I can hardly believe it's been another week. Things are going well for us! Here are some of the highlights from our week:
We
found a neat new investigator named Grey on Monday while out tracting.
We felt prompted to knock on his door even though it was after dark, and
he came out and started talking with us. He told us that he's always
been impressed with how persistent missionaries are. When he lived in
Maryville, missionaries once trekked all the way up his huge steep
driveway when it was covered in an inch of ice just to knock on his
door. He talked to them just because he was impressed, and after that he
said they wouldn't stop trying his door for over a year. This time
around he actually seemed somewhat interested, especially in the idea of
a modern prophet. He promised to read from the Book of Mormon. We'll
see where things go with him.
Wednesday we did
some tracting and went on splits with the priests in the evening. We
were actually able to see a couple less actives with the priests so that
was good. One of them is this really sweet old guy named Bill, who used
to be a coal miner. He's one of the old faithfuls of the ward here, but
his health keeps him from church. He loves visits from anyone, he's
really lonely after his wife passed away. I visited him with a really
cool priest named Wiley. We're trying to sneakily convince Wiley to
serve a mission haha.
Thursday was awesome! We
had three lessons that day. The first was with a teacher at the high
school named Will who we found tracting last week. Since meeting him
last week, he told us he has read some of the Book of Mormon and had
even looked up the BYU channel on TV and watched some program that
compared a chapter in the BoM to a chapter in Malachi. He is impressed
with the Book so far and we had a great first lesson. We're pretty
excited for him. He has a lot of potential. He doesn't know he's
searching for the gospel but he totally is.
The
second was with Camille, Cameron, and Crystal, the part member family
that's on date for baptism. We've been struggling to find out what, if
any, 15-year-old Camille's concerns are. She's really shy and doesn't
give us much to go on. But this time when we asked about how she's
feeling about her baptismal date in two weeks, she actually gave us a
timid nod, which is more than we usually get! So that's good. We're
excited for them. Please keep them in your prayers, that they can be
ready by the 24th!
And that evening we had an
appointment with Michael, a less active member. Our last visit didn't go
so well, we got hung up on his concern about the degrees of glory. But
this time went muuuch better. It was cool, the lesson went a totally
different direction than we had planned but ended up being exactly what
he needed. Definitely was led by the Spirit. He admitted to us that this
all basically comes down to whether he believes the Book of Mormon to
be the word of God or not, and that though he has been praying about it,
he hasn't been putting in the effort to study. As James wrote, faith
without works is dead, being alone. So he promised to start reading a
chapter of the BoM a day, and we promised to read right along with him
and come back and discuss together. Big progress from last time!
My
message for the week is from something that struck me at church this
week and also from 1 Nephi 10. In this chapter, Nephi relates some of
the words of his father Lehi as he prophecies concerning the coming of a
Messiah. Then he says this:
17 And it came to pass after I, Nephi, having heard all the words of my father, concerning the things which he saw in a vision, and also the things which he spake by the power of the Holy Ghost, which power he received by faith on the Son of God—and the Son of God was the Messiah who should come—I, Nephi, was desirous also that I might see, and hear, and know of these things, by the power of the Holy Ghost, which is the gift of God unto all those who diligently seek him, as well in times of old as in the time that he should manifest himself unto the children of men.
18 For he is the same yesterday, today, and forever; and the way is prepared for all men from the foundation of the world, if it so be that they repent and come unto him.
19 For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, as well in these times as in times of old, and as well in times of old as in times to come; wherefore, the course of the Lord is one eternal round.
As Nephi
learned about the Savior from the words of his father, he felt a desire
begin to grow inside of him, a desire to come to know this Savior for
himself. I think this is common to all of us: as we hear about the
Savior, who He is, and what He has done for us and can do for us, and as
we hear the testimonies of others, we begin to feel a desire to know
these things - and to know the Savior - for ourselves. Nephi teaches us
an important lesson here. No matter who we are or when we live or
whatever our circumstances - no matter what - we can all come to know
the Savior and have a testimony for ourselves. Even if we already
believe and have a testimony, we can have a stronger one. The way is
simple: repent, and come unto Him. Seek Him diligently and you will find
Him. The way to come to know the Savior is to make use of His
Atonement: to turn to Him and work diligently with Him to be healed and
changed by His grace. It is then that we will come to know Him
personally and have an unshakeable testimony of His divinity and
Atonement and love. If we will seek Him diligently, repent and come unto
Him, and follow His Spirit, we can and will come to know Him for
ourselves.
Wherever you personally are in your
relationship with the Savior, please take time to strengthen that
relationship. Make a more full and deep use of the healing and changing
power of His Atonement. I promise you your life will change for the
better and you will have greater happiness and peace.
I love you all! Make yourselves a great week!
Elder Alex Swindler
Pictures:
1) Elder Frederick and I
2) District pic. From left to right, Elders Nelson, Merrill, Nelson, Bateman, me, Frederick
3-4) Double chin selfies
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