April 29. 2013

Faith in Jesus Christ
Monday is a pretty great day isn't it! I always look forward to hearing from everyone and sharing some good ol experiences! My new companion is Elder Kiene (like zucchini minus the zoo) so he's not Elder Caine, But Elder Kiene is from Sunnyvale California and he's been out about a year.  He's a nice guy. Really quiet which is different from Elder Weston haha. But things are going well, he's a hard worker that's the biggest thing I could ask for! We are still in the same house with the Thomsen's, they're so awesome. We've been trying to talk to them more so that we're not just two strangers chillin in the back of their house. They're hilarious. We have heard quite a bit about the burglary escapade but those two Elders are in my zone! I haven't met them yet but I have heard of Elder Brown before. One of our neighbors (A less active) just got robbed about a week ago now.

I'm glad to hear the missionary moms are starting a little group. "Sisterhood of the Traveling Sons", eh? Run that by the group, I'm sure they'd love that.   

So this week was pretty good!!! On Monday night we stopped by C and we talked about her baptism. She's going through a divorce and she was so incredibly stressed so we postponed her baptism for this Saturday, the 4th. (I'll be sure to get some pictures) But she's doing awesome. I'm so glad she found the gospel at this point in her life, it's so cool to see her at church. She's only been three times but it feels like she is a member of the ward. And yesterday she came in a dress without anyone asking her to! haha. Tuesday was Elder Weston's last night so that was a little sad, we had a couple lessons of sorts, stop bys, let him bid farewell to all those that would let us in.
We had to be at the Mission Office at 730 on Wednesday because it ends up Elder Weston is finishing someones training! A young man named Payson took us and stayed with me, I actually met the Elder that I replaced in my area, Elder Hemi. SO that was cool. Anyways we had an awesome transfer meeting, President talked about how we can have a Miracle May and Jumbo June. Through faith and diligence, it was awesome.

So I bid farewell to Elder Weston and me and Elder Kiene set off!! (Ends up he just got done training Elder Corbridge who was in my MTC District so that was cool. I saw Elder Ault (From Riverton) for a brief second as well as Elder Bailey (Also from Riverton) and I saw my good pal Elder Keeler who is already training this transfer!! He's a good missionary). We met with J for the first time in a long time. We talked about his beliefs and the gospel of Jesus Christ. He doesn't agree with the organizations of the Priesthood, Apostles, Prophets, well I shouldn't say agree, he just doesn't understand. Anyways it was an awesome lesson and he promised to pray about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith specifically.
We were able to discern a lot of our investigators concerns this week. We found out why S and H can't get married and they agreed to meet with the Bishop, actually they asked to meet with him. But once this little financial situation gets figured out S agreed to be baptized. She has changed so much! Also Jesus told us he doesn't really have a testimony, it was sad, but relieving because he was finally straight up with us. It ruled. We saw loads of miracles this week. We contacted this guy named S whom me and Elder Weston tried to contact for 3 months. Only saw him once that whole time. I was headed to see someone else when I saw him standing outside. So we stopped, and he talked to us! Ends up he believes that he has been saved. So I was like, to heck with it I'm gonna be bold. I asked him what that really means. He excitedly exclaims, "I'm Born Again!" ok. What does that mean? And he was stumped. I bore my testimony that he had taken a step in the right direction (He's a recovering drug addict) by accepting Christ and promised him that we have a prophet on the earth today. He is going to come to church with us next week to check it out. Miracles Miracles.

Well I have rambled and this is very scattered but one last miracle. The entire G family came to church yesterday! And the son who is getting baptized bore his testimony, super short, but super cool. Also a new investigator Ri came and stayed the whole time! Miracles I tell you! (I accidentally called R, C 5 times in our lesson this week... It was bad new.)

As I knelt in prayer before my personal study I pleaded with Heavenly Father to help me gain the confidence that I needed to adequately fulfill my purpose as a missionary. As I read Preach My Gospel I came across this paragraph.
"As the Lord's servant, you are to do His Work in His Way and by His Power. 

Some missionaries feel confident that they know how to be successful. Others lack such confidence.
Remember, however, that your confidence and faith should be in Christ, not in yourself."

I literally almost fell out of my chair. Like seriously........ I had never read that. It was an absolute answer to my prayers. Heavenly Father heard my pleading with Him and I don't know what lead me to that page but I know He had a hand in it. I know that He is there for me, if I do everything that I need to He will always help me. Sometimes it's not easy, one thing I learned this week is not everyone is going to be willing or ready to receive the gospel. That's a misconception I had. But I know that there are those people and I just need to find them! 
"Never confuse free agency with failure", Beautiful. I'm going to use that one.

I know this church is true and that Joseph Smith truly saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I know that Heavenly Father loves each and everyone one of us and that He is literally Our Father. He gave us the restored gospel, so that we may all come closer to his son Jesus Christ. I'm so grateful for the healing power of the Atonement and it's absolute reality. I know that he answers our prayers, all we have to do is ask and be willing to act. I've witnessed this first hand several times on my mission already. I love spreading this great news! I love you all soooooooooooooo much!!!!!

 Elder ALexander