Where to begin... This last week has been a fantastic
week! A very bitter, but very sweet week as well. I have been called to go
serve over in Revere, Massachusetts now and will be leaving tomorrow morning
(Sept. 29, 2013) bright and early. Elder Treseder from my MTC district is coming down here to
replace me and so I am excited for that. I love him so much, and hope he will
love this wonderful area here in Bridgeport. My new companion will be Elder
Sompi, who was Elder Jones' companion before me. I have already met him before when
we went to Boston for P-Day for Elder Hawks' last P-Day. He is a great Elder and
I am looking forward to serving with him.
This last week was jammed with so much work. For this
month our Zone Leaders gave a challenge to the zone that whoever had the most
members present at investigator lessons would get a nice dinner from them. So
after a lot of wonderfully hard days we WON! It has been such a great blessing
to see the power and extra Spirit that comes from having a member present at
every lesson. The work picked up even more, the members get more excited to
share, and we as missionaries were blessed to see others, both members and non-members alike come closer to Christ. We ended up telling them that we didn't
want a huge dinner but rather 50 cent ice cream cones from McDonalds. =D.
The past few days in particular have been weird since it
is my first time during a transfer where I am leaving. I was able to meet with
all the people we were working with. Sunday was all the investigators (most of
them) and so many doors opened as a result. We stopped by Kaylas with Gabe (her
bf) (she, by the way, was losing interest since we answered all of her questions), but I was able to
just share with her my love and the real reason behind why we and Gabe are
there. The Spirit that came was so sweet and a great blessing. We were able to
meet with her dad and mom and found little opportunities where the door with
them could open more and more.
Just visit after visit was such a tender
blessing from the Lord. I have come to love all these people so much and it is
really hard to leave them, but I know that the Lord wants me to go to Revere
now.
One of the sweetest things to me has been how the Lord can expand our hearts. I
loved being able to meet with these wonderful people one last time to express
my gratitude and love for them and one of the most sweetest and most tender parts was
when I was able to bare my testimony to them and express that love and then
after leave them with a blessing. Whether it was through prayer or offering a
blessing with my hands on their heads, they were truly tender moments for me.
Every day of my mission my eyes open more and more for all
that the Lord has done for me. I am awakened more and more each and every day
that truly I am nothing without him. Everything that I have been, I am and will
become is solely through his great love and mercy towards me. He loves me
so much that he has blessed me with the ability to choose for myself, but even
more than that he grants me life each and every day and his Spirit to be able
to go out and help his other sons and daughters come to a knowledge that He
truly is there and does love them. There is no greater blessing to me than
this. To see peoples lives change and to be able to be a part of that, to be
able to be an instrument in the Lord's hands.
I can now understand greater the joy and gratitude that
Ammon expressed in the book of Alma 26:11-12
11 But Ammon said unto him: I do not aboast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my bjoy is full, yea, my heart is brim with cjoy, and I will rejoice in my God.
12 Yea, I know that I am anothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will bnot boast of myself, but I will cboast of my God, for in his dstrength I can do all ethings; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.
I know with all my heart and soul that this church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is Christ's church fully restored on the earth today.
I know that we have a prophet on the earth today as we did in the days of Moses and Abraham and that his name is Thomas S. Monson.
I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the World and that He loves each and every one of us more than we can ever come close to comprehend. I know that He lives and oh what joy, what peace and what strength that knowledge brings. These things are ever more solidified in my heart, soul and mind more and more every day for I have felt his presence so many times in my life, felt his love, felt his guidance and have seen so many beautiful miracles in my life and in the lives of others.
I know that God truly is a God of grace, love, peace, power and miracles. I have seen his hand more and more abundantly in my life and know that truly "I am nothing" and so I shall not boast of myself but rather "I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things." And So I will praise his name forever!
All you reading this I bare my solemn testimony that I know that these things are true and I invite you all to come to know your Savior and Redeemer, who is Jesus Christ, better than you do now and not to just know of him. He truly is there waiting for you to turn to him and I promise you that He will prove all his words to you as he has done for me.
I leave this things with you, in the sacred and wonderful name, of Jesus Christ, amen.
3 And my brother, Jacob, also has aseen him as I have seen him; wherefore, I will send their words forth unto my children to prove unto them that my words are true. Wherefore, by the words of bthree, God hath said, I will establish my word. Nevertheless, God sendeth more cwitnesses, and he proveth all his words.
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