Dear Family,
It was wonderful to skype you all this past Christmas. I love hearing your voices and telling you about funny stories and spiritual experiences. I know it might be hard for you to hear that yes, a good week is when we get one lesson. That's just how things are in the Maritimes. Personally I think there are plenty of prepared and interested people to teach the gospel to. We come in contact with lots of them every single day. People are interested and prepared. They are not interested or prepared in dissapointing their families. There is hard tradition here, but that's really okay. How can we expect to be blessed with the blessings of Heaven when the saints traveling across in handcarts kept going when their feet were bleeding and freezing off and we are complaining about not teaching enough people. I like what Elder Ballard says about this situation "If you want more people to teach, you have to talk to more people." This isn't some gross numbers game or factory machine to where we talk to X amount of people and out plomps a baptism. The principle behind talking with everyone is just that. We aren't here to convert people. We are here to invite people. Many non-members and even members look at missionaries and conclude that we are just baptizing machines, that's all we are here for. That is not our purpose. Our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them partake of the restored gospel. We simply invite. That's about it. The Spirit's job on the other hand is to convert willing souls.
I'd like to talk about questions again. We learn in the Doctrine and Covenants that the Glory of God is intelligence. God gave us brains to think and to reason. It is offensive to our Heavenly Father when we aren't learning or don't think we have to learn. We learn by asking questions. We are not sponges who soak up the scriptures by reading. We are children of our Heavenly Father. We learn when there's a conversation occuring. Satan understands this entirely. Whenever we don't want to ask questions or learn, whenever there's that resistance, that is Satan. Especially with 'why' questions. Asking 'why' always produces more information and knowledge for us. It is hard to ask why people are not interested in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, but it is necessary. Information precedes revelation. Try this out. Ask people why throughout the day. See how hard it is to ask why. You may feel like you'll offend someone, but no, that's just Satan. Ask why
This week being Christmas was an enjoyable week. It's always a blessing to be set-apart to represent the Saviour. We have been knocking and street contacting more. More people just need to know about the restored gospel. I have felt some resistance from Satan this past week as we are out contacting people. Satan just tries so hard in Atlantic Canada because he knows the potential this place has. The active members, the members that attend the temple regularly (I'd say out of the 7000 that are members only about 400 attend the temple, do their home teaching and visiting teaching, and pay their tithing) are just amazing. They understand the scriptures in a marvelous way. One thing that I'm learning on my mission is to apply the scriptures, that's how we gain a testimony. Dad you would call it the follow-through when we're shooting hoops. Yes, clearly we read, pray, and ponder. The capstone is the application!! Cool beans we've read about fasting or taught a class about tithing. We need to set goals and make plans for the scriptures we study. The Spirit that comes from applying and living the gospel is unreal-it's amazing!
We are also focusing on planning more effectively. Many missionaries in our zone are making the same mistakes that ward councils often make. Planning activities not planning for people. How many ward councils get together and plan this extravagent ward party for the active ward members who don't need any help while the less-active and struggling members aren't even invited personally? There are plenty of missionaries that just go out and knock because it's an activity. They aren't focusing on helping people progress towards the next available ordinance they can receive. We are following the planning guidelines in our planners more fervently. Things just make sense when you follow the Prophet.
Plenty of the people we talk to flip out that we don't worship
on Saturday, we believe marriage to be between a man and a woman, we don't support drinking smoking, or sex or that we go to the temple to make additional covenants. These are all valid concerns that are important to understand. What matters is that we understand that Jesus Christ restored His church through the prophet Joseph Smith. If we don't understand why we need to pay tithing, or do family history work, or do home teaching. If we don't understand the church's stance on abortion or divorce. All we need to do is read the Book of Mormon, ponder, pray willingly and apply. President Uchtdorf said to experiment! Our real concern is whether Jesus Christ restored His church. We can understand this by reading the Book of Mormon.
We are just pushing forward and working hard. That's all we really can do. Yes it would be great if we could teach more people, get into a door, bring someone back into activity, have a functioning ward council. But even the saints as their feet were bleeding press forward, they didn't forget who their Saviour was. I know that any miracle is caused by the Atonement. The Saviour may have wanted to give up in Gethsemane. Nephi may have wanted to quit and not get the plates. Alma could have desired to lose faith with the Zoramites. But they didn't. They press forward. God has commanded that missionaries be in Atlantic Canada to preach the gospel. When God makes a commandment He provides a way. He doesn't change His mind. We can't go back without the plates, walk away from the garden, or not walk up Calvary Hill. I know that we can do this. Heavenly Father is real and He knows what He is doing. This is His work and we are here to assist Him. He understands that Maritimers need to take things slow, relax, and just progress at a comfortable pace. I need to capture that vision. I know this church is true! #Coleharbour #newutah #jello #eastcoast
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