Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.
Thanks
for all your continued letters regardless of how boring you all may
think they are. They're still a strength and support to me when I
forget what the real world is like... As scary as that is sometimes!
We picked up 5 new investigators last week and committed them
all to baptism. I don't know if I can truly say it enough - there are
definitely miracles happening here. And while not all of them committed
to a specific date, we've been able to introduce them to the Spirit and
our purpose as missionaries. That's one thing that I think I've gained
the greatest testimony of... When we teach and testify to people, we
have to be fearless. Elder Sillito and I have continually been building
a testimony of teaching simply and directly by the Spirit. When we
first set up a lesson with somebody, the very first thing that we tell
them is that we're representatives of Jesus Christ and we're here to
help them come closer to him, and we tell them in the first two minutes
that at the end of the lesson we will invite them to be baptized. At
that point they know why we're there and there are no secrets and no
hidden agenda; because then we tell them that it is not us who will
reveal to them the truth of our message, but the feelings of the Holy
Ghost testifying that God is telling them it's true. We invite them
conditionally at the beginning: "When you feel these feelings tonight,
would you take that as your answer that God is telling you that this
path is right, and baptism is the next step you need to take?" And then
we teach them. MANY times missionaries are afraid to teach about
baptism right away because it's "too big of a commitment" or "they're
not ready." Well of course they're not ready right then! We don't
invite them to sign their life away to baptism when we first meet them.
We teach the doctrine of baptism and the covenant/commitment that it
is, also testifying of the multitude of blessings that are attached,
and we invite them to seek out their Heavenly Father in diligent
prayer, scripture study, and church attendance in faith that he WILL
prepare them to be baptized... IF it is right. How will they know? The
undeniable feelings of the Spirit in their hearts. It's amazing to me
how much simpler the doctrines of the Gospel and of missionary work
become after teaching so many people and being so blessed to have my
understanding accelerated by the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I know there's
no way that we could be changing people's lives on our own. I always
tell people that I'm not a perfect teacher and that I wasn't raised in
a monastery.. But that I do know one thing; and that is that God will
guide them to what is right. I've been continually amazed at the
preparedness of the people that we teach and the willingness that they
have to accept baptism from the very beginning. Far too many times
missionaries treat baptism like it's something that's scary and
impossible to reach. However when we don't invite people we are failing
them as representatives of Christ and not living up to the call that we
already accepted. To some degree or another we also need to live up to
this commission as members of the church. We are not called to
proselyte or teach people lesson by lesson, but when we were baptized
we accepted the responsibility to "stand as a witness of God" in
whatever place we may be in. We may not baptize every single person
that we teach or come in contact with, but we sure are going to give it
our best shot. As Christ taught - "except a man be born of water and of
the Spirit, he CANNOT enter into the kingdom of God" (John 3:5). So it
is not just joining another church. It is entering a necessary gateway
into God's kingdom; the ONLY gateway that will get them there. So as
We're going to have 2 baptisms this Saturday. Remember that
non-member family that we found out in Corinne? The parents are going
to take a while to get baptized because they still need to get married
and work through a couple other things.. But they're completely
supportive of their two sons getting baptized, and they're ready, so
we're going to do it! I'm still SO amazed at how prepared their family
is. Their mom is reading the Book of Mormon faithfully and has been
praying several times a day. Both of their sons have been giving the
prayers at the lessons and are actively involved in their ward in Young
Men's and scouts. The boys asked us to baptize them, so I'll be sure to
send pictures next week. Actually, it's about time I burn a few more
CD's and send them home.. My camera is just about full. I've been doing
pretty well at taking pictures, not gonna lie! But anyways - I'm so
excited for this step they're taking. The Gospel is exactly what this
family needs right now, and they've seen it beginning to help them.
It's gotten to the point where it's not "Hey I'm having a baptism!" so
much as I feel like "Two more people are taking the first step to
eternal life!" Sounds lame, but it's totally true. The Gospel has the
power to heal people and mend families and as a missionary we are so
blessed to be a part of that. We set a baptismal goal in faith at the
beginning of the transfer, and we're working super hard to help all of
those people who we planned to teach and baptize within the coming
weeks to get there.
We taught the other family that we found who have been coming
faithfully to church. We taught them the first time last Wednesday and
found out for sure that none of their kids were baptized. The parents'
concern was that they didn't want to get the children baptized until
they were ready instead of forcing them into it; and that they don't
understand why baptism is important. So we told them that our purpose
as missionaries is, once again, to invite people to
prepare to be baptized, and though they may not start out with faith, Alma 32:27 says "even if ye can no more than
desire
to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a
manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words." Desire to
believe is enough to develop faith, which leads to a testimony. On
Sunday we taught the family about the Restoration, teaching the same
thing I shared at the beginning of this letter about the Spirit
testifying of truth.. And after the lesson they all felt the Spirit and
we invited them to be baptized. And they all said yes! Except their
family is coming up from Arizona in September for the baptism, so if I
get transferred then I'll miss it by two weeks. But regardless, 3 more
of Heavenly Father's children will be entering that gate which leaders
to the path to eternity. How amazing is that? :)
Mom - Bring on the chips! I'm currently chatting with Evan right
now and he seems to be in good spirits. Ryan not so much, huh? Maybe he
hates me. I hope not! We had a huge zone family home evening at the
Gibbs' last night so yes, I HAVE seen my Garland mom! I love them so
much. Haven't seen the White's since mother's day. Their son got home a
few months ago and I haven't seen them since then. We've been insanely
busy in Brigham! Is that really all that bad of an excuse? :) Elder
LaFond's companion is almost back to full activity. Jacob's not
enjoying the MTC huh? I think a lot of Elders (myself included) started
to get a bit stir-crazy in there, so that might have led to some
supposed irreverence. He'll do well with a positive attitude though.
I'm afraid lots of my t-shirts might not fit anymore when I come home.
Small shirts just turn out to be skin-tight with this new Utah tummy
that I have... And I'm afraid there are no fears of planning a wedding
anytime soon. Unless you've got someone in mind? :) Bahaha..
Dad - Haven't gotten the apology letter yet, but I'm sure it's on
the way. You served in the Osaka mission, right? I met a guy who served
in a Japan mission the other day but couldn't remember which one. So
that's probably a stretch. We ate dinner with a family the other day
and the mom was from Spencer Iowa and knew Mike Olson! I don't remember
her maiden name. She said she went a few times back when he was in the
Spencer Branch. Small world? Yet another backpacking trip without me..
Ugh. Still waiting on the green light to go to Zion's! As far as
helping the missionaries out, I'm still not entirely sure where the
best place to start is. It's pretty easy to see my side of it right
now, but in Utah everyone has exposure to the church so it needs to be
worked a little bit differently. I would say to take up the challenge
in Alma 6:6 - "fast and pray on behalf of the souls who know not God,"
and pray for the courage to seize opportunities to share the Gospel
when they come. I think I'm going to work harder on just inviting
people to come out to church. Or branch activities. Since, in reality,
that's what all of those things are for! As a ZL we have to prepare
trainings on teaching skills, finding, doctrine, basically anything we
feel the zone is struggling with at the time. We've been doing a lot
with teaching skills because sadly, the level of teaching seems to have
slipped across the mission and as a result baptisms have dropped. And
the only thing you can do to help me with my work is just keep doing
what you're doing. Keep being Dad. Keep magnifying your callings. Be
nice to Ryan every once in a while. And if you have time, keep praying.
It all adds up. :)
I love you guys! This week has been amazing and it's going to
keep getting better. The Brigham West stake is blowing up right now...
It's nice to be able to see some of the fruits of your labors every
once in a while. Especially because looking at the areas I've been in,
I've left behind almost 20 people who got baptized after I was
transferred out. But that's not what's important. What's important is
giving our all to Jesus Christ and doing everything we can to hasten
this work. Because it's true, isn't it? That should be motivation
enough. :)
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