22 July 2013

I got a great email from Valeri! It was awesome to hear from her. I did get to sing at church. A member and I sang two songs. "Abide with me tis eventide" and "Lord, I would Follow Thee". It went really well and a member asked me to sing at her sons baptism next week. It was a good experience. My companion and I are doing really well. We taught a family yesterday and committed them to get baptized! Now we just gotta help and visit them a bunch and hopefully they'll be baptized next month. The dad of this family, has a brother that is a recent convert in a different ward and thats how we met him and his wife. It was a great experience teaching and getting to know them. We have had a couple set backs with people being sick in the ward and not going to church but we're trying to make goals to use our time wisely and do as much good as we can. Today, we cleaned our house and we're gonna visit some missionaries in our zone, eat lunch with them and help clean their house. We taught a couple of new families this week about the restoration and the Book of Mormon and it went really well. I seek to teach with the spirit and testify that Joseph Smith truly saw God, the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. I wasnt there that day almost 200 years ago, but I know that it happened and that the Lord guides His church today with a living prophet. I'm really trying to strengthen my testimony of these truths every day. Just the power to believe is so powerful. Faith is a principle of power. We've been working a lot with the missionary in our zones. We've got a lot of new missionaries and new leaders but I love them all. We had a division this week which is 24 hours that you do a split with another missionary companionship. It was really good and we got to meet some new people and teach some new families. I read a great talk this week that was from this past conference about being accepted of the Lord. The talk gave a great lesson that said,

"When I was a boy, I remember my father sometimes taking me with him to work on projects. We had a little garden a few kilometers from where we lived, and there was always so much to do to prepare the garden each season. We worked on the gazebo or built or repaired fences. In my memory this work always occurred in the freezing cold, heavy snow, or pouring rain. But I loved it. My father would teach me how to do things with patience and acceptance.

One day he invited me to tighten a screw and warned, “Remember, if you put it in too tight, it will break.” Proudly, I wanted to show him what I could do. I tightened with all my might, and, of course, I broke the screw. He made a funny comment, and we started over. Even when I “messed up,” I always felt his love and confidence in me. He passed away more than 10 years ago, but I can still hear his voice, sense his love, enjoy his encouragement, and feel his acceptance."

I feel a profound sense of gratitude and love for my Heavenly Father that accepts and forgives me even when I "mess up". Despite my desire to always do the "right thing", my imperfections and human nature cause me to deviate from God's perfect plan. This is not an excuse to continue doing things wrong but helps me to realize and recognize my dependency and need of God's help. I'm thankful that He loves me enough to break me down and then build me up; "for he maketh sore and bindeth up; he woundeth and his hands make whole." (Job 5:18) I hope you're able to see this occur in your life. I see in constantly in mine. I love you and pray for you often. I know this church is true and that God, the Father lives. He loves and knows us.