Glad to share another week with y'all. Hope everything is great in Georgia and other parts of the world. Here is a very busy, good week.
District Meeting/District Leader Training Meeting: I'm part of a new district down here in the Idaho Falls area. Unlike my last district, this one has two other companionships of Elders, so we are no longer part of a all sister district. This past district meeting was good, but there was a lot that I saw that I could work on leading it out. And all of my questions were answered this past Thursday, when we had a training for all of the district leaders in the mission, given by our mission president and the assistants to the president.
One of the coolest parts was talking about the important attributes for leaders in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We Reviewed the end of Doctrine and Covenants section 121, and the main thing that stood out was being a good example, but trying to follow the perfect example of a person and leader, Jesus Christ. By following his example, by being a humble, loving leader, then can the district learn from each other and learn from the spirit.
Nacho: Nacho, or Ignacio, is someone that we got to meet for the first time this past week. He is an investigator from Obrigon, Sonora. He has lived in Los Angeles before and has been in Idaho Falls for about 4 years now. We got to know him and about his family and got into a discussion about the gospel. We testified strongly of Jesus Christ and his atonement and shared the wonderful scripture form Alma 7:11-13. This teaches that he took upon himself not only our sins, but everything unfair that has ever happened to us. And this can all be taken away and we can be comforted. We left him with a Book of Mormon and he committed to read and pray about it. We are returning this next Thursday. Should be wonderful!
Bro. Parker: Bro. Parker, or Bud. He is a semi-recent convert and has had two strokes over the years. He has a hard time understanding the scriptures because he was forced to leave high school to work and has since not had too much education. He loves the scriptures and it is awesome how much he wants to learn more. While we were reading 1 Nephi 3 with him, something awesome stood out to me, that I also heard about in a BYU-I devotional a little bit ago. Faith must precede the miracle, or seeing won't help you believe. Laman and Lemuel had an angel come down and speak to them, promising that the plates would be delivered up to them, and directly after the angel left, they started murmuring again. What lessons there are to learn each day from reading in the Book of Mormon.
Daniel: Daniel is an investigator that is pretty ready to be baptized. We only got to meet them for a little bit, but more information will come next week. They are actually reading the Isaiah chapters in the Book of Mormon, so many questions are soon to follow.
Train the trainers and new Missionaries/Training: Training is going well. It is fun to see how so many things are new to a new missionary. Backing up cars, p-days, it's all so interesting. This meeting that we went to was also held by President Nelson and the Assistants. One of the things that stood out from this meeting was on measuring success as a missionary. It is not by the number of people that you baptized, or that you teach, or the effect that you see that you can have. It is about being obedient, working hard, and knowing that you served where the Lord needed you. Elder Nielson of the seventy had a story of one of the only converts from his mission in northern Europe. That father is now a stake president, and his grandson was a missionary when Elder Nielson visited that stake conference, and it brought him to tears. We don't know the influence that we have as servants of the Lord, but the people are being blessed by our work, and that's worth the 2 years.
Studies: One of the cool things that stood out to me from my personal study this week was in the Book of Mosiah in the Book of Mormon. There is a people, that because of pride and greed, went back into their ancient lands and made a deal with the Lamanite king there. This brought them into bondage, making them pay high tribute yearly. The king eventually wanted everything and sent an army to take their property and their lives. This was 12 years after they had settled into the land and during this time they did not keep the commandments of God. They did not turn to the Lord. And this is what happened in their time of need. Mosiah chapter 9:
17 Yea, in the strength of the Lord did we go forth to battle against the Lamanites; for I and my people did cry mightily to the Lord that he would deliver us out of the hands of our enemies, for we were awakened to a remembrance of the deliverance of our fathers.
18 And God did hear our cries and did answer our prayers; and we did go forth in his might;
They turned to the Lord with all of their heart, and after this miracle they stayed faithful for almost 25 years. Their hearts turned to the Lord sincerely and they were blessed in a similar way to Elder Juan A. Uceda in his story in his talk during the 2016 October General Conference address: The Lord Jesus Christ teaches us to pray. This was amazing to me, and gives hope to all of the people that are not ready at this time to accept the gospel. There are many that do not accept at this time, but there is always hope for them to sincerely turn to God and receive all of the blessings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Picture: One picture this week. More will come.
Love y'all. Hope everyone has a wonderful week!
Elder Carson Maurice Baker
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