Hey folks!
It's about time that I write
y'all another of my huge emails, and I actually have time this week, so
brace yourselves. :) I'll try to catch you up a little on the area as
well, since I didn't say much last week.
We
had a pretty awesome week this week. I have decided that Asheville is
officially the best. I love this area!! The ward loves us and trusts us
and works with us, we have a lot of really progressing investigators,
the work is moving forward, and it's the greatest. Also, I love Elder
Creasey a lot. He's so kind and genuine, and he's super solid in the
gospel, and he's also super on top of things here in Asheville. I kind
of hope I stay with him until the end of my mission, but I also have a
feeling that I'll probably have one more companion before all is said
and done. We'll see. But for right now, we're working hard together and
moving forward and things are going great.
We
met with a girl named Karla this week. Karla is really cool. She's 18,
she's from Venezuela, and she's just here for a few months to prepare to
come to college in the States. She started meeting with missionaries a
month or two ago. It's actually a crazy story. She took an Uber across
town one day, and during the 2-5 minutes she was in the car, she
mentioned to the driver (who happened to be a member of our ward) that
she's thinking about going to school at a place called LDS Business
College... So he asked her if she knew anything about the Church, and
would she like to learn? She said she didn't know anything, and she
would love to meet with missionaries. She had actually been praying just
days before for God to show her how she could follow Him. Cool right??
We had a great visit with her at our Bishop's house. She opened up about
how she struggles with feeling unworthy even though she has repented of
her past mistakes. We talked about the Atonement and repentance and
God's love for her, and it was reeeally good. The Spirit was really
strong. She set a date for baptism for March 17, and she picked the day herself!
We
are also meeting with a guy named Bill who has investigated for ages
but is just now starting to move forward. He finally has gotten engaged
to his girlfriend who he's been living with, which is super exciting!
That and some Word of Wisdom concerns were all that were holding him
back from baptism. And he's agreed to start coming to the Church's
Addiction Recovery Program, which will help a lot with his Word of
Wisdom concerns.
We had a great visit with an
excommunicated member named Wayne. He is coming to church now but still
has some concerns that hold him back from being rebaptized. But we had a
great discussion with him and I feel like he could really change his
life for the better. He seems to me like he's ready, even if he doesn't
realize he is. He met with the Bishop this week which is huge progress
for him!
I'm pretty sure I mentioned Lora and
Griffin last week, the mother and son who were baptized right when I got
here. They are doing great! We saw them like 3 times this week and
talked to them a lot on the phone. Lora has tons of questions for us and
is just on fire about the Gospel. It's pretty amazing to see just how
much the Savior has changed her life for the better. And I love how
excited she is to learn as much as she can. It reminds me of just how
beautiful the truths of the gospel really are. Too often I take them for
granted.
One more cool story and then I'll
finish up. We came back to the church for something a couple hours after
church on Sunday, and the Bishop was on his way out, and told us he had
a referral for us! Just a little before we got there, a man named
Shakur (shuh-KOOR) walked in and started talking to the Bishop and one
of his counselors. He told him about a lot of his struggles and how he's
trying to get his life back in order, but that he has a lot of things
in his past that he regrets. He asked if somebody could teach him about
repentance. It was way cool! We called him right away and were able to
meet with him that afternoon. He's got a lot of potential.
My
message this week is about prayer and how we can make our prayers more
effective. There's a quote from the LDS Bible Dictionary that stood out
to me this week:
"Christians are taught to
pray in Christ’s name. We pray in Christ’s name when our mind is the
mind of Christ, and our wishes the wishes of Christ--when His words
abide in us. We then ask for things it is possible for God to grant.
Many prayers remain unanswered because they are not in Christ’s name at
all; they in no way represent His mind but spring out of the selfishness
of man’s heart."
When we strive to align
our own will with the will of our Savior, even when doing so is
difficult and requires uncomfortable changes and even sacrifices, our
lives will begin to reflect that of the Savior, and we will begin to
bear fruits that bring us and others real joy. We do that by striving to
make our prayers "...the act by which the will of the Father and the
will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other"
(-Bible dictionary). Truly praying in the name of Jesus Christ, as we
are commanded, is more than simply saying "in the name of Jesus Christ,
amen." It is trying to pray as Jesus would pray if He were kneeling next
to us and praying for us.
We can bring our own
will in harmony with the Savior's by abiding in Him - by striving to
keep His commandments, to be like Him, to do as He would do, and to fill
our minds and hearts with His words.
"Abide in
me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it
abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine,
ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same
bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. ...If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples." (John 15)
As
we strive to bring our lives and our own wills in harmony with God's, I
testify that He will help us. "...and every branch that beareth fruit,
he [my Father] purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit." (John
15) I testify that the Savior lives and that He loves us. I testify that
He is orchestrating our lives for our good. If we will seek His will
for us and try to align ourselves with Him, we will find greater joy
than we have ever imagined.
I love you all!
Elder Alex Swindler
