November 23, 2010
Hello everyone!!
Well this week was a great week. We got a lot done and have a lot of fun stories. The first one starts out Saturday night we were sitting in a lesson with a woman who had a baptism date for next week and I felt like I needed to invite her to be baptized the next day... It’s really hard to try and convince someone to be baptized the following day but I thought hey why not she is ready! So I gave her the challenge and at first she said no, I'm going to be baptized next week. But it was really cool to be able to respond to everyone one of her concerns, and finally she just stopped sat there in silence for what seemed like three hours and then she said "ok I'll do it"... with a huge smile on her face it was the most exciting thing in the world! So cool. So we hard her baptism this Sunday which was one of the best baptisms I have ever been to very spiritual everything just went together perfectly. The branch here is really starting to come together here and it is a very neat thing to witness I am very excited for this area. We had another cool lesson where we sat down and instead of the lesson we had planned we just got out our hymnbooks and would sing a hymn and then share a message about it and then sing another hymn and share a message about it. It was a very fun lesson and also really spiritual it was just what the investigator needed on that day. I'm so grateful for the hymns and the spirit they bring when we sing them as a praise to our Father in Heaven, we taught another lesson last night actually which was one of the most powerful lessons I or my companion have taught. As we walked in the door we both knew that we needed to talk about the word of wisdom so as we asked him about it he told us he had a problem with the word of wisdom with smoking and coffee. I swear the whole lesson I was just sitting there writing in my planner scriptures and outlines of messages that came to my head and I saw the word of wisdom in a whole new way. I'm so grateful for this commandment, which really blesses our lives more then, we can know. It was interesting the week before he had told us he wasn’t baptized because he hadn’t felt the "desire” we were able to bear strong testimony that it was because of the word of wisdom that he hasn’t felt that desire. Its like this we know that the spirit touches our hearts and that’s what gives us the desire. Our bodies are temples of Heavenly Father and that is why we can have the spirit touch our hearts but if we are doing everything in our power to keep these bodies clean (drugs, alcohol, smoking, coffee) we aren’t showing respect for the temple of God and the spirit cannot and will not be with us and for this reason we don’t feel the spirit. For a long time I always thought the word of wisdom was so that we could have energy and health but it’s so so much more than that. That’s why one of the blessings is hidden treasure of knowledge or a testimony!! The law of chastity is the same exact thing and every other commandment that God gives we have to keep them BEFORE we get that witness or testimony of the trial of our faith. And then he told us well ill try to stop smoking but I don’t want to make a promise I cant keep. Well that doesn’t fly! You can say that about anything and stay promise free and never have a responsibility the rest of your life but we have to learn to make promises and commitments. It’s that way of our Heavenly Father only he calls them covenants. SO we got to share a story with him of a man who kept the hardest promise of all who made a promise and kept it even thought he was scared and didn’t know if he could keep it but he did! And it is because of this man that we are all here and have the chance to one day return and live with God for eternity it is because of our Savior Jesus Christ. Yeah we are going to mess up we are going to make mistakes but it’s ok. Its part of the plan. The question is are we going to let the atonement of our Savior be in vain or are we going to do everything we can to repent and use that sacrifice in our lives. We can use it for anything to stop smoking, to stop bad habits, to repent of a sin, and to get back the joy and happiness that we are supposed to have in the life. I know the Jesus is the Christ. I know that God is our Heavenly Father and is just waiting for us to keep the commandments so he can bless us. I hope you all are reading the book of Mormon because that book is key it can become our personal liahona it is how we can receive the personal revelation. Never forget that the last part of the gospel of Jesus Christ is endured to the end. Never stop just keep pushing on and you will be blessed. Im so grateful for the chance to be a representative of Jesus Christ for this short time. I know this is where im supposed to be and I love it here.
I love you all and I hope you have a great week and a great thanksgiving!!
Well this week was a great week. We got a lot done and have a lot of fun stories. The first one starts out Saturday night we were sitting in a lesson with a woman who had a baptism date for next week and I felt like I needed to invite her to be baptized the next day... It’s really hard to try and convince someone to be baptized the following day but I thought hey why not she is ready! So I gave her the challenge and at first she said no, I'm going to be baptized next week. But it was really cool to be able to respond to everyone one of her concerns, and finally she just stopped sat there in silence for what seemed like three hours and then she said "ok I'll do it"... with a huge smile on her face it was the most exciting thing in the world! So cool. So we hard her baptism this Sunday which was one of the best baptisms I have ever been to very spiritual everything just went together perfectly. The branch here is really starting to come together here and it is a very neat thing to witness I am very excited for this area. We had another cool lesson where we sat down and instead of the lesson we had planned we just got out our hymnbooks and would sing a hymn and then share a message about it and then sing another hymn and share a message about it. It was a very fun lesson and also really spiritual it was just what the investigator needed on that day. I'm so grateful for the hymns and the spirit they bring when we sing them as a praise to our Father in Heaven, we taught another lesson last night actually which was one of the most powerful lessons I or my companion have taught. As we walked in the door we both knew that we needed to talk about the word of wisdom so as we asked him about it he told us he had a problem with the word of wisdom with smoking and coffee. I swear the whole lesson I was just sitting there writing in my planner scriptures and outlines of messages that came to my head and I saw the word of wisdom in a whole new way. I'm so grateful for this commandment, which really blesses our lives more then, we can know. It was interesting the week before he had told us he wasn’t baptized because he hadn’t felt the "desire” we were able to bear strong testimony that it was because of the word of wisdom that he hasn’t felt that desire. Its like this we know that the spirit touches our hearts and that’s what gives us the desire. Our bodies are temples of Heavenly Father and that is why we can have the spirit touch our hearts but if we are doing everything in our power to keep these bodies clean (drugs, alcohol, smoking, coffee) we aren’t showing respect for the temple of God and the spirit cannot and will not be with us and for this reason we don’t feel the spirit. For a long time I always thought the word of wisdom was so that we could have energy and health but it’s so so much more than that. That’s why one of the blessings is hidden treasure of knowledge or a testimony!! The law of chastity is the same exact thing and every other commandment that God gives we have to keep them BEFORE we get that witness or testimony of the trial of our faith. And then he told us well ill try to stop smoking but I don’t want to make a promise I cant keep. Well that doesn’t fly! You can say that about anything and stay promise free and never have a responsibility the rest of your life but we have to learn to make promises and commitments. It’s that way of our Heavenly Father only he calls them covenants. SO we got to share a story with him of a man who kept the hardest promise of all who made a promise and kept it even thought he was scared and didn’t know if he could keep it but he did! And it is because of this man that we are all here and have the chance to one day return and live with God for eternity it is because of our Savior Jesus Christ. Yeah we are going to mess up we are going to make mistakes but it’s ok. Its part of the plan. The question is are we going to let the atonement of our Savior be in vain or are we going to do everything we can to repent and use that sacrifice in our lives. We can use it for anything to stop smoking, to stop bad habits, to repent of a sin, and to get back the joy and happiness that we are supposed to have in the life. I know the Jesus is the Christ. I know that God is our Heavenly Father and is just waiting for us to keep the commandments so he can bless us. I hope you all are reading the book of Mormon because that book is key it can become our personal liahona it is how we can receive the personal revelation. Never forget that the last part of the gospel of Jesus Christ is endured to the end. Never stop just keep pushing on and you will be blessed. Im so grateful for the chance to be a representative of Jesus Christ for this short time. I know this is where im supposed to be and I love it here.
I love you all and I hope you have a great week and a great thanksgiving!!
Love, Elder Mender
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