Hello, everyone!
Well, we had a
great week to wrap up this transfer. Elder Lake and I will be staying
another transfer together. We are very excited! We had an incredible
transfer. We taught 180 lessons and had two baptisms, we were so
blessed! We met all of our transfer goals but were a baptism shy.
Last night
Michelle was baptized. We had a great turn-out and it was simply
amazing. Such a spiritual experience for everyone. She is going to be a
great member.
Jack was confirmed this Sunday and we took him out to two
teaching appointments and he absolutely killed it. My jaw dropped
listening to him bear his testimony and teach some points in the
lessons. He has come so far!
This week on
Tuesday I got to go on an exchange here with an Elder. We had a great
time! I felt bad because on Monday my iPad crashed in the evening and I
lost a good chunk of my stuff (luckily two weeks earlier I moved some
stuff to my USB). That was super sad, so the next morning I had to take
my iPad to get fixed which took longer then expected. I was super bummed
though for a little bit but got over it pretty quick! Then that night,
this deer jumped out of nowhere and we almost slammed into it!
Wednesday
morning after our exchange, I woke up feeling horrible, I was pretty
sick. Then Elder Lake got sick. So we are still a little sick but we
continued to work, we refused to sit around!
I had a good
birthday on Friday, besides feeling horrible, we had a member take us
out to Chick-fill-a for lunch, and then a family named the Fletchers
who were in my last ward (the best family out there), drove up from
Maryland and took us out to dinner at Texas Road House. Pretty sure the
steak they bought me was thicker than me! Had a few families throughout
the week invite us over and sing me Happy Bday and made me cakes--all
that good stuff. Lovely people :)
Well, we had this
crazy lesson with these Filipinos we tracted into. They are Catholic
and we left them with a pamphlet and came back the next day and started
teaching the wife and it was super great and then towards the end of the
lesson, the husband comes in and we finish the lesson and the guy just
goes NUTS on us, so hard hearted, trying to bash - the best was this...
we would ask him a question about either the Godhead, baptism for
infants (which is a heresy), or where their authority came from, and
every single time they would say, "It's a mystery, it's not meant to be
known"
I was so
baffled.... I'm just so grateful for all of the knowledge and
understanding that we have in the Church of Jesus Christ. It's
comforting to know we don't believe in blind faith but that we are
always seeking for answers to questions we have.
I finished the Book of Mormon on Thursday and have restarted it.
As I started
reading, I noticed a passage I had not seen the previous times I had read
in 1 Nephi 3:5. Basically, Nephi and his older brothers were commanded
to go back to Jerusalem after they left to retrieve the brass plates
(ancient records) and the brothers are ticked about it. Anyways in that
verse Lehi (Nephi's father) speaking to Nephi says: "And now, behold thy
brothers murmur, saying it is a hard thing which I have required of
them; but behold I have not required it of them, but it is a commandment
of the Lord."
Something that I
have learned is that the Lord will ALWAYS ask us to do hard things. It
may never be easy, but it will always be worth it. Henry B Eyring (an
apostle) said: "If you are on the right path, it will always be uphill" --
the best view is at the top, and in order to get there it is a long,
hard, strenuous hike that we must be willing to make to achieve the
blessing or "the view." The greatest law of heaven (well, one of) is
obedience and our obedience will always be tested through our
sacrifices. Are we willing to give up something we "love" or maybe even
"lust" to the God we love (or should love) more?
To close, I loved at
the end of chapter 7, as Nephi and his brothers had to make another
trip back to Jerusalem to get some people to bring back with them and
they are all in the wilderness, and Nephi's older brothers are so mad at Nephi they tie him up to a tree and leave him to die, but of course the Lord gives him strength to burst the bands - what I noticed this time I
read through is in verse 21 where after all of this, he stands before
his brothers again and it says: "And it came to pass that I did frankly
forgive them all that they had done..." idk about you but if I got tied
up and left to die in the wilderness by my own family, I would be
ticked. Nephi didn't do anything wrong. Nephi was just obeying orders
and was actually the person that helped his entire family, yet his own
brothers reviled against him when he didn't do anything wrong, and in
the midst of all of this he just on the spot forgives them and continues
the journey. I definitely learned from this that no matter the
circumstances if you are right or wrong, you need forgive, forget and
move on.
One of my favorite
line of scriptures is, "and it came to pass" - yes every hard time,
difficulty, trial whatever will COME, but it will all PASS. It just
matters what you do in that period between COME and PASS that makes the
big difference.
To finish, this
morning in my studies I was reading from "Teachings of the Presidents - Gordon B. Hinckley," Chapter 12 for the last 10 minutes and there a few things he
said that stuck out to me -
“Now, my brethren
and sisters, the time has come for us to stand a little taller, to lift
our eyes and stretch our minds to a greater comprehension and
understanding of the grand millennial mission of this, The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This is a season to be strong. It is a
time to move forward without hesitation, knowing well the meaning, the
breadth, and the importance of our mission. It is a time to do what is
right regardless of the consequences that might follow. It is a time to
be found keeping the commandments. It is a season to reach out with
kindness and love to those in distress and to those who are wandering in
darkness and pain. It is a time to be considerate and good, decent and
courteous toward one another in all of our relationships. In other
words, to become more Christlike.”
We cannot be
ordinary people. We must rise above the crowd. We must stand a little
taller. We must be a little better, a little kinder, a little more
generous, a little more courteous, a little more thoughtful, a little
more outreaching to others.
To end, President Hinckley tells a story about how the small decisions in our lives have a huge impact on us.
"Many years ago I
worked for a railroad. … That was in the days when nearly everyone rode
passenger trains. One morning I received a call from my counterpart in
Newark, New Jersey. He said, 'Train number such-and-such has arrived,
but it has no baggage car. Somewhere, 300 passengers have lost their
baggage, and they are mad.'
"I
went immediately to work to find out where it may have gone. I found it
had been properly loaded and properly trained in Oakland, California.
It had been moved to our railroad in Salt Lake City [and had eventually
arrived in] St. Louis. There it was to be handled by another railroad
which would take it to Newark, New Jersey. But some thoughtless
switchman in the St. Louis yards moved a small piece of steel just three
inches [7.5 centimeters], a switch point, then pulled the lever to
uncouple the car. We discovered that a baggage car that belonged in
Newark, New Jersey, was in fact in New Orleans, Louisiana--1,500 miles
[2,400 kilometers] from its destination. Just the three-inch movement of
the switch in the St. Louis yard by a careless employee had started it
on the wrong track, and the distance from its true destination increased
dramatically. That is the way it is with our lives. Instead of
following a steady course, we are pulled by some mistaken idea in
another direction. The movement away from our original destination may
be ever so small, but, if continued, that very small movement becomes a
great gap and we find ourselves far from where we intended to go. … It
is the little things upon which life turns that make the big difference
in our lives.
"I approached a
large farm gate one day. I lifted the latch and opened the gate. The
movement at the hinges was so slight as to be scarcely discernible. But
the other end of the gate cut a great arc sixteen feet in radius.
Looking at the movement of the hinges alone, one would never dream of
the magnified action that came as a result of that tiny movement.
So it is with the
decisions in our lives. Some small thought, some small word, some small
action can lead to tremendous consequences."
Love you all, thank you for your love and support and bday wishes.
Be good be great!
Elder Wilde
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