P-Day: Last Monday we were celebrating three separate Birthdays in the Zone. And to celebrate all of that, we went Bowling!! (picture of the scores below, hehe) We all had fun bowling, despite nobody being too successful and that it was our Zone Leader's first time bowling in his life. After we went bowling, We got to go out to Chick-fil-A for dinner (because our appointment for dinner cancelled). In the first 5 months of my mission, I went to Chick-fil-A once, but in the past month and a half, I've been 4 times, and I don't regret it a bit. The rest of the night was good, even though our appointments fell through. This night was kinda the precurser for the rest of the week, and because we had patience, blessings came.
District Meeting: The District Meeting we had this week was very very spiritual. After opening and going over goals and things that the mission is focusing on, the time went over to the sisters in our District. I had asked them to do a study and train on John Chapter 15. One of the verses they taught about really stood out to me and helps me learn more about the mission and what my purpose is. Verse 16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
I have been called on a mission, and because I have been, I know that I have power and authority from God to be able to teach this people repentance and have them be baptized unto a remission of their sins. We teach repentance. After this meeting for the rest of the week, we took our work a little bit more seriously, because we learned more about our purpose as missionaries. I have been ordained to preach the word of God unto the people here in this mission. One of the other things we discussed was teaching repentance. A lot of the times on my mission, even though we have been told to declare nothing but repentance, I have been afraid or something like that, to teach people to repent. But if we teach the truth, clearly and directly, they have to choose whether to come closer to Jesus Christ by building faith in Him and his atonement, Repentance, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end, or they choose to not follow him at this time in their lives. We, as ordained set apart servants of God, are teaching his Gospel in preparation for the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This week was a big hit for me about the importance of the work and my purpose as a missionary.
New Investigators: We were able to meet 3 New Investigators this week. One of them is a worker out in Osgood (in the far reaches of our area) named Angel. We went over and got to know him and talked about his past with religion and with the church. After he told many stories, we taught him the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and invited him to find out for himself if Joseph Smith was a prophet of God by reading the Book of Mormon and praying to our Heavenly Father if this is the right church, the only true church. This is something that I have done myself and that has happened with me, and I have seen it happen in the lives of others as they come before God with an broken heart and a contrite spirit and truely read and ask God is this is the truth, and it is a promise that " He will manifest the truth of these things by the power of the Holy Ghost" (Moroni 10:4). The others were Loreina and Arnulfo, who were a referral from someone in the branch. We found them listening to Music in their yard on a wonderful day. In the conversation with them, they shared their past experiences with missionaries, and then Arnulfo just asked a perfect question. It was along the lines of, "And why do talk about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith so much?" We then testifies, shortly, clearly, and directly, about the Restoration of the Gospel and invited them to do the same. The reason that we invite everyone to read and pray is because it will happen. It works, God answers. They both seem ready to listen and put the Gospel to the test. It will be awesome being able to see what happens over these next couple of weeks.
Move on St. Patrick's Day: So we moved apartments on Friday. It was sudden and we spent the night before packing up all of our stuff. Then with some other missionaries, we moved everything over to our new apartment. It reminded me of the moves back home that we would participate in, which were always fun , hard, and for some reason very funny. Then later that night we had dinner with someone who was natively Irish, and we had a very very cultural dinner. We had a lot of native Irish food, and it was the weirdest and most extravagent St. Patrick's Day I have ever had.
Talk: Yesterday we were assigned to give talks in one of our wards, and the topic was missionary work. It was fun, because I read through a section of the Doctrine and Covenants that I have read many times before, but it was different this time. It is Doctrine and Convenants section 18. The main points of my talk were taken from verses 10-18. Because I'm running out of time to email i will just give a brief summary. This is the most important work that anyone can take a part in in the world. The worth of souls is great in the sight of God. The atonement of Jesus Christ is what makes it possible to return to live with our Heavenly Father. As we use the atonement and become more personally converted, we can then turn out to other people and help them accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The blessings of this work is complete and amazing Joy! And the spirit will help each and every one of us, telling us what to say, what to do, and who to reach out to. It was amazing.
Study: One of the things that stood out to me was about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. To really understand what he went through for us, it takes time. But we can learn a ton from the Scriptures. This scripture shows the love of Jesus Christ for each and every one of us, and gives us the chance that we don't suffer, if it so be that we repent. I love the Atonement and invite each one of you to study it and apply it more in your life, for it is only through the Atonement that we can be clean before the face of God.
11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.
12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.
13 Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me.
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