Zone Conference: This past Thursday was Zone Conference, led by the mission presidency. One of the amazing training/instructions, given by President Nelson, will be talked about more in promptings of the Holy Ghost, and the other Major one was about Charity from President Vickery. Charity is an all encompassing attribute of Christ and leads to helping us become more humble, patient, obedient, and every other good thing that you can think of. It was really good to bring these instructions into a demonstration that Elder Chamberlain (my Zone Leader) and I gave 3 times in a row. We were to teach a 4 minute restoration as a summary to another companionship, and it was hard. You have to take all of the unnecessary filler and just focus on the most important, powerful, and true doctrine. Each time when we did it, I had the blessing of reciting the first vision, and it was powerful. Just learning more about Christ and testifying multiple times every day that God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith just makes me joyful. It was fun being able to teach the restoration so many times in a day. It was a good reminder of the Basics, and applying those are hard to do. That led to the struggle over the next couple of days that I ran into.
Promptings of the Holy Ghost: President Nelson taught about the promptings of the Holy Ghost. After teaching a lot about the importance of the Holy Ghost and how it is necessary for each of us, he played segments from Elder Hollands talk at the Mission President's Seminary this past June. It talked about the Divine Companionship and the importance to have the Holy Ghost be the senior companion. The major thing after teaching about all of this was about listening and following to the promptings that we receive. They are not always shouts, but small nudges. The major thing that drove this home was the story that he shared from a companionship in our mission. These two elders had just left an appointment and were praying for who they needed to visit and teach next. As they were driving down a road they felt that they should stop at this home with a family sitting on the steps. They stopped and got out of the car, and the family went inside. They knocked on the door and the family said that they were not interested. As they were walking down the steps, they looked across the road at a home and felt they should go there. They went to the home and knocked on the door. A women opened the door weeping, and told them that she had been earnestly praying for help to come and for truth to be taught. The husband let them in and they are now teaching this family the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They weren't able to see this home on the road from their car. It was only after knocking on the uninterested families door that they were able to see and receive the prompting that they needed to visit that family. After hearing this story my guilt hit me at how many times I second guessed and rationalized the promptings that I receive. It took me a while, but I committed to God that I would follow them the best that I could. On Saturday night we prayed and tried visiting the people from our planning that we felt that we should at that time. We continually did this for about 2 hours, finding everyone uninterested or not home. Just as we were about to head in for the night, we felt we should stop by Daniel and Dominique (who I've talked about before), and it was a miracle. She was just praying, angrily, at God for help. She had quit smoking a few days before and was struggling through serious nicotine withdrawals. We taught and testified of the Savior atonement and the healing power that Jesus Christ has. It was what she needed, and it was a miracle for us as well. Follow every good thought, and give up your will to God. I'm working on it, and I am just joyful, even if 'success' doesn't immediately come.
4th of July: So 4th of July was a special day this past week. We had some special rules on our proselyting. We could only visit families that we were teaching, and from 6-9 there was no proselyting, so obviously the first thing that we did was wake up at 5:00 AM. The reason for this was because we went to the Osgood Ward 4th of July Breakfast. It is a huge community event, and we each took a special role for the whole morning. Elder South was stirring eggs on a huge griddle thing, and I was pouring pancake batter. We were competing (not really) against the huge griddle who were making blueberry pancakes, while we were making normal ones. Ours were beautiful, and it was a constant cooking because almost 400 people came to the breakfast. By the time we were done cooking, it was about 9:00 and everyone had almost left. It was delicious. One of the best things was someone deep fried tater tots, and those are just magnificent. We then, after cleaning up, went home and fell asleep during our personal study. The rest of the day was pretty slow, and not a lot of people were home, but after dinner, we played volleyball as a zone. It was pretty fun, and it was good exercise. Then we rested well.
Max: Max was a Hispanic that we met way out in Osgood who we had our second appointment with last night. One of the crazy things about max is his sincerity and his heart. He asked a lot of deep questions during the lesson and after the lesson he was just very very grateful, and he ended with a beautiful prayer. As we were driving back, a storm was picking up, and if it was any hotter, there would've been a tornado. It was a great lesson, and we finally arrived back for our last appointment of the night. It is just amazing to teach a humble listener who is grateful to God, it just is amazing.
High Priests and a Priest: We shared the Work of Salvation with another High Priest group leadership and they were amazing too. They accepted it and told us that they would fast and pray to know who is ready for the next covenant under their stewardship. We also met with a priest who was wishy washy on going on a mission, and he committed that he would prepare himself to go. He is already a great member missionary, and he is just loving and kind, and enthusiastic. IT will be exciting to see where he'll go.
Studies: Just this simple scripture really struck me about humility this week.
38 And it came to pass that Jared spake again unto his brother, saying: Go and inquire of the Lord whether he will drive us out of the land, and if he will drive us out of the land, cry unto him whither we shall go. And who knoweth but the Lord will carry us forth into a land which is choice above all the earth? And if it so be, let us be faithful unto the Lord, that we may receive it for our inheritance.
Love y'all so much. Have a wonderful week, and keep your Faith in Christ and continually exercise it, repent, and partake of the sacrament to be cleansed of sin by the Power of Jesus Christ through the Power of the Holy Ghost.
Love,
Elder Baker
Ps Mission tour coming up in August with 2 Seventies, and a visit from an Apostle and member of the Presidency of the 70 in Semptember.
Pictures:
river side, and the storm (not too many of non-snow storms out here)
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