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
Showing posts with label general conference. Show all posts
Showing posts with label general conference. Show all posts
Monday, October 8, 2018
Monday, September 25, 2017
25 September 2017
fam,
As for missionary work, this week was a little rough. In summary, two sick days + zone conference + a trade off= not a lot of proselyting time.
Monday Elder Magalei was sick so we quickly did our shopping and he slept almost all day. Later that day we had a lesson planned with Mary. It was really good. We talked about the importance of having our own spiritual experiences through Going to church, Praying, and Reading your scriptures (CPR). When we planned for the lesson we felt to put her on a really ambitious baptismal date and mid way through the lesson we extended that invitation and she said yes. We explained a little about what baptism entailed and gave her a warning that Satan doesn't what her to progress and to expect things to come up that will make her progression harder. Mary has been progressing really well. Some things she has told us during our last few visits is that while she has been reading through the Book of Mormon she has completely lost the desire to smoke, an addiction she has had since she was 14. She also has a strong desire to return to being close to God. She says her fear is she wants real change but feels if she slips up and falls back into old habits she would be hypocritical. We emphasized how the spirit has a way of helping us have the strength to really change. I think we set a pretty good foundation of CPR.
Some one in the branch needed a visit so we got up and out. They needed a blessing and we had a member who is leaving on a mission on Tuesday to japan administer. It was a really sweet experience and the spirit was really strong as we were there.
Tuesday came around and I woke up really sick and took a day. Elderly couples are literally the best thing ever. We called up the westons and asked them to cover for us. They picked up and had a great time at a Noche de Hogar and an investigator lesson we had planned, allowing us to recover in our apartment all day.
Wednesday we had a great zone conference. Our zone conference this week was really good. We had Elder Snow from the quorum of the seventy come out on Wednesday. He talked with us on the steps of conversion into the gospel. He came with the reported numbers kept track by the mission and talked about the individual needs of our areas. It was really interesting, but nothing really too crazy or interesting. Towards the end of the conference we got a call from Mary, remember we told her that things tend to pop up when people start to try to change their lives for the better, turns out her family doesn't like us and wants to kick her and her daughter out. It was a pretty sad phone call but we were able to set up something for the next day to talk with her. Come the next day we had a lesson at the church which was just awesome. We have her a tour and ended with hymn in the chapel. She really liked the tour.
Saturday was Elder Magalei's first real tough day. We had a relatively stacked day and everything canceled mid morning after we planned. We had just visited with everyone we could the day before and met with most of our investigators the day before so we were confined to basically find all day. Elder Magalei picked out a street to hit and we knocked for quite a while. The street was pretty white which typical means a tough crowd, and it was.
Sunday I spent a good time talking with Natividad. We just talked about his family and church for a few minutes. He brought up that he watched the women's conference that was last Friday and said he really liked it. He also mentioned that the talks were really good, that the organ was massive, and the conference center is gigantic and was completely filled.
LDS Women's Conference 2017
I don't know what we are going to do with him and his wife, but we haven't felt like we can drop them which keeps us in a weird limbo of trying to figure out what each step needs to be. We haven't felt good about asking him and his kids to get baptized without his wife, who isn't progressing anymore. We have been asking the ward members and leaders to visit them without us and talk with them.
Next Saturday and Sunday is going to be awesome. General conference is a spirit filled weekend that happens every 6 months where we can listen to the prophets, apostles and other leaders of the church and receive their direction.
Hebrews 1:1-2
Ephesians 4:10-15
As for missionary work, this week was a little rough. In summary, two sick days + zone conference + a trade off= not a lot of proselyting time.
Monday Elder Magalei was sick so we quickly did our shopping and he slept almost all day. Later that day we had a lesson planned with Mary. It was really good. We talked about the importance of having our own spiritual experiences through Going to church, Praying, and Reading your scriptures (CPR). When we planned for the lesson we felt to put her on a really ambitious baptismal date and mid way through the lesson we extended that invitation and she said yes. We explained a little about what baptism entailed and gave her a warning that Satan doesn't what her to progress and to expect things to come up that will make her progression harder. Mary has been progressing really well. Some things she has told us during our last few visits is that while she has been reading through the Book of Mormon she has completely lost the desire to smoke, an addiction she has had since she was 14. She also has a strong desire to return to being close to God. She says her fear is she wants real change but feels if she slips up and falls back into old habits she would be hypocritical. We emphasized how the spirit has a way of helping us have the strength to really change. I think we set a pretty good foundation of CPR.
Some one in the branch needed a visit so we got up and out. They needed a blessing and we had a member who is leaving on a mission on Tuesday to japan administer. It was a really sweet experience and the spirit was really strong as we were there.
Tuesday came around and I woke up really sick and took a day. Elderly couples are literally the best thing ever. We called up the westons and asked them to cover for us. They picked up and had a great time at a Noche de Hogar and an investigator lesson we had planned, allowing us to recover in our apartment all day.
Wednesday we had a great zone conference. Our zone conference this week was really good. We had Elder Snow from the quorum of the seventy come out on Wednesday. He talked with us on the steps of conversion into the gospel. He came with the reported numbers kept track by the mission and talked about the individual needs of our areas. It was really interesting, but nothing really too crazy or interesting. Towards the end of the conference we got a call from Mary, remember we told her that things tend to pop up when people start to try to change their lives for the better, turns out her family doesn't like us and wants to kick her and her daughter out. It was a pretty sad phone call but we were able to set up something for the next day to talk with her. Come the next day we had a lesson at the church which was just awesome. We have her a tour and ended with hymn in the chapel. She really liked the tour.
Saturday was Elder Magalei's first real tough day. We had a relatively stacked day and everything canceled mid morning after we planned. We had just visited with everyone we could the day before and met with most of our investigators the day before so we were confined to basically find all day. Elder Magalei picked out a street to hit and we knocked for quite a while. The street was pretty white which typical means a tough crowd, and it was.
Sunday I spent a good time talking with Natividad. We just talked about his family and church for a few minutes. He brought up that he watched the women's conference that was last Friday and said he really liked it. He also mentioned that the talks were really good, that the organ was massive, and the conference center is gigantic and was completely filled.
LDS Women's Conference 2017
I don't know what we are going to do with him and his wife, but we haven't felt like we can drop them which keeps us in a weird limbo of trying to figure out what each step needs to be. We haven't felt good about asking him and his kids to get baptized without his wife, who isn't progressing anymore. We have been asking the ward members and leaders to visit them without us and talk with them.
Next Saturday and Sunday is going to be awesome. General conference is a spirit filled weekend that happens every 6 months where we can listen to the prophets, apostles and other leaders of the church and receive their direction.
Hebrews 1:1-2
Ephesians 4:10-15
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