BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!!!!!​!!!!!!!!!!​!!!!!!!!!!​!!!

so many things to tell you this week!!!!!!!!!!!!! and so many pictures to send!!!!!!!!!!!! hopefully this all goes well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Second of all CAKE.SO MUCH. I AM SO FULL OF CAKE STILL.  I tend to look at them like they are newborn children……..? whoopsie.  It was a most excellent birthday JJJ

elder kemper (bff) made me a cake with a cat on it. #bestfriends also, we had interviews with the president that day!! So so good. Personal details to follow JJJ

investigator friend m and sister j made me an apple pie and a cake and dinner. #what #toonice #imisstwitter 

I WAS SO HAPPY

 

and THEN we had exchanges with madison, and the drive is beautiful because wisconsin is beautiful. behold:

 

AND THEN SATURDAY WAS THE HAPPIEST DAY OF MY LIFE BECAUSE MY BEST FRIEND S GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hooooooolllllllyyyyyyyyyyyyy......... family. SHE WAS SO EXCITED. she texted us that morning (it was raining) and said "good morning lovely ladies. today is a beautiful day. He has cleansed and refreshed the earth this morning as will happen later today with me. super excited". STOP IT. who even are you?????????????? & you KNOW we sang a beautiful medley at her baptism including a song about pondering on the beauty of the earth whenever there is rain and being clean etc etc etc :) :) :) :) :) so saturday morning we went on a walk with her and she showed us some of her pondering places & we had a little lesson and it was BEAUTIFUL. more pictures later if google doesn't shut me out. :) :) 

 

 

-- happy sister proffit, wandering alone in the wilderness Hahaha

 

AND THENNNNNNNNN SHE GOTTTTTTTT BAAAAAAPTIIIIIIIIZEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) literally the cutest and happiest thing of anyone's life, EVER. :) :) :) :) :)

 

and thennnnnnnnnnn we went out to dinner to celebrate :) :) well actually in between, sister r asked the elders if they could give her friend's mom in the hospital a priesthood blessing, and they said yes, and s works at that hospital and asked if she could come along since she's never seen a priesthood blessing, and then we got invited to come along, and then they needed a friend (rules rules rules:)) so they brought brother r........ so we allllllllll caravan'd down oneida street to st. elizabeth's hospital hahaha and it was lovely :) :) :) best friends!! power of God!! feeling the Spirit!! :) :) & then we went to get mexican food for dinner to celebrate. & it was lovely :) :) :) 

okay. so where was i. oh yes, s's baptism :) :) :) :) :) soooooooo cuteeeeeeeee & happyyyyyyyyyyyyyy :) :) :) so her one request was that we stand as close as possible with a towel ready for her to dry her eyes because she doesn't like water in her eyes hahah <3 <3 so we stood on the mens side with a towel, she GOT BAPTIZED, she was so happy, they only had to do it once, she came up out of the water, we threw her the towel, she started BAWLING hardcore (happy tears!!!!) and hugged brother raddant, they closed the little curtain doors on the font and she's just crying & crying & we're whispering "go up the stairs!!! we'll be right there!!!!!!!" :) :) :) so we run around and meet her and she's just dripping wet & beautiful & happy & pure & i just hug her and she is so cute :) :) :) :) :) and she gets changed in record time because she used to be in the military haha. and while she was changing we asked elder kimzey to ask everyone to write her a little note with their testimony and we're putting those into a little photo album book for her to keep with some pictures too :) :) and thennnnnnnnnn there were some talks......... oh we sang "i feel my saviors love when i am baptized" before the baptism, so lovely <3 <3 well i played. sis butler & elder kimzey & elder croft sang :) :) i'll try to send you a usb with some videos soon!! :) :) and thennnnnn she bore her testimony, she talked about how her life was miraculously preserved in iraq during a roadside bombing and she was crying, so cute, she's like "i'm crying!" so surprised hahaha :) :) "and long story short that's how i know that Christ lives, amen." <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 so cute <3 <3 aaaaaaaaaaand then she got confirmed.... SO hilarious & great hahaha so she goes up to be confirmed, the bishopric & brother r stand in the circle, brother r acts as voice, it is great, she comes back to sit by me and is like..... hot. like her body temperature is radiating heat onto my arm. she's fanning herself and is like "i'm so hot! when they put their hands on my head i just felt this heat travel down through my whole body....... is it always like this???????" hahahaha. seriously, she touched my arm and it felt like she had a fever hahaha. "but i feel so peaceful!! i felt so peaceful yesterday but today it's more peaceful if possible!!" sister c behind us whispers "baptism by fire??" which is hilarious because we talked about that two weeks ago in sunday school haha and we were like "it's just symbolic...." well, apparently not for her hahaha. too funny!! & soooo cute :) :) :) & last night we texted her to see how she's doing & she said "the fever is gone but i have the tingling sensation all over. i feel so happy and loved. cheers to new beginnings and prayers that we never loose our hold on the iron rod." <3 <3 <3 stop. oh, we sang #274 "the iron rod" for the closing song because that is her favorite :) :) :) 

 

so that was the baptism!! sooo happy & cute!! :) :) :) that was kiiiiinda the highlight of the week haha, so fun & happy & i felt the Spirit so so strong :) :) :)  i feel like that kind of overshadows everything haha but i guess i can tell you some other things about my week as well :) :) except the computer is about to log me out so just pray that it lets me back in again haha

 

so interviews with president on my birthday were great!! we talked for like 30-40 minutes and at the end he asked if he could give me a birthday blessing and he is just so sweet and i've been wanting to get a blessing for a long time but just haven't asked anyone yet........... so perfect <3 <3 i wrote down a few things that he said afterwards. also, we talked a lot about setting goals........ he asked what i wanted to do with the last 6 months of my mission and i was like HOLD UP. WAIT A MINUTE. what?????? how is today my ELEVEN MONTH MARK????????? :( :( :( :( :( :( :( but anyways i'm really bad about setting goals & thinking about who i want to be in the future so i made up a game for myself that you can play if you want to :) :) it goes like this: write a journal entry dated in the future. so for me, 22 Apr 2014. "well, it's finally here. my last day in the mission field. i feel............ i love......... i've really learned........... i'm so glad............ i know............. i have loved........... i always want to............. i am.................... love, love, love, love, love, love, love, xoxoxoxox, sister cecelia proffit forever" :) :) :) & then fill in the blanks. i'll do it this week & let you know how it goes! i just thought of it last night when i couldn't sleep haha :) :)

 

oh and thanks for the MUSIC i love it!!!!!!!! :) :) :) :) :) sooooo happyyyyyy :) :) elder proffit sent me the BEST cd and i love all the christmas music & home church music :) :) :)

 

this is unrelated to everything but yesterday in church sister r (who i love) was teaching the lesson & brought up how currently there are women who apparently want to be ordained to the priesthood, and i was thinking about that and this is what i wrote in my journal -- "aspiring for/demanding the priesthood is really degrading to womanhood -- you're basically saying that womanhood, with all of it's attendant rights & privileges, is somehow inferior to/not as great as manhood, with all of its attendant rights & privileges. God knows what He is doing. He knows me & He knows you, & He knows what each of us need to progress towards perfection. i do not believe that God gave men the priesthood because they're naturally horrible stinkers who wouldn't serve otherwise, anymore than i believe God gave women motherhood {which you don't have to be a birthmother to possess the qualities of & be a mother... it's inherent, foreordained like the priesthood} because women are naturally horrible & wouldn't serve otherwise. Women are great leaders, & men are great nurturers, & each of us is different. God knows us individually. He knows our needs, & He knows our talents. He has designed men & women to need one another, in beautiful similitude of all mankind's desperate need for a Savior <3 There is no greater advocate of women than Jesus Christ, whose church this is. Trust Him who knows & loves us best. Trust that He loves you & knows what He's doing :)" 

& then this morning i added how Christ knows me & He knows exactly what i need :) :) & i'm grateful for my testimony & for this gospel of truth :) :) :)

 

let's see, what else........... oh yes, interviews & a birthday blessing :) :) i've written in my journal every day since my birthday! go me! :) :) so in the blessing president cutler said a few things that really stood out to me and touched my heart that i just wanted to share with you :) :) one was that he blessed me to be able to serve in such a way that i would be able to teach my children with power about serving with all of our heart might mind & strength :) :) he blessed my family (that's you guys!!!) through me & said that i would feel closer to you than ever before as i came to understand the Atonement more :) :) i realized i haven't had a priesthood blessing in almost a year...... crazy!! he is just so good & sweet :) :) :) he said over & over how much God loves me, he said that Christ had forgiven me.... things like that :) :) :)

 

oh AND president cutler is so cool at the Book of Mormon. interviews was basically, so what have you been studying lately? here let me expound on it like crazy & blow your mind!!!!!!!!!!! so here are some cool things i learned :) :) 

 

alma 49:3-4, 14 --> ether 12:27. just because it was a weak spot before doesn't mean it has to stay that way :) :) :)

alma 48:10 -- moroni knew what was important to the people

alma 48:7 -- (hilarious, i think. mormon <3s captain moroni times infinity.) this is our calling -- to strengthen the faith of the people

alma 48:18; 49:30 -- corianton repented!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :) 

alma 49:10 vs mormon 6:11 -- where are you?? 

moroni 9:6 -- who is the enemy in this verse? what would have happened if mormon had not been diligent? mormon didn't know the long-reaching effects of his diligence & faithfulness... he didn't know that someday there would be 15 million people nicknamed "mormons" and mormon.org and all of that. we don't know the effects our choices have either :) :) :)

also did i tell you about how the brother of jared asks 3 questions & gets 1 answer? ether 2-3 is the bestttttttttttt  anyways. i love the Book of Mormon :) :) :)