December 10, 2018

Last district council feat. Zone leaders (left to right Elders Magalei, Tilley, Sheffield, Clark, Wilkins, Berry, Me, Cloward, Wiseman)

Fam, 

My last week and last letter. This time next Monday I will be on the transfer bus headed to Lansing. Tuesday will be interviews and a temple trip, Wednesday will be a flight at some unknown time home (probably in the morning). I will have served as a full time missionary for 714 days. 335 of those days in the Spanish 1 Area, 338 in the Spanish 2 area, and don't forget some time in the CCE. It's been pretty great. 714 days is only 97.8% of a two year mission but we can round up a little. 

Thursday was the highlight of the week. It was my Trade-off with Elder Magalei. It ended with a meeting we set up with the President of the Relief Society and the Elders Quorum. We proposed some ideas for a branch mission plan that will continue to help the branch grow in the following year. Things look very positive for the coming year. 

The same day we had a meal with a member. We brought their ministering family with us and on the way to the home they told us that Grand Rapids did not have a salt budget for icy roads this year. I'm not sure it's true but I would believe it. We normally exit out of our apartment through a near by suburb and you could easily mistake the roads for an ice rink. Road conditions are pretty poor and while there is a plethora of private plows, for business and homes, roads are left almost entirely untouched. 

I spoke in church this last Sunday. Keila Mendez spoke before me and did really well. The sacrament portion of the meeting went pretty quickly and then Keila spoke. Though I did listen my attention was more on how my talk was going to go. As I was deep in thought to my surprise I heard words of testimony. That grabbed my attention quickly realizing that the sacrament portion of the meeting was unusually quick, that she hadn't been talking for that long, and that when someone starts sharing their testimony it normally means the end of their talk. I checked the clock and she had spoken for a little under 10 minutes and was leaving the last 40 minutes for me and the final hymn. It might not seem like that big of a deal but I wouldn't classify myself as a very talented public speaker and my written talk was about 17 minutes long. I think it went well. No one ever complains about ending early haha. 


-eric 

December 6, 2018

Comp twin ties (one of Eric's birthday requests)

Light the world!

750 calories of the best chocolate milk ever + beach

Beach

Beach

Francisca's birthday

Fam, 


Unfortunately my phone has been struggling recently and didn't save my letter. I'll rewrite some. 

We drove out to Holland this morning and spent a few hours on the beach. Despite the low temperatures and the high winds, it was pleasant. We sat on our beach chairs that some older missionaries must have bought and I wrote my letter that has since been deleted. Clouds blanketed the horizon and we watched storm clouds head our way. Across the horizon we could see three different zones of the incoming front with rain falling a few miles off shore. 

We had another lesson with Tomas(ito) . He is the Puerto Rican whose vernacular is so different we struggle to understand him. We taught a pretty great lesson on the Plan of Salvation with him this week. Recently he had his entire arm amputated. We don't know why but we know it nearly killed him. People who have physical ailments are fun to teach the Plan of Salvation to because the atonement of Jesus provides us with a few important gifts. One I'll mention is an unconditional salvation from Physical Death which is the promised Resurrection to a perfected and immortal physical body. Alma 11 is such an awesome chapter and contains the clearest presentation of the doctrine of Resurrection in scripture. We read verses 42-45. They are pretty powerful verses.

We are also teaching a part member family. Cassie has recently been able to get her non-member husband to start coming to church and he has been progressing really well. The only problem is Sunday is his only day off work so it's hard to meet with him but Cassie really has been a huge help for us. 

-eric

November 26, 2018

Fam, 

Nothing but good these past few days. We had planned to drive out to Holland today but with near white out conditions and the typical unplowed roads we opted out of it. Hopefully the snow will abate this Monday or next. There aren't too many of them left.... (Mondays in the mission, that is).

We've had two lessons with a new family we were able to pick up. I think I wrote about them last week. Apparently they are recent converts of another church but we've continued to have good lessons with them. During the first lesson this week we watched the restoration video and that was surprisingly spiritually powerful. What stood out to me was how powerful an influence media can have on the individual. The video, though simple, taught in the only way we really can learn, which is through the influence of the spirit and did so powerfully. The other lesson was on trade-offs. Elder Wiseman and Elder Magalei were there and were able to have a good lesson which resulted in the family understanding authority and realizing its necessity in baptism.

Tuesday we had the first Trade-off of the week. I went with Elder Sheffield and was impressed. He knows why he is out here and is ready to work so I anticipate good things from him. 

On Wednesday I went on trade-offs with Elder Tilley. We taught a lesson to Elvis and his family. They are a super awesome family but for some reason don't want to do what is necessary to progress. We taught an object lesson where you interconnect three knives over three cups to be able to suspend a small object in the air. The knives all work together to stay in place but if one is taken out they can't support themselves. In the same way the knives work together, daily prayer, daily scripture study, and church attendance help us grow and maintain a testimony. If one ingredient is missing it's a clear indicator of a problem. If there are problems with one is missing, what happens when all are missing?

Thursday was great. We ate Thanksgiving at President Reed's home. We shared a lesson and were able to start teaching Cassie's husband Edgar (a part member family). 

Friday we spent with the zone leaders and ended the trade-off at our weekly Friday event. This week we played a mixture of sports, had some snacks, and others danced. The Spanish branch really is the best area in the mission in every measurable way. 

November 19, 2018

Fam, 

In the very beginning of my mission I taught a lesson with Elder Guerrero with a drunk guy who turned out to be speaking the equivalent of spanglish only with Mam (A Mayan dialect pronounced mum) and Spanish. I remember not understanding anything and thinking I had a long way to go before I would be self-sufficient until I was told that he hardly was speaking Spanish. Something similar happened this week. One of the people we are teaching referred us someone from Puerto Rico. We had a decent visit but I was glad the people we already were teaching came because the referral spoke in so much slang that it was difficult to follow what he was saying. I felt like a brand new missionary all over again but this time Elder Wiseman was in my place and noted how he could hardly understand our new friend. It was good our investigators came. First because it's hard to teach when you don't understand what the other person is even saying and second it allowed them to teach what they knew and we could see their level of understanding. It was also fun to watch them share their feelings about the Restoration. 

Fridays we have our weekly volleyball night. It is SO FUN. I won't say it's competitive but it is super lively. After a few weeks the members have gotten significantly more capable. We have yet to go a week without someone getting nailed in the face but sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven. The activity has brought certain people who never come to church out of the woodwork and into an activity that really is a blast. One of those people even came to church. 

Sunday we had the primary program which was a surprisingly great success. The big theme was, "I am a child of God." Later that afternoon we had a lesson with an active member and taught the Plan of Salvation. Reflecting on those two events I thought of the power of two short statements. The first is, "I am a child of God." The second comes from Moses 1:39 when the Eternal Father says to Moses, "For behold, this is my work and my glory - to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." Greater understanding of these eternal truths brings direction to life that is not found anywhere else. (see also Romans 8:16-17 and Philippians 2:6) 

We taught seminary on Wednesday. We arrived on time! Surprisingly it's super easy to arrive (even early) if you go to sleep on time. For some reason that never clicked in High-school. 

November 12, 2018

Fam, 

Saturday we had a great baptismal service for two people Elder Magalei and Elder Tilley have been working with. The service was nice and simple. The highlight easily was at the end when Brother Montigny, the second counselor in the branch presidency, stood up and in front of everyone and addressed the non-member husband. I'll quote as best as I can from memory. He said at the end of his testimony, "We're really grateful for the wonderful service of the baptism of your two children. We now challenge you to do the same (insert a long pause). Take these missionaries seriously and be baptized. The invitation doesn't stop there. Be baptized and prepare, as the plan of salvation teaches us we must, to enter into the holy temple in one year to receive your endowments and then be sealed to your wife for time and eternity." It was pretty bold. He didn't seem offended but it definitely surprised me that the Presidency called him out like that in front of everyone. Bold is good sometimes. On another note we woke up to four inches of snow!

We have a cool family we are working with. We met with them this last Thursday and taught a fairly good lesson on the Plan of Salvation. It went well and we had our Branch Mission Leader with us and his wife. It's really nice to have capable native speakers with us. I still am a very imperfect teacher but team work helps a lot. The restoration of truth that began with Joseph Smith really has allowed us much greater understanding of the truth. Greater peace and direction is found as we find the answers of where did we come from, why are we here and where are we going. Those truths are able to be felt by anyone which is why it's so fun to teach. As an example, yesterday we taught a lesson with a 7th day Adventist who wasn't understanding authority. We invited him to be baptized but said he already had after we had explained authority extensively. We explained why the Book of Mormon is important and he said he already knew it was true because it's the word of God, something he did not actually know for himself. We responded explaining the importance of the spirit and that if he knew the Book of Mormon was true he would first know that its message is true: that being the divinity of Jesus Christ. He would also know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet called by God, that we had authority to baptize him, and that he would then desire to be baptized. I think it caught him off guard slightly because he asked if we meant be baptized at that moment but the end result was that the doctrines we had shared finally clicked into place. The Spirit was able to at least say something that caught his attention and made him more serious about what we were proposing. There is no need to fear in this gospel because it is resoundingly true. I used to be worried when people would say, "oh well I've been baptized before," but all I know is that true doctrine carries power. 

-eric

November 6, 2018 Last "Transfer"

(For those of you who have been reading this blog, you'll catch the irony of this being his "last transfer".  Eric has had the unique mission experience of serving in the same branch during his entire mission. He completes his mission in December)


Fam, 

It's weird to know that this is my last transfer. The last transfer went by incredibly fast. We were busy and Elder Wiseman is pretty awesome so it was all a blast.

Saturday we translated for a women's conference. They fed us and sent us home with cookies. So worth it. 

Friday we received our transfer calls, but it's never a surprise. There was some chance I would get moved out of the Branch for my last transfer but after counseling with the President over the phone about the needs of the district a few times, I luckily got to stay. Down below is a picture of the new Elder, named Elder Sheffield. Elder Wilkins and Elder Berry are going to trio train the new missionary. 










Thursday we met with someone who professed to understand the scriptures but unfortunately did not. It was the classic Revelations 22:18-19 misinterpretation. He wasn't listening and kept insisting we were wrong. I'm really grateful for the words of modern prophets and I asked if we could watch a short video. I opened up "My Words Never Cease" by Jeffery R. Holland. In the talk, Elder Holland outlines an important truth: our scriptural supported claim of an open canon. The topic is extensive and not terribly important, but in my own New Testament reading (which coincidentally just finished reading the Revelation of John) I found something interesting. 


Revelation 1:3
3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand

Revelation 22:18-19
18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:

19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

Looking beyond the chronological order of the Bible, this demonstrates to me the continuity and self-contained nature of the Book of Revelation. Clearly this statement cannot be extended to validate a complete cessation of God's revealed word.

October 29, 2018

Section 111 in the Doctrine and Covenants is a pretty obscure section but this week we had an interesting experience that highlighted a principle found recorded there. 

Verse 8 of the revelation states, 

"8 And the place where it is my will that you should tarry, for the main, shall be signaled unto you by the peace and power of my Spirit, that shall flow unto you"

In the dark of Monday night at around 8:30 we were driving to an appointment and took a turn onto a side street on our way. As we drove down I felt a resounding impression from the Holy Ghost that prompted me to stop the car. We didn't have very much time at that moment but we felt prompted to knock the only house with a light on. We talked for a few minutes with the guy there an left a copy of the Book of Mormon. We planned to come back and knock the street, a finding technique I haven't really used since before Christmas last year, the next day. We were busy but had a few minutes at 7pm the next day to do some knocking. We taught the first door we knocked on for a few minutes and set a return appointment. Our second door we meet Delfino and had an awesome lesson. We knocked his door and he invited us in. As we taught him about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ you could just see the gears turning in his mind. We invited him to be baptized and he said he would have to talk to his wife, who wasn't present at the time. We asked him if he knew anyone who might be interested in learning more and he said his whole family lives next door and that he would invite them over next week! 

Referrals are fun. I've recently learned you just have to be terribly persistent. We meet with William and Carolina and the last four or five visits we've asked for referrals and have always got the, "we don't know anyone." Our last visit they said that they had asked a few people but they all said no. Persistence brings actions, eventually action brings results. 

October 22, 2018

This week we got wrecked, near absolute rejection. We had two trade-offs planned which went well but the result was Elder Wiseman's week was a lot better than mine. Elder Wiseman picked up 4 new people to teach (which is really good) and had a few teaching opportunities but I only taught one lesson this entire week. It also didn't help that zone conference was this week but still. So many lessons fell through, a few people dropped us, and nearly everyone we spoke with was super not interested. 

The week wasn't all that bad though. Some really important things happened. Bertha, the old lady who was baptized my first few weeks (March 2017) was endowed on Friday in the temple. This is huge for more than just one reason. The first reason is that the temple endowment is a saving ordinance. Second, it represents the progress that has been made in the branch the last two or three years. There has been substantially progress in the few months I've spent here. I'm not even sure who the last convert to be endowed was. The Olguin family may have been the most recent, having taken place around 9 years ago. A lot of work has gone into this progress, thankfully we've had nothing but great missionaries the last three years. 

Darylle our friend we taught last week had a very successful pass off to the English Sisters in Grand Rapids. It's a little painful passing off someone as funny and prepared as Darylle seems. Hopefully December 15 will be his baptism! I'll definitely be attending if it happens. 

October 15, 2018

fam,

Welcome to Michigan where the typical weather this time of year ranges from 90 degrees on Wednesday to 40 degrees on Thursday. 

Thursday we had a hilarious lesson with someone named Darryle. I found him a few weeks ago when I was on trade-offs with Elder Wilkins. I didn't even see him in his car but he rolled down the window as we walked by and yelled out to us. He made me jump pretty badly but thankfully we were able to set up an appointment. After some scheduling issues we were finally able to meet with him. We taught a decent lesson on the restoration and he received it hilariously well. We taught about the apostasy of truth that followed the death of Jesus Christ and his apostles and then shared how after the first vision of Jesus Christ angelic messengers restored the priesthood authority by the laying on of hands by those in authority to Joseph Smith. After briefly outlining the priesthood he asked energetically about all the other churches that baptize. We told him that none had the necessary authority. You could say that blew his mind.   

Saturday we had the great opportunity to participate in the baptism of Mercedes. Road work has clogged the entrance to the chapel for the last few months and apparently the workers had temporarily shut off the gas line but it hadn't been put back on. Elder Magalei performed the baptism and said the baptismal font was so terribly cold. During the actual baptism, the doors to the font were shut waiting for them to get in the water. I could hear a slight whimpering and figured it was either a good moment where the spirit was very strong or else  she had some last minute doubts. After the baptism I approached Elder Magalei and asked what had happened. He responded explaining that she was not crying or having last minute doubts but trying very hard not to scream as she very slowly entered the water. Aside from no heat, the service was nice and we had a good turn out. 

Are there prints available of the painting, "The Savior with a lamb" or "the Good Shepherd with His sheep" in the talk "Becoming a shepherd" by Bonnie H Cordon and "Our campfire of Faith" by Elder Gerrit W. Gong? They're fantastic.  

-eric 

October 8, 2018

Fam, 

One thing I've begun to notice recently is that the people we are working with seem more prepared and willing to even just hear us than ever before. Discussing this with Elder Wiseman I think it has to do in part with my own level of conversion  to the Gospel of Jesus Christ between now and when I started the mission. I think as I've striven to dedicate each day to the service of others and spiritually preparing for each day I've been able to grow the trust the Savior has in me allowing me to be guided to people who we could influence for good. 

Carlos, our friend in Lansing, met with us on Tuesday. We hadn't really involved the sisters in the area very much, due to the obvious language barrier, but we've had consistent contact with the members who speak Spanish there. Much to our surprise as we started our video call the sisters were present with the members we had invited to join. What I first thought was weird actually turned out into a really positive moment. We involved the sisters and translated their responses and that really invited the spirit into the lesson. Language is a small barrier which the spirit can cross. In 2 Nephi 31:4 I like when it says that, "For the Lord God giveth light unto the understanding; for he speaketh unto men according to their language, unto their understanding." The spirit brings an understandable force or enlightenment that can be felt regardless of someone's language because the spirit always speaks according to our understanding. Though the sisters testimonies were shared in English it was their testimonies that invited the spirit and not directly from my translation. 

Wednesday we had Trade-offs with the Zone-Leaders. It was enjoyable. I went with Elder Cloward. He was a blast to be with, just a ball of energy. 

Thursday was filled with two miracles. We have not been meeting with David as much due to lack of progression but we decided to stop by him after a short absence of visits. Before the visit I had explained to Elder Wiseman a portion the situation, one of the issues being his aversion to prayer. During the visit we invited him to attend General conference and shared a talk we had felt he might like. It was a good visit and we even ended the visit with him offering the final prayer. As we walked out I smiled knowing that that was a big step for David and that Elder Wiseman wouldn't appreciate it, only due to not having known the entire situation. It was slightly funny to watch the visit unfold differently than expected after outlining what I thought would most likely happen. 

The story continues. 

Later on that same evening I felt we needed to stop by a specific family that has faced some challenges with the church and because of that has shown some animosity towards us. In the dark we sat in the car and I gave him a warning that we've never really had a positive contact with this specific family and that he should be aware. We knocked the door and were very warmly welcomed in to their home. It was late already so we didn't get to stay as long as we might have liked but we had a very good conversation with them, shared a brief message and planned a return appointment. We walked out and I explained the extent of that miracle to Elder Wiseman. I'm grateful that the spirit was able inspired us at the opportune moment to be able to meet on good terms with the people.

Friday nights we've started an activity night for the branch. It's been an great success. It's not a super formal activity, but we share a spiritual thought and then have some form of activity. This week we opted to play volleyball again. We were happily surprised to have two completely inactive members join us, and a few less active members come out, some even brought friends. The late President Hinckley said once that, "activity is the genius of this church." Growing in fellowship and unity comes by these activities, they also allow people to serve in capacities within the church which then lead to deeper and stronger conversion to the Gospel. Activity helps congregations have their, "hearts knit together in unity" (Mosiah 18:21).

General Conference was great. Not sure how I feel about two hour church but the new "Come Follow Me"  curriculum looks fantastic. I skimmed through the entire booklet on Gospel Library and am impressed. I'm excited to go through it starting in January. 

Here's an introduction video if you'd like to know more:
Video

October 1, 2018

(no letter last week)

Fam, 

After 9 months, it's really weird not being Elder Magalei's companion. Outside of that change this week was awesome. 

Tuesday was our last P-day together. We drove to one of the bridges on the Grand River to take some pictures that turned out pretty good. We drove over the bridge on Anne Street (Near the corner of Ann St NW and Monroe Ave NW) and stopped at the red. It's a fairly busy intersection and I noticed a small kitten stroll across the crosswalk as I was stopped at the red. It came by our car and got spooked by on-coming traffic and chose to hide under the relative safety of our car. Jumping out to grab the kitten to insure it didn't die, I glimpsed its tail as it climbed under the hood of the car into a small nook. Definitely out of reach and only slightly in view Elder Magalei I moved the wheels while I stood outside to make sure the movement wouldn't harm the cat. Once we were sure we could move slowly without causing harm we pulled into a nearby gas station. Once safely out of traffic we popped the hood and a kind stranger helped pull the kitten out from behind the engine. Definitely a first for me. 

That darn kitten

Thursday Elder Magalei and I drove in the morning to Lansing to pick up our promised trainees. Elder Wiseman and Elder Tilley are the two new members of the Grandville Spanish Mission. The training meeting was so fun. When I trained Elder Magalei there were 25 other trainers, the group was massive. This time there were only 3 other trainers. We met our new companions, had lunch, and immediately President sent us out onto MSU campus to proselyte. They gave us 45 minutes to make a few contacts and it was insane. We struggled a little bit only because we got dropped off 15 minutes away from the mission office and everyone we talked with was walking in the opposite direction. As the time we needed to be back in the mission office grew closer we found ourselves further and further away. We were easily the last ones back, but we made a bunch of good contacts. Thankfully I grabbed more copies of the Book of Mormon on the way out because the Assistants only gave us two but we passed out four. 

Grand  Rapids

Elder Magalei and yo

On our way home our 6pm appointment canceled and we got approval to stop by our friend Carlos who lives in Lansing. We met his whole family and shared a short message on family history. In-person teaching is so much better than video conferences.

Training is pretty fun. Elder Wiseman has a lot of enthusiasm and is talented. The last few days have been exceedingly filled to capacity. Last transfer likely was our most productive transfer yet, at least numerically and our daily schedule is feeling the heat because of it. As part of the consequences of that, we haven't had complete study times yet but we've been running around like crazy. Truly there just isn't enough time to do what we want. For the most part it's a decent impression to lead off with, though it leaves him exhausted. It takes a few weeks to adjust to the missionary schedule. 

Saturday was spent running around as well. We had a successful branch picnic which was our only "down time." We had by far the best carne-asada I have ever had. I ate so much carne-asada. It was so good. I do not think there are words that can describe how good it was. 

Picnic and games

Sunday we had a very very good lesson with Edin in the afternoon. We brought our new branch mission leader and his wife over. We made a few ministering visits with them and ended with Edin. We read a few scriptures on the atonement of Jesus Christ and shared our testimonies of Jesus. The Spirit was strong and it was a great moment for everyone involved. In the traditional manner, we couldn't leave the Duran home without food. They gave us two plates of delicious pupusas. 

Elder Wiseman and Elder Johnson

This week flew by so fast. 

-eric

September 17, 2018

Fam, 

The mission was visited by Elder Kapischke of the Seventy this week. I truly love when the senior brethren of the church visit. They bring a powerful spirit and energy. He instructed us for about an hour and a half before lunch which was fantastic then four straight hours after lunch - it was fantastic, long, but fantastic. 

He told a bunch of funny stories about his time as a mission president in Berlin. He also spent a significant portion of time expounding the scriptures with us. President Brennan does extremely well and is always the highlight in zone conferences, but the assistant and zone leader trainings in zone conference for the last 6 months to a year really have decreased in quality, with the exception of our current zone leaders. 

We left conference with a new energy to go out and help the people we teach. There was one moment that really stuck out. Very expertly taking from the instruction in D&C 121:43 Elder Kapischke rebuked one of the Elders who mentioned something he was doing that wasn't strictly bad but wasn't in accordance to one of the rules in the missionary handbook. It was not grandiose but was very simple and direct. Elder Kapischke seemed very happy. He was an incredible and effective teacher, really pretty awe inspiring. It's a pretty close tie between when President Nelson came to visit the mission. The only thing I didn't appreciate were the questions he would extend which were not really PMG questions, namely non-specific questions looking for specific answers. All in all, a great visit. 

Good news for the week is that Patricia is getting baptized this Sunday. We briefly stopped teaching her but Elder Guerrero and Elder Berry have picked the teaching back up and have been doing great. We anticipate a great service this next Sunday. Our friend Carlos in Lansing is also doing well. He works Sundays which would be the only delay on his baptism but beyond that he is doing great. We ran through the baptismal questions with him during our last lesson and he is pretty ready. It's really nice when people just read the Book of Mormon and pray sincerely about if it's true or not. 

Two other notable events that passed this week were our lessons with a woman named Nuvia and a man named Jorge. 

Nuvia we met about a week or two ago. Despite seemingly everything fighting against our progress, she is doing pretty good. We teach her and her 8 year old son, normally outside on their porch. Our past lesson we drove up and she is outside like normal. As we walked up it was apparent that something had just gone down. Their house was beaten up and their windows were smashed in. We spoke with her and figured out what had happened and basically were with her waiting for the police to arrive. About 20 minutes into our visit this guy parked his car on their lawn and with his meanest face on strolled up to us looking very angry. I remember thinking, "Wow, we are about to get beaten up." Luckily the guy pretty much walked up to us and seeing who we were turned and left. I think it wasn't an accident that our appointment was at the moment it was. Whatever would have happened wasn't going to happen with us there. It reminded me of a moment we had with an investigator named Carmen about 14 or so months ago. Miracle. 

Jorge's lesson was also great. We taught a few principles out of the Restoration and focused on the necessity of prayer a little more directly. The last few lessons with him have been pretty intense, but I think he has made some progress.

The Book of Mormon more than the Bible really helps us discern things that are good and true. While the Bible explains "ask and ye shall receive" (James 1:5) and later explains the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-25) but the Book of Mormon takes the cake. To name a few, these scriptures outline one or more ways that we can know for our selves if something is true. 

1 Nephi 15:11
2 Nephi 31:3
2 Nephi 32:3-5
2 Nephi 33:1,10
Jacob 4:13
Mosiah 5:2
Alma 5:45-46
Alma 32:27-29
Moroni 7:13, 19
Moroni 10:3-5

The Book of Mormon really speaks for itself, challenging any and all readers to find out for themselves. I really know it to be true. There really isn't anything we can do to convince someone aside from allowing the spirit to confirm what we teach. Endlessly we are bashed and that is terribly annoying and it's exceedingly unfortunately because those people have hardened their hearts and refuse to think or test things out beyond the words of their pastor. The Restoration of the Gospel truly is a miracle. 

God has not changed, revelation does not have some prescribed ending after the revelation of John. If that were to be true then everything after Deuteronomy 4:2 is void and if their Bibles are anything like mine there can't be prophets after the old testament because it says "the end of the prophets." Lastly, if there weren't going to be prophets in the lasts days why did Jesus take time give instruction on how to figure out if someone is a false prophet instead of saying, sorry guys I'm the last one! 

Being a missionary is pretty great. The Gospel is true. 

-eric

September 10, 2018

Eric Henry Johnson
12:24 PM (2 hours ago)

Tuesday Elder Rencher and I went on trade-offs. I've literally served my entire mission with Elder Rencher in the same district. It's a little weird watching him die (in missionary lingo, that means finishing the mission) and go home. 

Wednesday was a pretty good day. Last Friday I got the scriptures dad and mom sent me. Elder Magalei and I added our testimonies to both the Book of Mormon (triple combination) and to the Bible. We printed off a few pictures of his baptism and glued them right in. When we met with him we talked about some longer term discipleship goals. He wrote them into his triple combination. He really, really appreciated the gift.  

Our mission is striving to "flood the world" with the Book of Mormon. We use the Book of Mormon simply because it's the keystone that establishes the truthfulness of the Restoration of the Gospel. In the words of Bruce R McConkie, "Either the Book of Mormon is true, or it is false; either it came from God, or it was spawned in the infernal realms." Trying to use the Book of Mormon more in our finding efforts we've had some fun experiences. 

The first was with this one lady on Saturday. We spoke with her and briefly explained the Book of Mormon and read with her Moroni 10:4-5 and 3 Nephi 11:3-7. Moroni explains that one has to pray to gain a testimony by the power of the spirit, and 3 Nephi 11 contains the moment when Jesus appears in the Americas. Truly powerful scriptures. As we read with the lady we all could feel the spirit testify that the record was true. She asked for a copy which we happily supplied her with along with a return appointment. 

The other cool moment happened yesterday. We pulled up to the home of someone we are teaching. Outside was a hispanic family of 10 or so people so we walked right up to them and started talking with them. We introduced the Book of Mormon to them. Unfortunately people began to slowly filter away until we were left with just one person. We spoke with him and testified of how the Book of Mormon was written for our days and contains the fulness of the gospel. You could tell something clicked and he was extremely interested, he wanted to make changes in his life and we promised that through the gospel of Jesus Christ and the authority of the priesthood that has been restored he could receive the ordinances of the gospel that help in that process. 

The Book of Mormon truly speaks for itself. Occasionally we get people who try to be faith shakers but without exception they haven't really done that with the Book of Mormon. No argument stands up against truth. The spirit I feel reading the stories of Jesus in the Bible is the same which permeates the pages of the Book of Mormon. Though there are a bunch of cool things which have been learned after the printing of the Book of Mormon that support the veracity of the truth of the record, my testimony is founded in the power of the Holy Ghost. Truly, it is by the power of the Holy Ghost by which we may know the truth of all things. 

On the same train of thought we had a lesson with Jorge this week. He is very intelectual, which isn't bad (2 Nephi 9:29), but has given up in part on the Book of Mormon. He has allowed, or pins an unexpressed concern, on one small insignificant detail which has eclipsed the magnificence and miraculousness of the Book of Mormon. We planned out a lesson which if it carried a title, would be, "seek learning by study and by faith," using the principle found on D&C 88:118. We used a bunch of scriptures and it was pretty direct. We outlined how truth is the knowledge of how things are, were, and will be (D&C 93:24) and that while study is necessary it is incomplete without the spirit of truth to accompany any finding. Jorge seeks out to prove or disprove the Book of Mormon by the current understanding of the American continent between 600 BC - 400 Ad (the time period of the Book of Mormon with the exception of the book of Ether), but shies away from trying to accompany that study by seeking the spirit of truth. Moroni 10:5 is pretty clear, we can know the truth of all things by the power of the Holy Ghost. "All things" is a lot of things, and it's not going to be until he accepts that principle that he will find the answer that satisfies him. 

We watched the face-to-face yesterday and it was really impressive up to one point. They seemed to have practiced their responses significantly. The point I referred to was when poor Elder Quintin L Cook misspoke when he said that "the Savior was martyred in Carthage jail." Surely someone has already taken advantage of taking this out of context. It's comforting to know that God will still work with imperfect people. 

-eric

September 3, 2018

Fam,

Turns out this never got sent! 

Today marks twenty months of missionary service. 2.7 months were spent with Elder Guerrero, 1.5 with Elder Waters, 9.3 of those months have been spent with Elder Magalei, and 8.2 of those months have been spent with Elder Rencher. It's crazy to think how young the district was when I first got here. Elder Waters, the district leader had 6 months. Elder Guerrero had about 4 months and Elder Rencher had just finished training with about 3 months. Elder Rencher and Elder Guerrero will also be finishing their missions together at the end of this transfer. Time really does fly. 

Monday evening we had a great lesson with Wilfred and William. They really are two amazing guys. They are humble and a joy to teach. We brought our new Branch missionary leader and his wife with us and we had planned to teach the Plan of Savation. We knocked the door and could see Wilfred was reading and after we walked in we had asked what he was reading. He described the first few verses of Alma 32 and the spirit made a clear impression that we should continue reading with him. We did so and had a stellar lesson with them. Alma 32 is just full of goodness. We read that and the spirit was very strong. Outside of the quality of how the lesson turned out, something that struck me was the fluency and proficiency of the members who came out with us. Obviously they know Spanish and grew up speaking it, but for whatever reason that night the separation of my own Spanish abilities and that of theirs really stuck out in my mind. It was pretty awe inspiring, language learning really is the process of a life time to be able to dominate a language like a native speaker. 

We've slowly been working through the new member lessons with Edin. He is doing great. We taught a lesson on tithing this last Wednesday. The presence of the spirit is dependent on all parties involved. If there is unity the spirit much more capable of being able to testify of truth. Edin's teaching has exemplified this truth. Every lesson we have with him is a spiritual highlight of the day. He is so receptive to truth that it really is a joy to teach him. 

We had another good lesson with him where we reviewed the gospel of Jesus Christ. We hadn't really covered why we don't baptized infants so we decided to use Moroni 8 to cover the topic. Moroni 8 really is a pretty great chapter on baptism, specifically verse 25-26. He explained that he had always thought what the chapter teaches was right but found no support on that idea in his previous church. It reminded me of when we taught the 10 commandments and how he was blown away by the first commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." He explained that he had always prayed to other people and never realized that that was blatantly against the very first of the 10 commandments. 

Friday we were stopping by a person we had lost contact with. Their neighbor was home so we talked with her for a few minutes on her porch. We were able to share with her a shortened restoration lesson. As we taught about the first vision I was watching her reaction. Joseph Smith had a question about which of all the sects of his time was right and which he should join. He brought his question to a grove of trees and asked God in sincere prayer that he would reveal to him what he should do. He was answered by a personal visitation from God the father and Jesus Christ. They instructed him in what to do. Nuvia was surprised. She said, in reference to the painting depicting the first vision, "but there are two people in the photo?" We smiled and explained that the first revealed truth in the process of the Restoration of the Gospel Jesus Christ is that the non-biblical doctrine of the trinity was false. God is a personal God who knows his children and cares for them, he has a body of Flesh and bone, only glorified. Jesus Christ is his son, the Savior of the world. Previously she was left confused by the doctrine of the trinity and didn't really know how to pray because of that. Thankfully, first and foremost, the restoration just makes sense (Deut 32:17). 

We also have pictures of the two elders coming in next transfer! We also heard that the transfer after that there will be another Spanish Elder. Another! There is the danger of me leaving the branch before I finish my mission............ I really don't want to. I'd rather train two greenies at once. 

- Eric 

27 August 2018

Fam,


I think I now more than ever understand the words of Nephi found in the 32nd chapter of the second book of Nephi which says, 

"8 And now, my beloved brethren, I perceive that ye ponder still in your hearts; and it grieveth me that I must speak concerning this thing. For if ye would hearken unto the Spirit which teacheth a man to pray, ye would know that ye must pray; for the evil spirit teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not pray. "

We've had four lessons with David and they go pretty well. The only problem is after the first lesson he felt really uncomfortable praying and wouldn't. Missionaries are here to invite people to come closer to Jesus Christ. Prayer is pivotal to that process. Prayer moves our lessons from convincing someone logically of the truth to helping them discern by the spirit the truthfulness of our message. People progress once they pray with real intent, with faith in Christ, and a willing heart because it's once they start doing that that the spirit is able to direct their path for good. If they refuse to ask in prayer if what we share is true or do so without faith, real intent, or a willing heart they won't receive direction from the spirit. The problem was that David wouldn't pray. During our first lesson with him, we tried to figure out why. After a fair amount of pushing we couldn't get anything out of him to explain why. Even after teaching him how to pray, he wouldn't. Giving him a second chance we taught the Plan of Salvation with a significant emphasis on how prayer is a key step in our progression. Still nothing. Feeling there was something deeper going on than just not wanting to learn, we spoke with Teodoro who was there with us and he said, "you need to break him, you just need to be as persistant as the Elders were with me." 

Determined we planned a lesson on prayer covering the who, what, why, and how of prayer ending with an invitation to pray, having 2 Nephi 32:8 ready if he repeated "maybe next time." He really liked the lesson. We liked the lesson too, but as we extended the invite he looked down and wouldn't. As we spoke with him we felt deeply that there was some significant unknown barrier making this abnormally difficult for him. Saddened by his unwillingness to progress we discussed our purpose with him and how even though we like him alot we couldn't come back if he wasn't progressing towards baptism. We discussed with him our purpose and bore testimony about the truthfulness of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Truly we felt as Nephi likely felt by the words he used to describe his situation, "it grieveth [us]" 

I really like the statement made by Jesus in Matthew 18:12. The shepherd, looking for the one lost sheep of his herd of 99 sheep, needed to leave and go searching in the mountains for the one. True ministering is going for that one who had left. To help that sheep you need to find them. That might mean physically finding them but I think often times for issues more ingrained, it's more like trying to come to an understanding of who they are and why they feel the way they feel. 

Something clicked on Monday for us because when we came back, something about David just looked better. There seemed to be more light in him. We met on his porch as usual and finished the Plan of Salvation and asked if we could end in prayer. He folded his arms and looked down readying himself for the prayer. After about 10 seconds I saw him open his eyes, still looking down, and solemnly realize we were arriving at a fork in the road. We really didn't say anything. He slowly looked up at us and then back down, and after a few long seconds offered a humble quiet prayer. Honestly I just about jumped off my chair. He had taken a step that turned out to be much more significant and difficult for himself than I think we might ever realize. We were pretty happy and he was too. I'm not even sure I touched the ground as we walked back to the car. 

Latter we got a pretty good referral for the first time from other missionaries. Some sisters in Lansing reached out to us to teach a man they had met. Within a week of getting a Libro de Mormón he had read up to about Moroni 8. We had a good lesson and challenged him to baptism. He accepted! Now we have to just figure out if his English abilities are strong enough for him to function well in a Lansing English congregation or if he is willing to make the hour drive to Grand Rapids. The Book of Mormon really resonates with the spirit and is normally the most important tool in conversion to the fulness of the gospel. 

We've spoken of Alex the missionary pastor. Unfortunately we parted ways this week. The french-portuguese-spanish-english didn't help. Unfortunately I'm pretty sure his comprehension is around 0%. Also side note he turned out to be an apostle and part prophet. He showed us some weird magazines of stuff he did back in Africa. We attempted to show the Restoration movie in Portuguese but he still wasn't understanding. He was confused why we were teaching him. He used Matthew 10:6 to make his point. Matthew 10 starts with the ordaining and commission of the 12 Apostles. Verse 6 says "6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." He felt he already knew what he needed to do, but we tried to explain the story of Apollos found in Acts 18:24- Acts 19:6. Basically Apollos is doing a bunch of good teaching and baptizing--- but all without authority. The church reaches out to him and he is taught "more perfectly" by the church and given authority by the "brethren" or Apostles in that time. Paul later baptized Apollos' converts again with authority and gives them the gift of the Holy Ghost, Apollos then continued to "help them much." Alex was pretty great but didn't understand. He would be a great addition to the Church but unfortunately there are no French speaking missionaries who could have helped us when we needed them. He even wanted to go teaching with us. 

Saturday was also my busiest proselyting day yet. We left the apartment at 7:30 a.m. and had a meeting from 8-9:30, lessons from 10-12, a trip out to Grant Michigan after those lessons which took 5 hours in total, and lessons in the evening, compelling us to arrive home just before 9:30. It was a pretty good day. Most days we can't proselyte for 14 hours. 

As Joseph Smith said, "the greatest and most important duty is to preach the Gospel." 

-eric