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.