Hey Everyone!
This week was awesome! Ardmore is definitely the place to be these days, with some nice warm temperatures, awesome people to visit and tons of work to do.
My last couple days in Harrah Oklahoma were a blast, but it was super sad to have to say goodbye to them. We got to see most everyone that I wanted to, and got quite a few pictures, so it was sweet. We got to have a tasty lunch at tasty burger on Tuesday, and some awesome dinners for the last couple in Choctaw.
So, transfers were Wednesday, and it was super awesome to see all the other missionaries that I know there and get to visit with them for a minute. Sadly, my father Elder Rasmuson has now gone home, but such is life on the mission. A couple members had brought the missionaries up to transfers, which was just a blast. We stopped at Cracker Barrel on the way down, which was super tasty. It was super tasty and a nice long drive - about an hour and a half from the city to Ardmore. By the time we got back, we had an awesome appointment with a part member family - the Isers - to go to and then we got to help a member family move some stuff before heading to dinner at Casa Roma, a tasty Mexican restaurant with a member. Then we got to go to correlation, and our ward mission leader is incredible! He only got back from his mission like a year and a half ago, and he's just an awesome guy. On our way out, a member pulled us aside to help him give a blessing, which was incredibly spiritual.
Thursday was pretty cool Weekly planning took forever since I didn't know like anybody so Elder Lyman got to talk about all our people that we've got to work with, and man there's lots of work to do! Then we got to go out and have some awesome experiences getting out to see people, with a couple noteworthy visits. For one, we got to see a nice guy named Joshua who loves to study - so much so that we're going to get him a copy of Preach my Gospel to study even though he's still investigating... so he'll probably just convert himself, which will be sweet. We also got to visit with a nice old lady and talked about the plan of salvation with her and it was super awesome. The member we had with us was incredibly helpful, and the lady we were visiting - sister Harper - knew a ton of the member's family. It was pretty neat to be able to talk about the plan of salvation, and when we finished we asked her how she felt about it and she said "I feel it's true, there's no other way to describe it". It was just a blast.
As I'm typing this, I'm listening to Elder Ballard's devotional from yesterday, and he shared the scripture in 2 Kings about the Lord speaking in the Still small voice. He asks two questions: 1) Do you have personal quiet time? 2) How much time, honestly, do you spend on your technology each day? He challenged us to begin setting aside time to meditate each day. I'll probably throw some more quotes in as I go, but you can check it out here: https://www.lds.org/
On to Friday! District meeting was blast, and we talked about Christlike Attributes, which was sweet. We did the activity that splits us into 3 groups at the back of the section and discussed the examples of Nephi, Jacob, and Joseph Smith and it was pretty neat. As you ponder the example of Joseph Smith (the one we got assigned), it was interesting to note the things he did that were like Christ. Later that day the city had a family history afterhours thing at the library, and it was pretty sweet. They talked about tracing the female lines and then had some time afterward where we were supposed to help them with getting started on their family history, which was awesome. We had a little time at the end to check out our own family history, and I found out that Elder Lyman and I are distantly related - we have the same 4th great grandfather. So, that was pretty cool.
Elder Ballard has a cool challenge: "Visit the temple grounds. Nobody prevents you from visiting and walking around the temple grounds. Satan wants you to avoid even getting close to the temple because the temple is the house of the Lord."
We had a couple other noteworthy experiences this week, but I don't have much time to talk about them. So two quick ones in closing. First, in Elder's quorum Bishop gave the lesson and it was awesome. He shared some verses from James, chapter 1 verses 2-8, and 23,26. It was awesome, because he challenged us all to recommit to the little things that keep our fire burning bright by reading our scriptures everyday - and if we already read them then pondering them, and having daily prayer - individually and as a couple. Lastly, he challenged us to recommit to coming to church with a spirit of worship and service and love of God. It was a pretty sweet lesson, and really reenergized us. Then that night we had the prompting to share that with an investigator couple we were visit with near the close of the night and as we were talking about it we went on an awesome tangent about quitting smoking. It was dang awesome to see his desire to quit being strengthened as we talked and he asked us to come back tonight and begin the stop smoking workshop with him. So, if you could pray for Lonnie as he becomes a non-smoker this week that'd be awesome!
Lastly, I've had a blast studying this week, but I don't have much time so I'll make this brief. I spent quite some time this week studying the plan of salvation, as that's the material I was going through in Preach my Gospel Lesson 2, and Alma chapters 11 and 12 talked about it quite a bit. I particularly liked Alma 11:37, how Amulek throws down that basically you're not really saved if you don't inherit the Kingdom of God. So, even though saved can refer to multiple things - like physical death, the first spiritual death, etc - really the only one that matters it that you're saved and able to inherit the Celestial Kingdom of God. Alma chapter 12 was really awesome to go through this week, and I especially liked verse 15 how it discusses the judgments of God, and how he truly does have power to save EVERY man who will believe and repent. Alma 14:1 and 15:12 connected with me this week as people begin to have faith and repent it leads them to search the scripture. Then, once they're baptized they begin to preach and share the gospel with those around them. A couple scriptures I liked in the Doctrine and Covenants this week were section 111 verse 11 and 112:3 and 10. They're both pretty awesome, and I enjoyed the Lord's promise to us that he will "order all things for your good, as fast as ye are able to receive them", and as we are humble "the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand and give thee answer to thy prayers." I know that as we strive to be humble and listen to the Lord he will lead us and guide us through his spirit and the living apostles and prophets.
But, I've gotta get going! I hope y'all have a fantastic week! Love y'all! By the way, my address in wonderful Ardmore, Oklahoma is:
300 Sunset Drive SW Apt #343
Ardmore, OK 73401
'Til Next Time,
Elder Jordan Nielson
No comments:
Post a Comment