Holaaaa otra vez!
Time has become the weirdest thing in the world to me recently, I dont know how to comprehend or think of it haha! One day this week I told my comp that I had been in thay day longer than the mission, and he fell over laughing so hard. But now here i am again on monday! We got 3 days until i start my fifth transfer! That'll be 6 months down which was so fast, but on the other hand, it feels like I have been in this mission for my whole entire life.
Missionary wise, we had a terrible week last week haha! We worked all day everyday, and we did not find one person. Not a single. The one guy we did find told us before the end of the week he never wanted us to come back. Noice.
But it has taught me a lot of patience. Im not here for me, I am under the Lords will. If he wants me to baptizd 1000 people or 10 that is up to him, and i have eliminated myself as a variable doing everything that i possibly can to be what he needs me to be. Its a refreshing feeling :) And this week was a lot better and we had some special lessons!
I need to rant about the Book of Mormon for a minute because my mind has been blown. I finally started reading it again last week and I cant describe the beauty of its words. I waited to start it again until i finished the old testament so I have been waiiiiiiting and waiting and halfway through this last week i started and i got to mosiah in a matter of like 4 days. Its all so good, Not a single one of us can comprehend the importance of the book of mormon. Its beautiful simplicity and its straightfowardness. After having read through the old testament prophesies for so long i have so come to appreciate and, delight in the plainness, of the Book of Mormon.
Also, Nephi is my favorite book of mormon prophet and book. Hands down no questions asked. First and second nephi are the deepest books in the book of mormon. I would almost say you can learn almost as much in those two books than you can anywhere else in the entire book mormon. I read second nephi 25 this last week and as i read the words i was so overcome with gratefulness and emotion. I had to pray and thank our heavenly father for the words we are given to read in our days, and the dedication and love of these godly men. I would challenge you all to read that chapter. There is a reason nephi is the first two books in the book of mormon. They are the most important and need the most attention and studying and pondering. I truly felt like i was feasting on the words.
One of the most interesting thing here on the mission is seeing people's different reactions to the things we say. You can tell who has an open heart and who is receptive to the spirit immediately. For example, I frequently at the end of our first lesson with somebody (or even in introduction) that we are messengers from God, and you need to listen to us. And some peoples eyes will widen and usher us in or lean forward in their chairs, and some people just say, yes of course you are. But dont listen haha! But i suppose im not in a place to judge, ive thought about if i was in one of their shoes and didnt know about the gospel and two young men knocked at my door telling me they are messengers from God, would i take them seriously?
But the more i thought about it the more i realized that we have those opportunities even as people who have been blessed with the knowledge of the gospel. But more is on the line for us haha! Do we listen to the prophet when he speaks? When he tells us to do our duty in gathering israel and read the scriptures and repent and become more Christlike do we take it to heart? Do we listen to ancient prophets and their teachings, or do we even really know what they say? Its one thing to say it all in theory, of course we do! But i think as of recently, the Lord is teaching me that there is always more that i can do if i want to reach the goals that i desire. Even on a mission it is so easy to become complacent and think as though im doing everything i can do and to just expect blessings and what i want, but the Lord has never worked like that.
I believe the most beneficial thing i have learned from the scriptures is more about the character of God. And knowing such, when we have questions about why things are rhe way they are, we can realize for ourselves why when we know how he works and loves us. And everything begins to make more sense. I have had a cool experience in learning all of this first hand. I have learned the holy ghost speaks almost as wave lengths of information. Theyre just floating above your head, and they increase in density, frequency and knowledge as you go higher. The wavelength on which you reside determines what makes sense to you, and the higher you go, the more is spoken to you. Consequently, some things about the gospel and the interworkings of the holy spirit, you just come to know. They are just made known to you and make sense because you are on that level and you can decipher the messages of the level you are on.
Obviously it is easy to want to grow and made things obvious and make more sense bit are we willing to work and climb that ladder? Do you do your responsibility as a member of the church and the tribe of ephraim in sharing the gospel? Or are you having your cake and eating it too? Do you go to the temple and read your scriptures? Do you teach your family the truths and bottom lines of the gospel? Ive also come to learn receptivity, does not change the truth. Do you fulfill church calling and minister to others? This is what is expected of us whether or not we recieve blessings, but of course because we have a perfectly loving heavenly father who loves effort, he richly blesses our lives anyway. I hope we are all doing what we need to be doing.
I love you all and thank you for your support and messages and love! This is Jesus Christ's gospel.
- elder b
