Sister Savannah Slater: A Year In the Heartland

Mar 7, 2016

A Year In the Heartland

At Zone Training this week, I came to realize that, as missionaries, we are literal representatives of Jesus Christ. It hit me that our calling is to talk to people and help them as if Christ was doing it himself and it made me realize how serious this work truly is. I do have to admit, it is still hard sometimes to be bold with people and "call them to repentance", but by doing so, it gives me the opportunity to look at what I need to work on and it helps me realize that even though I still have a long way to go, my Heavenly Father is still proud of me. I may be far from perfect, but that is exactly why we have the Atonement; so that we can learn the way to become perfect, not how to be perfect now.

I was also able to crash a wedding this weekend. It was the wedding of Sister Fronk's recent convert from one of her previous areas and her now husband is the one that introduced her to the church. How happy is that? You could tell that they are so in love with each other but you could also see how in love they are with the gospel. They were civilly married this weekend but are planning on being sealed in September. The gospel is so true!

I can now say that I have been a Nebraskan for an entire year. I never thought that I would say this, but Nebraska has become home. Even more than that, it has become sacred ground for me. Who knew that the Land of Corn would steal my heart? I'm convinced that is why it's called the "heartland". I honestly would not want to serve anywhere else and I know that Heavenly Father knew exactly what He was doing sending me here. I have been able to meet so many incredible people and experience so many things that I know will influence the rest of my life. I love my mission so much and I will forever be grateful for it.