House of the Lord; Holiness to the Lord

I SHOOK HANDS WITH JEFFREY R. HOLLAND!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AND, I sat 5 ft away from him for an HOUR AND A HALF!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I have 2 witness that can testify that he was looking at me straight in the eye about 1/3-1/2 of the whole time he was talking!

SUCH an amazing experience!!!! And slightly surreal at the same time because I've been watching him on tv for YEARS and teaching people about him, testifying of him as an apostle and there he was....staring at me.......sooooo weird.....

Now, I STILL haven't met the prophet, so maybe it's different with him, but with meeting Elder Holland it was not anywhere near what I expected.

I think I expected the spirit to overwhelm me with some kind of feeling, like peace, happiness, love, just something different so I knew that because I was in the presence of an Apostle of Christ that there's a difference between him and a regular man.....but I didn't get that.......I had met Elder Bednar when he came to Okinawa and I remember not feeling much of a difference and I assumed that it was because I didn't have as much of an understanding of who he was and how incredible it was to meet him but that it would be different now that I was a missionary.........but it wasn't......

BUT, it was STILL amazing, and I still KNOW that he IS an apostle and that there IS something different about him, it just didn't come as I expected. (as usual)

So earlier that morning (this was Saturday by the way) I had the chance to see Loraine and her family sealed in the temple and it was SO amazing! I was SO giddy and excited and I was ready to just bubble out of my chair with excitement. I got the privilege to sit next to her where usually the mother of the bride sits, something I probably won't get to do until I actually see my own daughter get sealed. And the spirit was just overwhelming me with joy to where my thought immediately turned to the scriptures and the story of Ammon when it says in Alma 27:17-18

"Now the joy of Ammon was so great even that he was full; yea, he was swallowed up in the joy of his God, even to the exhausting of his strength; and he fell again to the earth.

Now was not this exceeding joy? Behold, this is joy which none receiveth save it be the truly penitent and humble seeker of happiness."

Granted. I didn't collapse on the ground, but I felt SO happy! And that's the spirit!

And that SAME excitement and happiness is what I felt around Elder Holland. I was so excited and antsy and yet, he felt like a normal person. When he spoke, it was like I was at a regular Stake Conference or something. It wasn't different. And I think that's because the spirit is the spirit. It's the same. It may testify to people differently, but it's still the same spirit. And it gave me comfort for some reason knowing that an Apostle is still a normal person. Not some extraordinary man with unobtainable qualities or characteristics.

In fact when his wife spoke she was SO profound in the few words she said. I don't remember much, but these two things stuck out to me,

"I'M not perfect either!" and "Elder Holland was a normal boy, JUST like you when I met him! Cute and young with little dimples, which have since been lost in my fantastic cooking........."

Sister Holland isn't perfect! An Apostle's wife isn't perfect! I've somehow never really believed that.......but it's true! And Elder Holland was a normal kid! He made mistakes, he had to be corrected by his leaders! I don't know, that just seemed to give me a lot of comfort knowing that I have potential to be like them. I have potential to be an Apostle's wife as long as I continue to learn and grow and change for the better. Whoever my husband is has the potential to be an Apostle. Because, well, they're just normal, good, prepared people, with a different calling from God.

So yeah, It was a really good day. :) And then we had stake conference on Sunday with the area authority and his wife gave a really nice talk that included very important advice.

She said that a lot of people say they don't want to push their children into the gospel and they don't want to force them, but that they want THEM to decide, that way they can exercise their agency. But the fact is, no one can fully exercise their agency if they are not given a full knowledge of what is the proper choice and what is right. Meaning,
after years of YW/YM and primary and Sunday School and going to the temple to do baptisms, THEN they are equipped to say, "yeah, mom and dad, I don't want to do it anymore" But until then, they haven't been taught properly or prepared to make that decision. They're just kids! And I think the same goes with any family member who isn't a member of the church. Push! Encourage! Teach! Because if you don't they won't be equipped to exercise their agency to the fullest! :)

I love you guys! I hope everything is going great! Work hard! Pray always!

Sister Bradley

P.S. Guess who I met at the Visitors' Center Mama Fletcher!? Do you recognize her? Her name's Marian Fahl, she's in your ward, she totally remembers you and that Marieh and Jordan are on missions! Her husband is investigating the church, I told them you'd invite them over for dinner ;)

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