Before I forget, I would like to bear my personal testimony that
God lives, Jesus is the Christ. They have ordained and endorsed a living
Prophet of the world and twelve apostles. There are 12 year old deacons
qourum presidents, 14 year old Teachers quorum presidents, that are
more powerful than any pastor or preacher on earth... in fact ANY
preisthood holder is. Think of it though, TWELVE YEAR OLDS holding keys
to the kingdom of heaven. How I wished I understood that more when I was
in those places. Family, and friends, there is priesyhood on the earth
today. I know it. It was confirmed to me by the spirit of the Lord as I
sat in conference and listened to Apostles and Prophets testify of a
living Savior. I know He lives. I know it is His work - not man's - HIS.
I love Him. I love this work that I am presently engaged in. I am
learning everyday to the work the Lord's way. I bear testimony that the
Book of Mormon is true. Nephi walked this earth, Mosiah preached a
delightful sermon, Alma and Almulek converted entire cities! Moroni
raised the title of Liberty to his beloved Nation, The Brother of Jared
sailed uncharted seas, Mormon buried the plates in Cumorah, and Joseph
Smith retrieved them again!!! I praise God for that knowledge, in the
name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
There's a lot to tell you all this week. We had a baptism this
passed week of Levy. He is a wondeful old man. He moved into the ward
last week, and we baptized him within that week. After writing you my
short letter last P-day, we traveled to his house and asked him if he
wanted to be baptized that week and he said yes. His wife (already a
member) sobbed and sobbed and told us, "many missionaries have tried to
baptize my husband. But for some reason, he listened to you." He started
crying too. His baptism was beautiful. Elder Barnett baptized him. I
sure love Levy. There's several more in his family just ready to be
baptized. I'm grateful for the rest of those missionaries that prepared
him and got him to where he was. Hopefully they will soon know of the
wonderful success that came from their efforts.
In other news Elder Barnett and I are training together. We just
got the call a few minutes ago. We have to go pick up a new missionary
in thirty minutes and kick the other two Elders out of our appartment.
So Im going to be tired yet again this week, but I have become quite
used to that I think. Being a zone leader is interesting. I am trying to
learn how to touch missionariy lives from a distance (via phone, note,
district leader etc.) rather than having personal and meaningful
meetings with them one on one. As a senior companion, and as a district
leader, I was able to correct behavior and inspire more quickly because I
could put my arm around a missionary and say "I love you, but that was
just not ok..." or look them in the eye and say "You can do this!" That
just ins't available now. I'm usually a desk and appartment's length
away from a missionary on the phone when they are struggling or need
advice.
Wow, we have to go. Insight on how to best inspire missionaries from a distance would be appreciated! I love you all!
