Spencer here and here is another fantastic blog post from my brother. Enjoy reading!
Hey Everyone!
So it's already August... and kids here go back to school next week! I can't believe that summer break is already over... but such is life when you don't really have a break! I can relate a little bit more to those adults who work through the summer now... it's such a short time that they aren't in school that it doesn't even really make an impact in the long run to those of us without one...
Anyway, this week was pretty great! I'm going to go backwards this week... because yesterday was awesome and I wanna talk about it :P
So yesterday, Sunday, we had church and there were sooo many people there! The ward usually averages about 90, but there was 105 this week! It was awesome! The bishop was so shocked to see so many people that it was really quite impressive. There were 8 of our investigators there, which was super awesome because they all had a great time. It was neat to hear their thoughts on fast and testimony meeting - they all said they liked it for the most part, and luckily we didn't get any 20 minute testimonies this week! Then last night we got to visit with some of the awesome people we teach, and they were all making huge steps in the right direction! One couple decided they wanted to pray about the Book of Mormon to know if it's true - because they recognized it was important, and they told us they hadn't done so yet. Another couple, after we showed them they could listen to the Book of Mormon online (he's dyslexic) told us they would listen to it everyday! Then we got to watch Finding Faith in Christ (a super awesome video about the ministry of Christ - look it up if you haven't heard of it) with another family and they said it really helped them realize the importance of believing even if they can't see. It was neat, because he then asked us what he had to do before he could be baptized, so that was awesome!
On Saturday we got to visit with someone I hadn't seen for a few weeks, which was really awesome. We got to read 1 Nephi 13 with him, and he made a ton of really neat observations about it. It was cool to listen to him figure out what it was talking about himself and not really have to explain it to him! That might just be me... but I really like it when people learn for themselves :P
Friday was a blur, as we basically worked the entire day! We had one of the awesome zone leaders with us, and it was great to hear his testimony and watch how he interacted with people and learn from him. I learned a ton about how important it is to really focus on the people we're visiting with and not worry about getting through a lesson or anything. It was also neat to be able to see a few people that we hadn't really been able to visit with for a few weeks - including a few less active members - and see their testimonies grow.
The miracle for Thursday was the miracle of the couch. So, on Monday a couple that was being taught down in Stillwater moved up here to Ponca. But, we hadn't been able to visit with them as of yet. But Thursday afternoon, we went and saw one of our awesome investigators who is sadly moving to New Mexico at the end of the month, and he told us to find someone who needed a couch as he was giving his away (he's only taking what he can drive down with in his little car). After that, we were able to catch the couple that recently moved in, and when we asked them how we could help them - after a brief moment of hesitation - they asked about furniture. We brought up that we had just had someone offer a couch, and they were super excited! It was neat to see that the Lord works to make sure all of his children are taken care of.
On Wednesday, we had pretty much all of our afternoon appointments fall thorugh, so we were pretty discouraged... but, after having dinner with one of the most awesome families in our ward we headed back out with the motivation we needed to make sure the rest of our week was successful! It was cool to have the chance to visit with them and share a message to help build their faith which in turn built our confidence in what we were striving to do. That evening, even though we didn't really get to visit with anyone, we were able to set up the appointments we needed for the rest of the week!
On Tuesday... we had temple conference! It was super awesome to finally be able to go to the temple again! Foremost, I'd encourage all of those who can to go do an endowment session this week - there was a new video released last week (at least here in OKC), so I'd assume it's released everywhere now. It was really awesome, so go check it out! It really helped make the session make more sense to me, so that's always good. For temple conference, we also got to receive training from our mission President and his assistants, which was really insightful. The mission has set a goal to go from the average of 25 baptisms a month (which is what we've been doing so far) to helping 100 people make that covenant with their Heavenly Father this month. It's a pretty big jump, so we received a ton of training on how important miracles are to this work.
Anyway, that pretty much covers the week.... So some things I've been studying/learning this week! First, check out this talk:
It's a super awesome one by President Eyring that I've really been studying this week. I'd encourage all of you to go read it or watch it. In addition to that, I've been focusing my studies a little more this week on the New Testament so I'll share some thoughts from that.
First, Matthew 16 is a really awesome chapter. It discusses quite a few things, but I'd just like to point out a few. First, in verse 17 Christ tells us that the only way we can know that he is our Savior is to receive that knowledge from heavenly Father through the Holy Ghost. So, revelation is the only way to know that he was indeed our Savior. My thought with that is mainly that just as Peter learned for himself, we each need to find out for ourselves who Jesus Christ is and what impact that has on our lives. We find that out the same way we come to know if the Book of Mormon is true - by praying to Heavenly Father with a sincere heart, real intent, and faith in Christ. So, I'd encourage you to find out for yourself regarding both the Book of Mormon and Jesus Christ, because they really do go hand in hand.
Another thing I've been learning about is related to Acts 3-4. In these chapters Peter and John heal a man who had been lame from birth and each day was taken to the temple to ask alms. In chapter 4 verse 22 it tells us that this man was over 40 years old, and we learned in verse 2 of chapter 3 that each day he was taken to the temple. So, a member of the bishopric last week pointed out that would mean that Christ passed by him numerous times... but this miracle was reserved for Peter and John to build their faith. Much like that, there are many things that are reserved for each of us that we have been foreordained to accomplish here in this life. Along that same line of thought though, that doesn't mean we're supposed to leave people suffering so that someone else can help them. We are still commanded to help those who we come into contact with in whatever way we can, so this doesn't get you off the hook because you don't know what you've specifically been foreordained to do. Anyway, think about it.
But, that's about it for this week! I hope you all have a fabulous week!
Love,
Elder Jordan Nielson
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