Here is Jordan's latest update! It's a great one!
-Spencer A. Nielson
Hey Everyone!
This week was pretty awesome, with a sweet mission tour with Elder Bradley Foster of the seventy and a couple cool miracles in addition to that. Aside from that it went by as a pretty normal week... no transfers or anything like that, and no super exciting changes really.
Anyway, last Monday wasn't all that exciting, and then Tuesday was the mission tour so I wanted to share a few thoughts/scriptures from that in a bullet list!
- Alma 37:6-7 -> Small and simple means are key
- Trials are a lot like shampoo - if you look down they run into your eyes and make it hard to see the big picture, but if you look up they run off your back and don't interfere with your perspective
- Helaman 7:7-9
- Romans 8:16-17
- "You can't overcome temptation, you have to avoid it" - Elder Foster
- "The Greater the Agency, the greater the growth"
- Moroni 7:47 -> There is a difference between being "found possessed" and "possessing"
- Vision determines direction, goals are simply markers for the distance in that direction
- "The greater the vision, the greater the motivation"
- D&C 58:25-28
- Counsels are the way the Lord governs his church
- If people understand 2 things they will be motivated to act: (1) "I can do this" (2) "I or my circle will be blessed for it"
- "What I say unto one i say unto all" -> The Lord has told us this multiple times throughout the Doctrine and Covenants, do you believe it?
- Moses 1... pretty much all of it.
- 2 Nephi 32:8
- 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
- Do you believe what the Lord says in D&c 98:1-3: "1 Verily I say unto you my friends, fear not, let your hearts be comforted; yea, rejoice evermore, and in everything give thanks;
- 2 Waiting patiently on the Lord, for your prayers have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, and are recorded with this seal and testament—the Lord hath sworn and decreed that they shall be granted.
- 3 Therefore, he giveth this promise unto you, with an immutable covenant that they shall be fulfilled; and all things wherewith you have been afflicted shall work together for your good, and to my name’s glory, saith the Lord."
So, it was a super awesome meeting, and pretty dang spiritual. I hope you caught the spirit of it. Two major things I got out of it were the importance of visions and of believing what the Lord tells us in the scriptures applies directly to us.
On Wednesday we got to do a bunch of service and ended up with a nice looking flower bed instead of a weed infested patch of ground as the reward for our work - plus a nice lunch. Something I studied today was in Preach my Gospel chapter 11 where it says: "Repentance and change will help people conquer challenges, rid themselves of shame and guilt, and experience the peace and joy of God’s forgiveness." As I was pondering on that and striving to apply it I realized how important it was that we help people do things to move closer to God, for we all experience guilt or shame at some point and repentance, as this quote says, is the only way to rid ourselves of that. Also on Wednesday we got to have correlation and pow-wow which helped to get all the missionaries here in Ardmore on the same page.
Thursday was pretty intense, with some planning and a couple sweet visits in the afternoon. Today we ended up focusing a lot on 2 Nephi 2:27-29 with those that we saw, as that's what we talked about with Jessica and the Isers. It says: "27 Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself. 28 And now, my sons, I would that ye should look to the great Mediator, and hearken unto his great commandments; and be faithful unto his words, and choose eternal life, according to the will of his Holy Spirit; 29 And not choose eternal death, according to the will of the flesh and the evil which is therein, which giveth the spirit of the devil power to captivate, to bring you down to hell, that he may reign over you in his own kingdom." As we discussed this with those that we saw it was pretty clear to me that these verses went along with the quote I had read yesterday... which was pretty neat. Something also reminded me of something that Elder Perry said about why missionaries have members with them. He said "While the full-time missionaries are responsible for teaching investigators, they can and should be accompanied ... Members who accompany the missionaries should bear their testimony of the principles taught in the missionary lessons and reinforce these principles between missionary appointments."
Anyway, the last highlight of this week was on Saturday when we got to go out with Oscar to see Cliff, David, and Jeff, a few guys we had met last week. We had a sweet lesson with them, and just had a blast as we discussed the restoration of the gospel. At one point the cups object lesson was brought up and brought out and seemed to help a lot, so if you've not seen the cups you could ask your local missionaries about it. But, it was a pretty great lesson, and it was awesome to be able to hear Oscar's testimony and some of his experiences as he joined the church last year.
That's all I got for this week! Have a fantastic week! Love y'all!
'Til Next Time,
Elder Jordan Nielson
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