well first off i gotta say rightnow has been the greatest part of my mission. its amazing the things that are happening here in sheboygan. str8 up amazing. im blessed to take part in it.
so this week i had exchanges with both sets of elders the english and hmong elders. exchanges...wow this week was rediculous! wednesday i went into hmongs area. elder mckay came and picked me up within 20 minutes we had a baptismal date. it was crazy. we went to their investigators house ended up teaching his daughter through 2nephi31 and now she wants to be baptized on october 19th october 19this gonna be a huge day...as a distirct...we are gonna have over 8 baptisms as of now...talk about miracles. but emily is str8 up golden. elder mckay and i honestly we have the best unity in lessons more than ive had with any of my companions. its crazy hhow the spirit thrives as we teach and we can both feel its guidance. wednesday night we set some lofty goals....but we had faith that we could make them. our goal was to teach 18 lessons and 10 new investigators. distirct meeting this week i really felt impressed to talk about well i just really broke down D&C 100 and focused on our savior and his atonement... i was preparing for district meeting and verse 4 really hit me hard for somereason.. "i have suffered you to come unto this place for thus it was expedient in me for the salvation of souls." wherever you are ...that second, that minute that hour of rough trackting, that door being slammed in your face, whatever it may be...the lord has suffered for each and everyone of us to be there. for me the power of my saviors atonement becomes more real and real each and everyday. the focus of district meeting was finding...keeping our lines in the water at all times. not only that but trusting in your savior, having confidence and trust in him that opportunities will come and when they do we need to "lift up our voices" and not be nervouse or unconfident in what to say but we need to trust our heavenly father and savior that they will lift up our voices with the things that they would say. i love in alma 26 when ammon just blows your mind up with the spirit. everything happens because of our heavenly fathers grace. the whole chapter is so powerful but i love verse 22. we come to know 4 steps that we must do in order to bring forth thousands of souls just like the miracles ammon saw. 1." he that repenteth"- we have to know our weaknesses. 2. "excersiseth faith" we must act in faith to overcome. 3. "bringeth forth good works" be diligent work work work. 4. "pray without ceasing"
so my commitment i prayed hard to figure it out...and this scripture really gave me the answer. as a district we all committed to before any door opens (apartment, car) to sincerly pray to have opportunities to find those that are prepared. to have opportunities wherever the day may take you to have opportunities to lift up your voice and share this amazing message we have. and i thought real hard and prayed to know what i could promise them. its a simple commitment something we all do...but i felt guidance as i promised them that there solid progressing investigators will double... and that promise was fullfilled this week!! it was absolutely amazing to see that. but finding was the focus of district meeting...in my exchange with elder mckay at the end of the day we had taught 26 lessons and had found 11 solid new investigators. we saw str8 milagros everywhere we walked. thursday i had exchanges with the english elders. elder cranney came here to the spanish area with me. what a day. it was a good 3 page journal entry day haha. the begining of the day was slow. doors slammed slammed and more slamming. elder cranney was getting a little down..but miracles happen on exchanges and i promised him that. the next door we knocked on opened right up! lenard. boy was he stoked to see us! he was great ful to see us. a great new investigator for english. it caught us real off gaurd on how accepting he was. crack up. we had a lesson with luis at 11... ill give ya a short version of it but it was probably one of the craziest spiritual lesson of my mission. luis...i feel is along for the ride. just one of those investigators. its carlos' brother in law. but i wanted to be as bold and as loving as i could this lesson. so i dug deep and so did elder cranney... we asked how he had gained a testimony of joseph smith...he told us "well through you too i feel good about it" when he said that we found out he hadnt been praying hadnt been doing one of the most important steps to conversion...asking his heavenly father. right then i received a prompting. PRAY. so thats what we did. i got down on my knees, elder cranney followed and as well did luis. hes a really shy guy...doesnt feel comfortable praying. we knelt there testifying of prayer. heavenly father is waiting. he wants to hear form all of us! so i started...i said a short prayer...then elder cranney...then it was luis' turn. we knelt there for a good 2 and a half minutes silently. the spirit was so strong. luis kept sayin i cant man i cant..but we just waited. i knew he felt the spirit he jus tneeded to listen to it. another minute went by and finally i just looked up at him and said... "hey luis..your father in heaven wants to hear from ya...all you have to do is ask him. he wants to give you the answer. and i promise you will receive that answer right after you pray" i dont think ive felt a prompting more strong than that one. and as i promised him he would receive that answer right then the spirit filled the room even more. silently we waited with our heads bowed. and then luis began to pray... well. luis received his answer the second he closed in the name of our savior. it was amazing. he just looked up at us smiling. INCREDIBLE MIRACLE. he told us he knew that joseph smith was now for sure a prophet of god. we went over what that means but still he wont except a baptismal date. something is holding him back...still need to find that grasp that is keeping that doubt. we found like crazy this week and had amazing spiritual experiences as a district. things continue to unfold. yesterday was the simple docterine sabath. bishop holmes puts a side each month one sacrament meeting that is devoted to the simple docterine of the church...which should be every sunday haha but here in sheboygan ya never know what to suspect. but it was a killer sacrament meeting. all the recent converts got up and gave talks. carlos, antonio they both gave powerful talks. and then brother klunk got up and gave a str8 up amazing talk. brother klunk...someday you all need to meet him.... but the reason bishop holmes does sacrament meetings like yesterdays is for our investigators... this ward is so missionary focused it is GREAT. and as missionarys through doing our part it really lifts the ward. speaking of a missionary minded ward we got a member refferal last week that i forgot to tell you about. indalecio. our first appointment was on wednesday...i was on exchanges but elder hernandez told me all about it. indalecio is amazing. he reminds me of grandma...just so prepared ready for the gospel. indalecio will be baptized october 19th if he can get work off and come to church. but he told us he will pray and fast for that opportunity. that alone shows his faith.... family i love my mission i hope ya know that and can feel it in my letters. i feel so blessed rightnow its rediculous....heavenly father never lets ya get comfortable though... he likes to throw curve balls to get ya even to higher hieghts. ill be training next transfer!! pretty sick eh? im so stoked!!!!!!!
ya know to become the greatest missionary heavenly father has in store for me ive been focusing on the weapons i have that are holding me back from blessings my heavenly father has in store for me, to become the "4th missionary". its hard and its different for everyone but i want my mission to change me i want it to be sacred and the best two years ..so ive been praying to know those weapons and then acting in faith and burring those weapons just like the anti nephi lehies. not forever but while im here. faith is a powerful word ive come to find out and through the faith they had and through their sacrafices they were made great servants of the lord... loose yourself in him and you will find yourself. ive "burried" a couple things that took me along time to shooot it was really hard as well and there in my heavenly fathers hands now...but i know through that great things will come to pass. as a district we have all been praying to know what more things we can do even better what weapons we still have out... sheboygan is rising....next transfer we will be soaring. heavenly father is lifting us... and its such a blessing. alma 26:36-37so this week i had exchanges with both sets of elders the english and hmong elders. exchanges...wow this week was rediculous! wednesday i went into hmongs area. elder mckay came and picked me up within 20 minutes we had a baptismal date. it was crazy. we went to their investigators house ended up teaching his daughter through 2nephi31 and now she wants to be baptized on october 19th october 19this gonna be a huge day...as a distirct...we are gonna have over 8 baptisms as of now...talk about miracles. but emily is str8 up golden. elder mckay and i honestly we have the best unity in lessons more than ive had with any of my companions. its crazy hhow the spirit thrives as we teach and we can both feel its guidance. wednesday night we set some lofty goals....but we had faith that we could make them. our goal was to teach 18 lessons and 10 new investigators. distirct meeting this week i really felt impressed to talk about well i just really broke down D&C 100 and focused on our savior and his atonement... i was preparing for district meeting and verse 4 really hit me hard for somereason.. "i have suffered you to come unto this place for thus it was expedient in me for the salvation of souls." wherever you are ...that second, that minute that hour of rough trackting, that door being slammed in your face, whatever it may be...the lord has suffered for each and everyone of us to be there. for me the power of my saviors atonement becomes more real and real each and everyday. the focus of district meeting was finding...keeping our lines in the water at all times. not only that but trusting in your savior, having confidence and trust in him that opportunities will come and when they do we need to "lift up our voices" and not be nervouse or unconfident in what to say but we need to trust our heavenly father and savior that they will lift up our voices with the things that they would say. i love in alma 26 when ammon just blows your mind up with the spirit. everything happens because of our heavenly fathers grace. the whole chapter is so powerful but i love verse 22. we come to know 4 steps that we must do in order to bring forth thousands of souls just like the miracles ammon saw. 1." he that repenteth"- we have to know our weaknesses. 2. "excersiseth faith" we must act in faith to overcome. 3. "bringeth forth good works" be diligent work work work. 4. "pray without ceasing"
so my commitment i prayed hard to figure it out...and this scripture really gave me the answer. as a district we all committed to before any door opens (apartment, car) to sincerly pray to have opportunities to find those that are prepared. to have opportunities wherever the day may take you to have opportunities to lift up your voice and share this amazing message we have. and i thought real hard and prayed to know what i could promise them. its a simple commitment something we all do...but i felt guidance as i promised them that there solid progressing investigators will double... and that promise was fullfilled this week!! it was absolutely amazing to see that. but finding was the focus of district meeting...in my exchange with elder mckay at the end of the day we had taught 26 lessons and had found 11 solid new investigators. we saw str8 milagros everywhere we walked. thursday i had exchanges with the english elders. elder cranney came here to the spanish area with me. what a day. it was a good 3 page journal entry day haha. the begining of the day was slow. doors slammed slammed and more slamming. elder cranney was getting a little down..but miracles happen on exchanges and i promised him that. the next door we knocked on opened right up! lenard. boy was he stoked to see us! he was great ful to see us. a great new investigator for english. it caught us real off gaurd on how accepting he was. crack up. we had a lesson with luis at 11... ill give ya a short version of it but it was probably one of the craziest spiritual lesson of my mission. luis...i feel is along for the ride. just one of those investigators. its carlos' brother in law. but i wanted to be as bold and as loving as i could this lesson. so i dug deep and so did elder cranney... we asked how he had gained a testimony of joseph smith...he told us "well through you too i feel good about it" when he said that we found out he hadnt been praying hadnt been doing one of the most important steps to conversion...asking his heavenly father. right then i received a prompting. PRAY. so thats what we did. i got down on my knees, elder cranney followed and as well did luis. hes a really shy guy...doesnt feel comfortable praying. we knelt there testifying of prayer. heavenly father is waiting. he wants to hear form all of us! so i started...i said a short prayer...then elder cranney...then it was luis' turn. we knelt there for a good 2 and a half minutes silently. the spirit was so strong. luis kept sayin i cant man i cant..but we just waited. i knew he felt the spirit he jus tneeded to listen to it. another minute went by and finally i just looked up at him and said... "hey luis..your father in heaven wants to hear from ya...all you have to do is ask him. he wants to give you the answer. and i promise you will receive that answer right after you pray" i dont think ive felt a prompting more strong than that one. and as i promised him he would receive that answer right then the spirit filled the room even more. silently we waited with our heads bowed. and then luis began to pray... well. luis received his answer the second he closed in the name of our savior. it was amazing. he just looked up at us smiling. INCREDIBLE MIRACLE. he told us he knew that joseph smith was now for sure a prophet of god. we went over what that means but still he wont except a baptismal date. something is holding him back...still need to find that grasp that is keeping that doubt. we found like crazy this week and had amazing spiritual experiences as a district. things continue to unfold. yesterday was the simple docterine sabath. bishop holmes puts a side each month one sacrament meeting that is devoted to the simple docterine of the church...which should be every sunday haha but here in sheboygan ya never know what to suspect. but it was a killer sacrament meeting. all the recent converts got up and gave talks. carlos, antonio they both gave powerful talks. and then brother klunk got up and gave a str8 up amazing talk. brother klunk...someday you all need to meet him.... but the reason bishop holmes does sacrament meetings like yesterdays is for our investigators... this ward is so missionary focused it is GREAT. and as missionarys through doing our part it really lifts the ward. speaking of a missionary minded ward we got a member refferal last week that i forgot to tell you about. indalecio. our first appointment was on wednesday...i was on exchanges but elder hernandez told me all about it. indalecio is amazing. he reminds me of grandma...just so prepared ready for the gospel. indalecio will be baptized october 19th if he can get work off and come to church. but he told us he will pray and fast for that opportunity. that alone shows his faith.... family i love my mission i hope ya know that and can feel it in my letters. i feel so blessed rightnow its rediculous....heavenly father never lets ya get comfortable though... he likes to throw curve balls to get ya even to higher hieghts. ill be training next transfer!! pretty sick eh? im so stoked!!!!!!!
36 Now if this is aboasting, even so will I boast; for this is my life and my light, my joy and my salvation, and my redemption from everlasting wo. Yea, blessed is the name of my God, who has been mindful of this people, who are a bbranch of the tree of Israel, and has been clostfrom its body in a strange land; yea, I say, blessed be the name of my God, who has been mindful of us, dwanderers in a strange land.
37 Now my brethren, we see that God is amindful of every bpeople, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen.
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