Sunday, August 18, 2013

August 6th, 2013

Well.. I guess Mom doesn't have to struggle anymore to run my account.. Because..

Our mission is now a Facebook proselyting mission!

We just had a training yesterday from the mission department and they announced the change. We are now authorized to use Facebook for ONLY proselyting uses. Not for chatting or catching up with people, but to answer questions, teach lessons, and reach out to the world. It was insanely cool when they presented it. They used the scripture Matthew 24:14 "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." Think about it. We may not physically have missionaries in every country, but we're now permitted to teach ANYONE over Facebook. Any friends, family, or basically anyone who is less-active or not a member of the church, we're allowed to teach them either over chat or over Skype. We can also communicate with any members of the church and teach them how to use the internet as a testimony-sharing tool that it truly can become. They gave us the statistic that if you put up ONE Mormon message/scripture/something.. And that is seen and liked by your friends list, it will reach out to approximately 153,000 people. That is a LOT of seeds. And as the scripture says, the Gospel can now be preached to - wait for it - ALL the world! It's going to take a bit of adjusting (I already had to go through and "hide" a bunch of things on my Facebook) and preparation, but once this whole thing gets rolling it's going to be unstoppable. We're going to start adding almost everyone in our area - especially working through the youth to reach out and teach more people. We're supposed to add all of our bishops, ward mission leaders, stake presidency, and anyone who we can share messages with to help encourage them to share the Gospel. It's a pretty radical change, but it's definitely the epitome of the Lord hastening his work. With a little bit of preparation and work, I can start teaching some of my friends (if they WANT to!) and even some family! :)

So along with that huge announcement, we just had another baptism last weekend for a kid named Kaleb. He's literally a spiritual giant, especially for his age. He's so in tune with the spirit, and is pushing his entire family back into activity. We've been working with their family for a while now, and this was a huge step for all of them. He was baptized by his grandpa and confirmed by his uncle. I was so excited for them. We have another baptism coming up this Saturday for a girl who has been taught by the missionaries for over a year now. She's been through a ton, and has always just had ONE thing in the way of her getting baptized. She's had several experiences that have humbled her lately, and have led her to act. She's quit smoking and has finished off her legal issues, and is now getting baptized! I'm SUPER pumped for that one. Definitely going to have to keep her in my prayers to make sure everything goes smoothly with her. She needs the Gospel so badly and she knows it. Especially because lately she's been reading the Book of Mormon and is seeking that forgiveness from her Heavenly Father. Everything is falling into place with so many of our investigators, and I know the Lord is blessing us for all the work we have done for these people. We're looking to be the only companionship in the zone who reaches their baptismal goal-set-in-faith from the beginning, and we might exceed it too. We picked up another baptismal date last Tuesday which is looking promising to go through next Saturday. I love Brigham City! We also broke our record for lessons in a week, and with Facebook we're going to be able to teach even more. I'm determined to finish strong!

Mom - 1200 people in sacrament is insane. As soon as I saw that I knew it had to be pageant season. I imagine that the passing of the sacrament took a little while! Have you heard anything on BYU? I guess it'll take time. I'm glad Evan is in band again and Ryan is progressing! Are you excited to do the Book of Mormon for seminary this year or what? The people we invited to church that came were in 4 different wards, so we did a lot of hopping that Sunday. As for advice, the repentance process has to begin with understanding. It also has to originate within. If someone is going to change and become better, they have to understand why it's important and have the desire to do so. That's probably why I was so stubborn for some time in my life, not recognizing the will of God for me and what I needed to do to repair the damage I didn't know had been done. I'll try and write nanny a letter this week. I have been meaning to send a package home. So when I do I'll send some spare meds and things.. Pretty sure I'm good on concerta. Well.. Maybe I'm not. Maybe more would be good.

Dad - The weather here has been awesome too! Actually one thing that I'm definitely not going to miss about Utah is having dinner with people. Because the one thing that I'm 100% sure that they'll bring up every single dinner is the weather. I've never had so many conversations about humidity in my life. And I've never desired to either! I've heard of Ephraim's rescue and was aware that it's playing here in theaters. That's just another "welcome to Utah" thing. Just like the "LDS Books" section at Wal-Mart. We haven't been able to go though.. Mostly because it's in theaters and it's ill-advised to do so. Pretty sure we're gonna drop the "saved by grace" guy.. Because he just keeps arguing and he's totally closed off to everything. Especially the Spirit. Glad that that stupid system of wires is finally gone from the basement. That was so overwhelmingly confusing that it was never worth trying to watch TV. And the southern baptist lady has been to church for the last 3 weeks and has started doing her family history! AND she's going to start going to ward activities and things! She's definitely opening up a lot. :)

I love you guys! If you see me on Facebook then share and re-link the posts to other pages. Spread the word! Thanks for all you've done for me, and continue to do for me.

Love,

- Elder Tyler Grant

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