Hi Mom,
Umong other news, I am currently listening to Star Wars: A Cappella Strikes Back while I write this post and it smacks haha!
Anyway! Onto the the news from this week. So the first thing that comes to mind is Zone Conference. This week was the first in person, mission wide, and spiritually awesome Zone Conference. It also happened to be President Adler’s Birth-day! Within the first 30 minutes of Conference I knew it was going to be awesome. I got to stand by my good friend Elder Tanner Peterson for pictures as well as my old companion Elder Shaw. Which honestly just made my day. Elder Peterson got to give a talk which was legendary. All in all it was my favorite Zone Conference by far.
The Gift of tongues is still going strong. I can feel the support every day. Especially when I trust in the spirit as I teach. Which hasn’t honestly been something I thought a lot about when I was teaching in english. Something I know to be true is that you can have a spontaneous lesson, spiritual thought, or question that is powerful IF you follow the spirit. IF you trust the spirit and follow through whatever you say, in whatever way you say it, will be from God.
Service work out here is a little bit different. Instead of yard work and moving furniture I’m teaching english, without a formal degree, completely free. Which sounded nuts and kinda scary at first. But, like all things, when I just went and did it I found a lot of joy. And a ton of success with sharing the gospel too! After every lesson there is an uplifting scripture that has brought the spirit every time. Plus! through english classes we have been able to invite a family to church (which they came!) and we were able to meet another family, in there home, for dinner. Which was awesome because we ate outside and a deer came and said hello while we were eating! It was awesome.
This week we got to celebrate Elder Bangerter’s birthday with a family in our ward. They fed us till we nearly passed out and then had us eat cake! Which was delicious because it had flan in it! Anyway, it was really cool being able to witness a birthday out here on my mission entirely in spanish. Like if I could suggest any reason why anyone should serve a mission it is to be able to experience the world in another language. It doesn’t even have to be another spoken language like spanish. Just being able to experience the world through another culture is beautiful.
I have done quite a bit of reflecting this last week. Specifically about our Identity and our Destiny as sons and daughters of God. This reflecting started with a personal study where I prayed to just have the spirit to guide me to something, anything, to study. I felt prompted to look up the oldest talk in the BYU talks website. As it so happens, the oldest talk was given by J Reuben Clark in 1946 titled “Raising the World to a Higher Plane of Morality” An interesting note about this talk is that it was only 8 minutes long and that it was given a year after WWII. With that said, J Reuben Clark said this;
“The only way the world can change is within the individual person”
I couldn’t help but think about how important a statement like that is. What is an individual person? As a missionary I have learned a very important lesson about who we are. WE ARE SPIRIT OFFSPRING OF GOD. We have the potential to be kings and queens. Feeling this for myself, gives me so much hope and strength.
There is another talk that I felt prompted to read that helped me visualize what it mean to be a future King. It comes from a 1986 priesthood session of General Conference. It’s titled “To the ‘Youth of Noble Birthright” by Ezra Taft Benson. That line “youth of noble birthright” is a quote from the hymn “Carry On”, I have started doing this thing in my personal study were I read a hymn and then study the scriptures that inspired them. The scriptures for “Carry On” are 1 Nephi 2:10 were Lehi is pleading with his son Lemuel to be like the valley; firm, steadfast, and immoveable in keeping the comands of the lord. In addtion, Alma 57:27 which describes the stripling warriors as having a firm minds in trusting God. The conclusion I had come to is this; A better world is achieveable when an individual understands what it means to be an heir to God. I realized, for me, that I need to be steadfast and firm in what I know to be true.
Anyway it has gotten late, so I will end my post here. I will end with my testimony, that I know God is my loving Heavenly father. Because he loves us he has given us the beautiful gift of agency. With wich we have the ability to decide for ourselves what is true and what brings us joy. I know for myself that the restored Church of Jesus Christ has blessed my life with a prophet who leads and guides us, the aditional witness of the power and grace of my big brother Jesus Christ found in the Book of Mormon. I love this life but I look forward to the life to come. I write these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen!
Till next time,
Elder Service
