to be able to watch general conference this week! Pray and prepare yourselves this week to receive revelation from your Heavenly Father. I challenge all of you to watch conference with a specific question in mind (and to stay awake so you can receive an answer!) :) I promise you that you will have a revelatory experience if you do. 

We are so blessed to have a modern day prophet and to live in the dispensation of the fullness of times. All of the prophets of old accomplished what they accomplished even though they knew their dispensations would end in apostasy because they knew Today would come and the Gospel wouldn't be taken from the Earth. We are preparing the way for the return of our Savior! How great is our calling.

I love you all so, so much.

xoxoxo

Sister Kayla Rolfe

Read this talk!

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2010/04/act-in-all-diligence?lang=eng

Missionary Mail Monday at its Finest {3.24.14}

Hello, Hello!

Good morning from sunny Cincinnati. I'm pretty happy this morning because its 31 degrees and I'm not wearing a jacket and..... I'M WARM!!

Who am I?!?

I guess a mission does change you! :) haha. Anyway.

It's been a wonderful 5 days since I last updated you. I'm still on a high from the temple and wishing I could go back already! 

Are you ready for some big news?? Drum roll please...…

THE HURST FAMILY IS GETTING BAPTIZED THIS WEEKEND!!!!!!!

OH Happy Day!!!! Do you remember the Hurst family? Sister Parker and I taught them when I served in EG at the beginning of my mission. They have 5 kids.. the youngest girl loves me and calls me Ralfie :) I love them so much and I know they are one of the reasons I came back to Eastgate. The Elders started teaching them when I left, but Sister Denison and I started teaching their oldest daughter (17) when I came back. She hadn't really been progressing with the rest of the family and the elders were having a hard time connecting with her. Then Sister Denison and I had the MOST spiritual lesson with her the other day. Wow! She commited to be baptised with her family and is excited about it!!

Miracles Miracles!

Okay I'm sorry that this email isn't going to be very long, but that huge miracle counts for like at least 3 paragraphs. I'll even leave you with an inspirational thought and some homework.

"We shouldn't wait to be happy until we reach some future point, only to discover that happiness was already available-- all the time! Life is not meant to be appreciated only in retrospect."

-Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Now go read the rest of his talk, Of Regrets and Resolutions.. do it now!!

Well, I love you. I love serving the Lord. I can't believe that next week is the end of the transfer, my birthday, general conference, AND my half way point. Crazy!

Eastgate is good. The work is good. The Blackhams are good. Sister Denison is good.
All is well.

xoxoxo
Sister Kayla Rolfe

The mountain of the Lord... In Kentucky! {3.19.14}

I think I can safely say I am currently the happiest missionary in the world. 

Why, you ask?

Well, you see....

I just got home from the TEMPLE!!!!
That's right, the House of the Lord. 

Oh happy day!

I began my mission thinking I would never have the opportunity to go to the temple because there isn't a temple in my mission boundaries. I was sad about that, but didn't realize at the time how much I would be needing the temple. As the months rolled on, I yearned for the temple, but knew I would not be able to go until I was back in Utah. Then, about a month ago, President Porter announced we had received special permission to go to the temple!! I think I screamed in the chapel. I've been anxiously awaiting the day and... today was the day! I knew I desperately missed the temple, but I don't think I even realized just how much until I stepped in the doors of the Lousville, Kentucky temple. 

Here is what made my trip to the temple really special:

I had a few weeks to prepare and I knew I wouldn't be going back for 6 months, so I wanted to get as much out of it as I could. I've been studying the temple in the scriptures, Ensigns, and my patriarchal blessing, and praying about what question I should have on my mind while there. 

However, despite all of my preparation I woke up this morning still not knowing what exactly I was wanting to get out of my time at the temple. I prayed even harder and had the impression to read my patriarchal blessing on the drive there (about 100 miles in case you're curious.. oh and Sister Bradley, our stake president's wife who I love drove us and the other sisters!). After reading, I had a lot on my mind, but I still wasn't 100% sure what I was going to focus on. 

All of my worries melted away as soon as I walked into the temple, though.
The room where our session was was pretty small and was basically all missionaries (our zone got to go together!) and the members who drove us. I was the first sister sitting and it was so special to sit and watch all of my missionaries walk in dressed in white. 

The session started and I was blown away. Absolutely captivated by the newest video. WOW! So much better. Anyway, I felt like I had never been to the temple. Everything sounded new and had so much more meaning to me. It wasn't until afterward, though, when I was sitting in the celestial room conversing with my Heavenly Father that everything connected for me. Well, He connected all the dots for me anyway. 

First, I was once again one of the first sisters in the celestial room. As I sat there I felt so peaceful, but I also felt like something was missing. I realized that the last time I was at the temple was with most of our family and I missed that. It was so special being there as a family and now I miss and love you all more than ever so it was really tugging at my heart. Then Sister Ryan popped into my mind and I realized I was at the temple with family! I couldn't wait for her to come into the room so I could just give her a big hug. What a blessing. I'm pretty sure this was one of the reasons He let us serve together. 

Then, as I sat pondering family, was when everything really connected. All of the articles I had studied about the temple had the common theme of family-- we go to the temple to understand our role in our eternal family and to create/strengthen our earthly families. I can't exactly describe how it all fell into place in my mind, but basically I know I am on my mission to prepare for my future family. That is the whole reason I am here on this Earth and I know it without a doubt-- I can feel it in my Spirit. I am here to have a family and there is no way on this Earth I would have been prepared for that without my mission. This stream of realization went on for quite some time and I wish you could understand everything that Heavenly Father taught me, but hey it is personal revelation for a reason :)

Moral of the story: GO TO THE TEMPLE. Please, do not take it for granted!! It is the most beautiful thing in this world. As a missionary, I spend my days in some pretty dark places and I can't begin to tell you the contrast. The temple truly is a piece of Heaven here on Earth. I know that Heavenly Father dwells there.

I love you!

A very happy Sister Kayla Rolfe

xoxoxo

President Boyd K. Packer, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, described  blessings of attending the temple:

“When members of the Church are troubled or when crucial decisions weigh heavily upon their minds, it is a common thing for them to go to the temple. It is a good place to take our cares. In the temple we can receive spiritual perspective. There, during the time of the temple service, we are ‘out of the world.’

Life is Still Crazy and Full of Miracles {3.10.14}

Today is mission fun day so I don't really have email time but I will share a quick story so you know I'm alive and well!

This week was filled with revelatory experiences. I got to attend my first mission leadership council meeting! Then Sister Denison and I trained at our zone meeting and we also had an exchange-- so it was a crazy week!! By midweeks we were feeling a little frazzled--and our numbers were showing it. We realized we could cut our losses our we could call down the powers of Heaven we've been endowed with and access God's grace. We chose the latter. We set some ridiculous goals for the weekend and decided to next day would be a day of miracles. We also knew we would need to be exactly obedient and to make a few sacrifices to get there because sacrifice is only the production of sacred things! :) Let me tell you about the next day......

IT WAS A DAY OF MIRACLES!!

Sorry, I'm not going to go into details, but just know that we saw the grace of God in our work we met our ridiculous goals because of it. 

Oh and we get to go to the temple next Wednesday!!! I could not be more excited. 

And Sister Ryan and I are really going on an exchange this week! :) 

Oh and you always need a funny tidbit, right? Okay, so we're helping our investigator, A, with remodeling her house. I actually was helping her before I left but anyway, this week we're replacing her kitchen floor. One day we were working and she told us that she realized she never worked on her house when I was gone. So, she concluded that I inspire her to do housework hahah not really sure how I feel about that but hopefully I can inspire my future children to do the same :)

I was also told this week that I have a youthful innocence, haha. Anyway...

I LOVE YOU!

xoxoxo

Sister Rolfe

D&C 78:18

Be of Good Cheer! {3/3/14}

Hello lovely people!

Ohio had another big storm hit yesterday. It started as an ice storm (that was a new adventure) and turned into a snow storm. We have officially had a record breaking winter-- most snow EVER recorded in Cincy!! Woot woot!

Church was cancelled, so we had missionary church instead. There are 14 missionaries (7 sets) serving in our building so we all met up there and had a little sacrament meeting. Bro. Blackham baked us delicious home made bread and the elders blessed and passed it. Then we had a testimony meeting. The spirit was so strong. I've had a lot on my mind with my new responsibilities and I had the thought, "Don't question your ability or God's assignment, just live up to it." Obviously, God wouldn't ask us to do anything He knew we couldn't accomplish, so why question our ability to fulfill responsibilities? Just put your trust in God and He will give you the strength to do it. So, that is what I'm going to do. I know that I have a lot of growing to do and questioning myself is only going to hinder that growth. So, I'm walking by faith and reaching the potential God sees in me.

If you couldn't tell by my little pep talk, we had a pretty spiritual/motivational week. Friday was our first ever Ohio Cincinnati Mission Sisters Conference. All of the sisters in our mission gathered to be encouraged and spiritually fed. It. Was. So. Good. I really realized my potential as a daughter of God and my responsibility because of it. And of course I came away feeling ridiculously loved and good about myself because that's what Sisters need and they can't do too much praising when all of the elders are there, so they really laid it on at the conference. I love being a sister missionary. I love it! And I love all of my sisters-- all 89 of them! Yep, our mission has just over 200 missionaries and 90 of us are sisters. We're taking over!

Let me share a few insights with you:

x. A righteous woman's strength today is tenfold what it was in more tranquil times.

x. A righteous woman can save the home-- which is the last refuge we have in a world of storms.

x. As we avoid the things we're afraid of, our fear increases. It is only by facing our fears that we overcome them.

x. Don't Should yourself to death

x. Thinking is a habit.. thoughts aren't always true!

x. We don't find God in our comfort zone.. we find God in our extremities

x. If you have thoughts contrary to what your patriarchal blessing, key holders, and the prophet tell you about yourself, THEY'RE NOT TRUE

x. The challenge isn't to become more than you are but to realize who you really are

 

In other news, we had our first STL exchange this week. I ended up being with Sister Ryan's comp, Sister Christenson, who I adore. It was a great day! We spend a lot of time with the two of them. People love that Sister Ryan and I are cousins! It's so fun. She is an awesome missionary.

Here's my funny story of the week:

We were helping an investigator rip out her kitchen floor. Sidenote: I actually taught her before and we were really close and she was SO excited to see me when I came back! The other night we were teaching her and she just kept asking me, "Can you see how much you've grown?? I remember you the first day of your mission! WOW. Can you see it??" That was cool :) Anyway, it was pretty hard work and we were all on our hands and knees. After a while of getting up and down she says, "Man, I really need to get me some of that Mormon underwear so I don't have to keep pulling up my pants!" hahahah. Sister Denison and I were dying. We've actually been praying for funny things to happen to us lately and God has really been delivering.

Miracle story:

We didn't know where we needed to go the other morning after studies, but we knew we needed an active member lesson so we decided to head to a certain family, not really knowing why. We had no idea what we were going to teach them or why we were seeing them-- we just headed there. When we got there they weren't home, but their granddaughter was who has been thinking of serving a mission. There are no sisters in her ward (she lives out of town) but they keep popping up in her life! We had a really good talk with her about our missions and why we chose to serve! I definitely know that that is exactly where we were supposed to be at that time.

I love missionary work. I love Eastgate. It's still pretty surreal waking up in the Blackham's home every morning.

Life is good, the Church is true.

xoxoxo,

Sister Rolfe

D &C 68:6