We had a fantastic week! Not only was General Conference incredible,
but we found some awesome new people and got a lot of exciting news!
We will be participating in the cultural celebration for the Phoenix
Temple with some song in sign language (it's like Primary all over
again) and also helping set up the furniture after the open house and
before the dedication. We can go to the open house once a week if we
go with an investigator! It will be an exciting next transfer! Elder
Fife and I are both staying in the Cedar Hill ward.
We also became the first mission in the world to go completely, 100%
digital! Yea, no more papers for us! It is exciting and also a little
scary. There are so many effective things we can do now, and our
mission has more access to applications than any other mission in the
world. We are in a way pioneering/revolutionizing the tools used for
missionary work. Since we were some of the first missionaries to get
iPads and Facebook, I think the missionary department trusts us quite
a bit. That's why it's a little scary. But some of the things we can
do now are create baptismal/event programs, fliers, spreadsheets to
organize and present information etc. So it's been fun! All the
missionaries also got to watch the new film Meet the Mormons last
week. Does anyone know if it will be coming to Portland at all? If
not, you can request it at www.meetthemormons.com. I was honestly
surprised at how good it was! It will help a lot of people understand
who we are more and feel the Spirit without making them feel we are
pushing doctrine on them. So yea! Watch it! There is so much positive
media the church is creating for us to use to flood the earth with
good things!
So Francisco is the man. He is on fire and has already read over 150
pages in the Book of Mormon (he started a week and a half ago!). We
reset a baptism date with him for Nov. 8 due to scheduling conflicts.
He is so pumped. He loved Priesthood session of Conference and also
Sunday afternoon! He has been looking for some reason to turn his life
around, something he knew God wanted him to do. He has gone to other
churches and never knew if he believed in Jesus Christ and always
fought inside against what he read in the Bible. Since reading the
Book of Mormon, his heart has changed 180 degrees. He dropped
completely all the substance abuse and other issues he had, and he
tells us now that not only does he know the church and the Book of
Mormon is true, but that he now knows Jesus is his Savior. What a
testimony builder for me! At times I have underestimated the power and
Spirit behind the Book of Mormon, but it truly is that second witness
of Jesus Christ. The promises are sure that all who read sincerely,
seeking truth from God will come to know by the Holy Spirit FIRSTLY
that Jesus Christ is their Savior, that Joseph Smith was a prophet of
God, and that the true Church of Jesus Christ has been restored. We
often stress too much perhaps that if people read it they can know he
church was restored. But what a powerful witness it truly is of Jesus
Christ and his Atoning love for all of us. The Book of Mormon truly
can change lives.
Our lesson with S-- yesterday at Bishop's house was an eye opener
for me as well. She has had such a hard time lately accepting the Book
of Mormon and is still scared to open it up, read it, and find out it
is true. We felt prompted to just bag the lesson we had planned and
read with her in the book of Alma chapter 32 of the Book of Mormon.
She could relate with the people Alma was teaching who were kicked out
of their synagogues (she recently was kicked out of her last church).
As we read about planting the seed of the word of God, and nurturing
it with faith, diligence, and patience, this lightbulb suddenly went
off and she understood what she needed to do! It was so cool! We
hardly did anything, but the Spirit taught her truth, and her
"understanding [did] begin to be enlightened, and [her] mind [did]
begin to expand."
Alma 32:34
http://www.lds.org/scriptures/
For some reason when General Conference comes around its like
Christmas time for missionaries. It's like new updated toys! What a
neat opportunity we have every 6 months to listen to God's Prophets -
prophets! Just like Moses, or Abraham, or Nephi to whom God spoke
personally. Anyone can know these men have been called of God if they
will just listen to their words. My favorite talks came from Elder
Jorg Klebnigat and Elder D. Todd Christofferson. Honestly I loved all
the talks, but in particular these two. They highlighted the fact that
we are all agents and can ACT to change our circumstances with the
help of our Heavenly Father. This email is already horrendously long,
so I will just paste the links to their talks and invite each of you
to go back and study all the talks! A pattern that helped me get a lot
out of conference is by asking myself "what is the doctrine they are
teaching?" And "what are they inviting us to DO?" True gospel learning
comes when we not only hear, but also DO the will of God. I know these
things are true. I know God has called prophets again to lead us. It's
the smartest thing to do if we want true happiness now and forever.
I love you all!! Stay awesome! :))
Elder Collin Christensen
https://www.lds.org/general-
https://www.lds.org/general-
No comments:
Post a Comment