This last week we met with a less-active man who has good faith, but let a poor relationship with a Bishop push him away from the church, and into inactivity. We meet him every couple of weeks and help strengthen him spiritually. Last week we talked about the golden rule, specifically about how we should make time for others in our lives. I shared one of my bulwark scriptures: 3 Nephi 18:32, talking about those whom we love but hurt us, and never giving up.
On Tuesday we spent the day looking for less-actives and had a neat experience that evening that taught us more about the nature of revelation, or the way God answers prayers and helps us. We had run out of time for the day, but wanted to visit just one more person -- a potential investigator. Our choice was to turn back and make it home on time, or go a bit further and take a risk. We prayed about our choice, and offered to take the next taxi that drove by, if it was God's will that we go. We finished our prayer, began walking back towards our home, and sure enough, a taxi drove by! We flagged it down, but the driver waved to us and drove on past. We accepted that as our answer, and continued... until another taxi came by, and we tried to catch it. Once again, the same reaction. This happened a few more times, and eventually we realized what had happened. We used a specific condition -- the next taxi -- and God gave us a specific answer -- it drove past us. That was it; we had our answer. Seeking confirmation is good, but we need to learn to accept the ones God does give us.
The next day, I trained our district on -- can you guess? -- having faith to baptize! We've been talking about this a lot lately, and I was happy to continue the discussion. We did some good practice in giving the commitment to be baptized, and we were all enlightened. That evening, my companion and I prayed to be able to give a Book of Mormon to somebody, and asked to be guided. We followed small promptings, and ended up talking to a couple of teenagers, one of whom accepted a Book of Mormon. Prayer works!
Thursday was our temple day, and it was a day to increase faith: while there, I felt that there were three people prepared for us to baptize by the end of the year. Having a specific goal like that helps to focus you on your work, and it's meaning.
Friday's are normally pretty uneventful with weekly plannings, but this one was far from it -- after planning we went home for a light dinner (it was more of a snack?) then on the way out, we bumped into a man who works at our apartment complex. We were pretty sure he was a less-active. As we chatted, my companion asked him when we were going to eat together, and he responded, "Anytime!" My companion then asked, "How about right now?" The man -- definitely a less-active, as we discovered -- took us to dinner, and even asked for a spiritual message afterwards! That was more than we expected. We learned a lot about him, but he was guarded with personal information -- no age, no name (though he did say we could call him "Mormon"), no place of baptism. A funny side-note: as we walked back to the apartment complex with him, he said that I have an interesting accent. When I asked for specification, he said I sounded like a royal! He asked about my major, then told me I should be a lawyer. I guess he took a liking to my voice.
Saturday was spent talking to teenagers on the street, teaching English, and getting punked by less actives in the rain. It ended on a great note though, with a man randomly giving us persimmons, just because!
On Tuesday we spent the day looking for less-actives and had a neat experience that evening that taught us more about the nature of revelation, or the way God answers prayers and helps us. We had run out of time for the day, but wanted to visit just one more person -- a potential investigator. Our choice was to turn back and make it home on time, or go a bit further and take a risk. We prayed about our choice, and offered to take the next taxi that drove by, if it was God's will that we go. We finished our prayer, began walking back towards our home, and sure enough, a taxi drove by! We flagged it down, but the driver waved to us and drove on past. We accepted that as our answer, and continued... until another taxi came by, and we tried to catch it. Once again, the same reaction. This happened a few more times, and eventually we realized what had happened. We used a specific condition -- the next taxi -- and God gave us a specific answer -- it drove past us. That was it; we had our answer. Seeking confirmation is good, but we need to learn to accept the ones God does give us.
The next day, I trained our district on -- can you guess? -- having faith to baptize! We've been talking about this a lot lately, and I was happy to continue the discussion. We did some good practice in giving the commitment to be baptized, and we were all enlightened. That evening, my companion and I prayed to be able to give a Book of Mormon to somebody, and asked to be guided. We followed small promptings, and ended up talking to a couple of teenagers, one of whom accepted a Book of Mormon. Prayer works!
Thursday was our temple day, and it was a day to increase faith: while there, I felt that there were three people prepared for us to baptize by the end of the year. Having a specific goal like that helps to focus you on your work, and it's meaning.
Friday's are normally pretty uneventful with weekly plannings, but this one was far from it -- after planning we went home for a light dinner (it was more of a snack?) then on the way out, we bumped into a man who works at our apartment complex. We were pretty sure he was a less-active. As we chatted, my companion asked him when we were going to eat together, and he responded, "Anytime!" My companion then asked, "How about right now?" The man -- definitely a less-active, as we discovered -- took us to dinner, and even asked for a spiritual message afterwards! That was more than we expected. We learned a lot about him, but he was guarded with personal information -- no age, no name (though he did say we could call him "Mormon"), no place of baptism. A funny side-note: as we walked back to the apartment complex with him, he said that I have an interesting accent. When I asked for specification, he said I sounded like a royal! He asked about my major, then told me I should be a lawyer. I guess he took a liking to my voice.
Saturday was spent talking to teenagers on the street, teaching English, and getting punked by less actives in the rain. It ended on a great note though, with a man randomly giving us persimmons, just because!
A few words on gratitude and faith
This week I thought a lot about feeling more joy as I do missionary work, and as a result I studied a lot about gratitude, and discovered some interesting correlations to faith. In Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord commands us to do "all things with prayer and thanksgiving." When I read this, I realized that in our efforts to increase our faith, we were praying a lot more, but we hadn't increased our gratitude in proportion. I learned that when we want to increase or faith, we need to also increase our gratitude. They're three related things. The more gratitude we have, the better we become at recognizing the hand of God in our lives, which leads us to gain more faith.
This week I thought a lot about feeling more joy as I do missionary work, and as a result I studied a lot about gratitude, and discovered some interesting correlations to faith. In Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord commands us to do "all things with prayer and thanksgiving." When I read this, I realized that in our efforts to increase our faith, we were praying a lot more, but we hadn't increased our gratitude in proportion. I learned that when we want to increase or faith, we need to also increase our gratitude. They're three related things. The more gratitude we have, the better we become at recognizing the hand of God in our lives, which leads us to gain more faith.
Love,
Elder Austin Lynn
Elder Austin Lynn
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