Sister Catherine McMaster: Helaman 5:12

Happy Birthday Mom! You have the coolest birthday scripture in the book.... "and now my friends remember remember that it is upon the rock of our redeemer who is Christ the son of God that we must build our foundations, that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds yea his hail and his mighty storms and shafts in the whirlwinds it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo because of the rock upon which ye are built which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall!" okay that was from memory... so you can check if I got it right :) I know i messed up something in their (actually I just checked and it is wrong...)sorry go look up Helamen 5:12, so it can be your scripture for the day.

So hello! It was so good to see you all yesterday! What fun it is to have the best family in the world. I'm not sure how I lucked out but I won't complain! Funny story, after I left you we quickly drove home and it was pouring rain... like it made cats and dogs look pathetic, and when we were running into the house Sister Stiles dropped the phone... into a huge puddle under the car, so I felt like being heroic and I crawled under the car and saved it... but it still doesn't work, so hopefully people aren't in dire need of Sister Stiles or McMaster... but yes we got home soaking wet and laughing our heads off.

So this Scripture seems to be very fitting in a lot of ways today. Not only were there crazy whirlwinds and storms in my neck of the woods the last couple of days, but like I sort of mentioned the last week was kind of a mighty storm kind of week. I can't even tell you how amazingly true this scripture is, when we are built upon the Rock of Christ we cannot fall! I stumbled a few times and was almost ready to fall, but then someone was always there at the last second, so many people served me this week. I feel so humbled to be loved by such sweet spirits. I know that this scripture is true, I know that it is because of the foundation I am building on Christ that I am able to press forward with strength and my head held high. How are you strengthening your foundation on Christ?

Sometimes the Lord lets the storms happen so that we can build up stronger, so we can see where our weakness is in our building. This is definitely what happened this week. On Thursday we were on an Exchange and while we were out in the area people kept calling us with problems, from simple life drama to more dramatic illness, anyway I was trying to be strong but I felt overwhelmed. Sister Stiles and I decided we needed a priesthood blessing, so we went and talked to Bishop Townsend (pretty much the greatest bishop ever.. ) He gave us some of the sweetest blessings of comfort and peace. It didn't take away the problems but it helped me to see that I'm not holding this load alone. I am simply glimpsing at the load Christ is holding and learning how to be a little stronger.

I sure love this work. I love getting to know people and to learn why Heavenly Father loves them and each of us so much. How special we all are in his eyes. I know I tell a lot of crazy stories about people but I have grown to love them and I know that Heavenly Father is opening my eyes to this love. We are beginning to focus on the Family in our teachings. We are trying to help all become defenders of the family. As we build our foundation on Christ we cannot forget that by strengthening our family we are all coming closer to Christ. I love it when I get testimonies from each of you. If you have time I would love to hear your "conversion" stories. Maybe we can all strengthen each other as we each build our personal foundations strong. I hope you know how much I need your testimonies, I know mine wouldn't have ever been able to grow if it were not for the support of yours.

For our upcoming mission conference we have been asked to look up 4 conversion stories from our ancestors (I was thumbing through my 8 generations and it seems that we have lots and lots of ancestors that were converted in this life, how cool is that? Now it is your job (mostly because I have very limited computer time) to help me get my 4 stories. I found a few names of peolpe I'd like to find stories for if you could look them up pretty please :) :

John Brigham McMaster

Elizabeth Meikle Forrest

Mary Almina Hammond

Sarah Montague Spriggs

Charles William Symons

David Heaps

Mary Beck

Jens Peder Jensen

Marie Nielsen

Ezra Thompson

Gurtrude Anie Cram

William Blood

Lucy Carroll

William james Frazier McAllister

Brigham Lawrence Young

Pretty much our 6th generation, the people that were born out of the united states. I only need 4 but all these names seemed interesting :) Good enough Homework?

Love you all! Have a happy week! Happy Birthday Mom! I love you to the moon and Space, and I really love all of you soooooo much! Be good! Choose the Right!

Love always,

Sister McMaster