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 

August 20, 2018

fam,

About half way through morning planning there was some sort of system crash on Elder Magalei's phone. The Missionary smart phones we use are locked down with an application named Mass360 and for what ever reason it deleted a few critical applications, including facebook, daily planner, notes, gospel library, and much more. We finished planning and I was able to synch our data only to find moments after having sunk the same failures accurred to me. Turns out the system glich is not an isolated issue but at the very least mission wide and likely covers other missions with smart phones. We are kind of hosed. We had a pretty busy day tomorrow but I couldn't say which lessons were at what times.    :/    This will be fun.


Sunday was interesting. Zoey and Christian, and a family we've recently started teaching. Things went smoothly. We were able to meet with Zoey and Christian after church to talk about some questions they had. They wanted to know what they could do to come closer to God. We outlined how baptism would be an essential step in their progression and were able to challenge them to a specific baptismal date.  


NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Now even gmail has failed me. I had finished up what had turned out to be a really good email and it failed to save the most recent draft 😣😭

I'm sorry but I don't think I'll try to replicate it. Hopefully a brief summary will sufice to outline what once was. 

"No 'missionary pastor' alex you can't preach in our church, but look at the introduction to the book of mormon"

"I don't believe in God, I believe in the great spirit.........The world is going to be destroyed by a giant volcano somewhere under the pacific ocean" - crazy native american (see Alma 18) who had some interesting additional interpretations of the end of the world.

Our tiwi isn't working and we keep getting the same indian guy who is starting to not like us anymore. 

An in-depth comparison on the doctrines of baptism as contained in The Book of Mormon and Bible. The Book of Mormon supports everything the bible says, clarifies many things, and reveals many key doctrines pertaining to baptism. Basicly, the Book of Mormon is super cool. 

Jose who we read the account in 3 nephi 11 of the coming of Jesus Christ is super cool. He even watched the restoration on his own and we had a great lesson.

We had a fantastic lesson on the plan of salvation with Zoey and Christian. We taught how in temples, families can be bound/sealed for time and all eternity as well as we can preform vicarious baptisms for our ancestors who never had the opportunity to receive the blessings found in the fulness of the gospel. It was a super powerful lesson and not to be forgotten. 

-eric

August 13, 2018

Fam,

Transfer calls were this past Friday. Elder Magalei and I are staying together. I think we've been together for more than 9 months but I've stopped counting. Transfers no longer mean anything when we know what's going to happen for at least the next 6 months . We will also be moving early September to a new apartment. 

Wednesday we had a pretty great visit with Edin. We helped him prepare for the Branch temple trip on the 25th of this month. We set up his LDS account and got him running on his family history. I'm so grateful for the family history my mom graciously filled out for me before I left on my mission. I was able to use the pamphlet to show Edin a short history of my family and talk about the ordinances performed in the temple. He is excited and we are pumped things are going well for him.

Thursday I had a seriously bad sore throat, almost to the point of losing my voice. We took things slowly for a few hours but were able to go out proselyting in the afternoon. We met two seriously cool people that night. The first guy we had a short lesson with on the book of Mormon. We had a pretty good visit with him and ended by reading with him in the 11th chapter of 3 Nephi when Jesus begins his ministry in the Americas. The Spirit was strong and at the end of the visit he explained that he had spoken with missionaries in Mexico many years back. The other guy was a "Missionary Pastor." Introducing himself as Pastor Alex he explained the things he had done as a pastor for the past few years. We were able to strike common ground on the importance on missionary work and he shared some cool stories about his own missionary work. Unlike most pastors, Alex was kind and respectful. We shared common ground on many truths including the apostasy of the early Christian church. He even pulled out scriptures we like to use to teach about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The lesson was made slightly difficult because of the language barrier. Alex is African and his English isn't that great but he speaks French, Portuguese, Spanish and sometimes all at the same time. It was quite the struggle. We talked about how God has restored many lost truths as well as his priesthood authority to the earth today and offered him a Book of Mormon. He gladly accepted and committed himself to read it before we came back next Saturday. Hopefully he'll actually read!

Saturday we had the baptism of José Manuel! It was a great service. Manuel is the older brother to Francisca and Daniel. Francisca spoke and did a fantastic job. She ended her talk telling her mom and Daniel that she's anxiously awaiting their baptisms, all still in process. Elder Guerrero and I stood as witnesses to make sure the baptism was performed correctly. There was a great reverence as the congregation moved from the Chapel to room with the baptismal font. Being a saving ordinance the spirit was able to powerfully witness to me its importance as people quietly shuffled in and Manuel was baptized by Elder Wilkins. Baptism is a simple yet powerful ordinance. 

There were some refreshments after the service. With some transfer math I have three transfers cycles left. The last two will be spent training the Elder who will come out in September. We should get two (they should be entering the MTC around now) and Elder Magalei should train the other. Elder Guerrero and Rencher go home in September as the two new Elders come out. That leaves Elder Berry and Wilkins to be companions. Elder Berry will have 12 weeks under his belt and Elder Wilkins a meager 18 weeks. As I walked by after we were enjoying refreshments I heard the conversation they were having. You could say they are feeling the pressure and nerves caused by their decreed fate. It reminded me of when Elder Guerrero trained me. Elder Guerrero was really young, he only had about 24 weeks when he trained me. He was a little nervous and likely felt as I was training, under pressure with a slight doubt of your own capabilities, but we just worked and things eventually worked themselves out. In that time we were able to gain much needed experience. I'm excited for them and the lessons they'll learn being on their own. 

Listening to one of President Monson's talk made me ponder the effects of our missionary work and how often they go beyond what we will ever see or realize. I've noticed many of the people we speak with either have known a Latter-day Saint or have spoken with missionaries in the past. Each contact either moves someone closer to the fullness of the gospel or further. Contact could be as little as seeing us walking down the street or nervously peeking through their blinds at what looks like the CIA or ICE parked on their street. Everything counts and it's probable that we might never really know the full effect of our service. 

Yesterday we had dinner with the Duran family. I doubt there are words worthy of describing them. In few words, they're awesome. Brother Duran has quite the garden this year filled with a large variety of hot peppers. We were treated to a great carne asada with a side of habaneros. Brother Duran is a monster or a champion, that's left undecided. He chomped down massive bites of some seriously hot habaneros. I took a few bites, swallowing them instead of chewing but as I finished the pepper I made the mistake of biting down. The darn pepper nearly killed me. I don't know how people actually eat peppers that hot aside from literally burning the feeling out of their mouths. 

-Eric 

August 6, 2018

Fam, 

Gander 
[gan-dur] 
1. [N] resident, or native of Michigan (Michi - Gander) 
2. [V] to continuous talking aimlessly without purpose or destination
3. Mature male goose 

Juan, the guy from last week who had the lesson on authority, is a Gander through and through. To teach him you really have to take control of the situation. Our lesson this past Tuesday was another story. His wife, Esperanza, was able to join us. The lesson went really well, like surprisingly well. Esperanza is super cool. PMG says that people progress in the gospel best as families and Tuesday really demonstrated why. Esperanza was really receptive but more importantly by her presence kept Juan calmed and less prone to interupt. Esperanza only speaks Spanish which also helped. Juan's language skills are not as developed in Spanish which greatly mitigated his tendencies to gander and dominate lessons.  Esperanza's presence allowed us to more effectively share a good lesson. 

This week was pretty tough when it comes to talking with people. For some reason it felt like no one was outside or home even. Monday we had appointments during our entire proselytizing time but Tuesday and Wednesday were more open. Those two days I think we talked with a total of three or four people.

Though the week was less productive, we've been really focusing on building the priesthood in the branch. For the last month or two we've prayed a lot to be lead to men who can hold the priesthood. It's been pretty miraculous. Just recently we posted a free Book of Mormon on the Facebook market place and had to turn off comments due to just a bunch of anti. Feeling like we had learned our lesson for posting stuff like that on the local Hispanic Garage sale we turned off comments. A few hours later we received a private message from someone asking when and where our church meets. While conversing with them it turned out he was a member who just moved here who had lost contact with the church and had been looking for the Latter-day Saints in Grand Rapids. No effort wasted: the unintended consequence was meeting a guy who had been looking for the church. 

We have also been able to get our recent converts to come with us as we visit with the people we teach. Teodoro has been doing super well. The gospel has really latched on to him. We talked with his neighbors on the way to one lesson. In the lesson he did fantastically and on the way back he invited the people we saw walking back to the car to meet with us and come to church. He really enjoys missionary work and is keen to continue to come out with us. 

Here is a list of a few talks I've listened this week that I particularly liked. Losing interest in listening to all the talks by speaker I've moved to the topic of priesthood. Here are a few I've enjoyed, in no particular order, also there are a few added not about the priesthood. 



The Power of the Priesthood in the Boy, April 2013 - Elder Tad R. Callister  Listen or Read

God’s Compelling Witness: The Book of Mormon, October 2017 - Tad R. Callister  Listen or Read

See Others as They May Become, October 2012 - President Thomas S. Monson  Listen or Read

The Powers of Heaven, April 2012 - Elder David A. Bednar
Listen or Read

What Lack I Yet? October 2015 - Elder Larry R. Lawrence
Listen or Read

Sacrament Meeting and the Sacrament, October 2008 - Elder Dallin H. Oaks 
Listen or Read

Like a watered garden, October 2001 - Elder Jeffery R. Holland (side note: though the word holy appears many times in the scriptures, what it refers to  basically falls within a few sections; sacrifices, specifically tithing as well as animal sacrifices under the mosaic law; commandments, specifically the Sabbath day but also a few others; things pertaining to the temple, such as ceremonial clothing, altars, etc; and God. Tithing is secretly one of the coolest commandments) Listen or Read

July 30, 2018

Fam, 

We are currently teaching someone who kind of struggles to understand. In D&C 42:12 it says that the Bible and the Book of Mormon contain the fulness of the gospel. Together you gain added understanding and clarity where sometimes there would be ambiguity or even nothing. In the lesson he wasn't understanding divine authority. Trying to explain as clearly and slowly as possible we opened up to 3 Nephi 11. Though it isn't a moment of apostasy/restoration the principles are close enough to teach why authority is important and how it's received. We read verses 17-26, 28 and using the scriptures were able to help him come to an understanding. The progress in that lesson moved him from slightly anti and definitely not understanding to a basic understanding and a willingness to pray. Using the scriptures brings authority and power to what we teach. It was pretty fun but at the same time took quite a bit of effort to nudge him in the right direction. 

17 Hosanna! Blessed be the name of the Most High God! And they did fall down at the feet of Jesus, and did worship him.

18 And it came to pass that he spake unto Nephi (for Nephi was among the multitude) and he commanded him that he should come forth.

19 And Nephi arose and went forth, and bowed himself before the Lord and did kiss his feet.

20 And the Lord commanded him that he should arise. And he arose and stood before him.

21 And the Lord said unto him: I give unto you power that ye shall baptize this people when I am again ascended into heaven.

22 And again the Lord called others, and said unto them likewise; and he gave unto them power to baptize. And he said unto them: On this wise shall ye baptize; and there shall be no disputations among you.

23 Verily I say unto you, that whoso repenteth of his sins through your words, and desireth to be baptized in my name, on this wise shall ye baptize them—Behold, ye shall go down and stand in the water, and in my name shall ye baptize them.

24 And now behold, these are the words which ye shall say, calling them by name, saying:

25 Having authority given me of Jesus Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

26 And then shall ye immerse them in the water, and come forth again out of the water.

28 And according as I have commanded you thus shall ye baptize. And there shall be no disputations among you, as there have hitherto been; neither shall there be disputations among you concerning the points of my doctrine, as there have hitherto been.

One thing I've really been enjoying was I've started making a catalog of all the promised blessings in the scriptures. Blessings are received by obedience so by knowing what principles need to be obeyed to receive which blessings makes it easy to leave promised blessings that have already been prescribed by either God, Jesus or their prophets. The scriptures are riddled with promised blessings. 

Wednesday we had an interesting lesson with a member referal. We tend to talk to a lot of people from a wide variety of walks of life. Trial is pretty universal among everyone we talk with. Obviously they've been going through a lot but they shared a lot of cool "coincidences" that had sustained them over the last few weeks, a member reaching out with a simple act of charity helped them both physically and spiritually, a by-product being their willingness to meet with us. We shared a slightly scattered message but the spirit was really strong. Unfortunately they likely would be best helped in an English congregation instead of Spanish but we'll see what happens to them. 

The same day we had a fairly funny first lesson with this nice lady we met. We were with the Pectols and one thing Elder Pectol will almost always bring up, and not something we really ever go over in lessons, is that we aren' t paid to do what we do. Though we pay tithing as a church that money is not used to pay bishops, church leaders, (missionaries), or anything, instead it goes to charity. "No way", the lady blurted out, "wow that's crazy, that's just like what Jesus did with the church he set up!" my silent rejoinder was "that's because this is the church he set up!" 

Thursday we were able to pass off Mercedes to the other Spanish Elders. We've been working on moving all our investigators to the missionaries who are now responsible for their coinciding areas after the new line drawing. Mercedes, just for the circumstances, took a little longer than the rest. Elder Rencher and I, on trade-offs, drove out to Holland for the lesson which turned out really well. Listening is so vital to missionary work. As Elder Holland put it, "more important than speaking is listening." As we listened we were able to address some concerns that she hadn't yet opened up about. We were able to help her out and take a few more steps forward in her progression. 

Elder Magalei and I have been listening to general conferance talks while we drive to and from appointments which has really improved all the gap moments we have. With the phones and an unlimited data plan we are able to cover a lot of material which has been really beneficial. We've listened to all of President Nelson's talks, all of President Eyring's talks (about 75% mention the road to Emmaus, he really, really, really likes that story in the Bible), all of Elder Holland's talks (literally every talk is moving and is complimented by the perfect story), all of the talks by Elder Soares and Gong, all of Elder Bednar's talks (probably my favorite speaker), and many of Elder Christofferson's (he does his own Spanish translation - SO COOL and with an amazing accent) and Elder Andersons' talks. Mathew 6:22 says that "The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." I think that that principle could also be extended to the ear. We are a composite of the things we take in. Just by filling our time with uplifting media we've maintained the companionship of the Holy Ghost in greater abundance. Also the General Conferance talks are super insightful. 

Saturday night we got the text that I was going to speak in church the next day. I definitely wasn't excited but immediately began preparing. Unlike the other two times it actually turned out really well. We're a smallish branch but even still, talking in front of people is difficult. 

Sunday Teodoro and Edin were ordained to the Priesthood and passed the sacrament. They both really enjoyed the experience and it was a particularly spiritual sacrament. It's funny to think that they're actual members! 


Just a heads up there is a chance we are moving tomorrow :) the apartment will be left to Elder Guerrero and Elder Berry so it's not a big deal of packages or mail goes there. If we do move we'll send the address next week! 


-eric