Elder Hastings (served in Kalispell zone) me, elder McGrath (ap) elder wolf
Below me and elder decker
This week was excellent, minus lots of driving and a little sickness,
I learned so much this past week!
We had MLC and it was probably one of the best councils I've been to.
It was sad saying bye to some of the missionaries, one of them being
Elder Decker, ha he is so funny and I am so proud of how far he has
come, he is a great missionary. There was a lot of training and great
information that was shared. One great thing President Wadsworth said
that stood out to me that I'll share is, "Everyday you are entitled to
have faith promoting experiences" it is so true and I think it's safe
to say, that's not just for missionaries. We either aren't praying for
them or not recognizing them, but they happen every day.
Daily Miracles//
Sister Cuthbert finally after everything we had taught, was listening
to someone share the story about Jesus telling a man to take up his
bed and walk. She realized that is what she needed to do. All of the
other lessons and other hints we had shared, even though it may not
have seemed to have such a great impact it did, line upon line,
precept upon precept. She wants to live the word of wisdom and start
changing her life around. I am so excited for her. We were on splits
when she got a priesthood blessing, I wanted to be there, but I heard
it was great and she is excited.
Our truck was getting fixed so we rode our bikes everywhere for a few
days. We were going to an appointment after pretty much all of our
other appointments for the day had fallen through, when we were riding
and we felt like we should stop at a part members house, we did and
they weren't home..why did we stop? We felt like we needed to be some
where in the area we were in though, so we were looking through our
area book and low and behold the non member husband pulls in, helps us
tighten up some bolts on our bikes, then his wife pulled in, she went
inside, but we were able to teach the restoration to him, he said he
has heard a lot of different things about our church, but wants to
learn for himself. It was great, hopefully we can see him again this
week.
Another time we were riding our bikes, we were on the bike path and I
really didn't want to, but Elder Wolf pulled over and started talking
to this dude. Turns out he is religious but there are so many churches
he thinks it's all for the money. He is very knowledgeable and wants
to meet with us on "the path" ha this week.
We had an awesome lesson with Gabe and his brother, Gabe is always
wanting his little brother to go to church, it is awesome. We taught
about the tree of life with the Luis' and had them hold onto a broom,
as the iron rod. They really enjoyed it and I think they got a lot out
of that lesson, we need to hold on with both hands no matter what!
Saturday was a packed day! We had zone training and covered a lot, but
it was very inspirational and I am so excited for all of these new
missionaries. Planning and receiving revelation is so essential.
Working with members and "calling upon the name of Christ" (priesthood
blessings) are also vital.
So that is what we have done, started working better with members, I
feel like with Preisdent Mecham, missionaries felt like they couldn't
have a relationship with members because they might get too
comfortable and not follow their purpose. But we have to balance
ourselves and be wise, we are working with the members and helping
them with their work, because it is their work. Help them with their
home and visiting teaching, especially focusing on part member and
less active families. Also getting priesthood blessings to help us
with this work, obviously we aren't supposed to treat priesthood
blessings with lightness, but we take for granted the power of the
priesthood.
We tried the Russian family and it came so easy this time, it was
awesome. Gave them the Russian copy of the Book of Mormon and they
said they would read it and we could come back and see how they liked
it. It felt so good to write my testimony in Russian and be able to
talk to them.
We went to a priesthood leadership training part of stake conference,
I wish more of the ward mission leaders had been ere, but it was
great. I hope we, as well as other missionaries in the stake can work
better with the ward leaders.
We had some time before the adult evening session and again I didn't
feel like we should go, but elder wolf said we should go try this
family really quick. (Scott, The one we talked to last week on the
side of the road) We drove up and he looked at us and started balling.
He was having an awful day, relapsed into some old ways and wanted to
give up. We talked about the atonement and how Jesus Christ loves him.
He kept saying you guys don't know how blessed you are. We said that's
exactly why we are doing what we are doing, we really don't know but
we have to have the attitude of "because I have been given much I too
must give" he was thankful we stopped by. I felt like I did 18 months
ago when I met Sanya. I promised him, just like we promised Sanya, if
he read the Book of Mormon his life would change for the better. (He
read the Book of Mormon and came to church yesterday) it was just
incredible to know that we needed to be there at that time. It was
incredible to feel the love that Jesus Christ has for him, as well as
the love that we had for him.
We proceeded to stake conference and it was great, it was focused on
"spending the day with the savior". Brother Mathison from our ward
gave a talk, he shared a story.. He said he divided a circle into 24
little sections and had the class fill in their time what they did
each day, they came to realize they were packed with school, homework,
work, athletics, other things. Then he said alright, Jesus is coming
tomorrow, what are you going to rearrange in your schedule to be able
to meet with him for just 30 minutes? They said they would skip out on
anything for 30 minutes to communicate with the Savior. He then said
alright. What are you willing to give up to communicate with the
savior every day rough prayer, and have him communicate with you
through scripture study? It is so easy to not set aside that sacred
time to build our relationship with our Heavenly Father and Jesus
Christ.
Yesterday's conference was great too, it was focused on spending a day
with the Savior as well and I remember one part that a girl said,
speaking about not texting during sacrament and church, she posed the
question "what if Jesus was texting on judgement day when you were
getting judged?" You'd say hey uh I need help, please focus! Same
principle for us, we can sacrifice 3 hours and not use our phone.
There was a slot time for "speakers by invitation" and of course,
President Clark invited me to bear my testimony. It was a neat
experience. A little nerve racking, but good ha. I talked about
charity and how that's what sharing this gospel is all about, loving
others. Other great things were shared as well.
During this conference I felt the spirit over and over testifying to
me that this is true, that Jesus is the Christ, our Redeemer and that
Joseph Smith really did see the Father and His Son.
Yesterday I had the privilege to confer the Melchizedek Priesthood to
Eric, it was a neat experience. I am so excited for his desire to want
to go on a mission and progress in the gospel.
We had a sack lunch we were eating at the church and President Clark
said that's all your eating for lunch? Come over to my house. So we
got to talk to him and his wife, and he is such a good leader. So
humble and loves the lord and his gospel. What a fine example.
Last night Sister Luis texted us saying she read a sweet scripture and
how she loves reading and finding things in the scriptures. It is so
awesome to see other peoples testimonies grow!
Thanks for your Prayers and fasting for me, I have been feeling a lot
better, the test results haven't come in yet, but I have a feeling
they might be negative as well, so we will see ha
I love you all and hope you have an awesome week!
Love Elder David Witt
Sent from my iPad
