Vision of the South:
"Make no small plans: They have
no magic to stir men's souls. This is
the vision I have for the South. I
believe that one day the South will baptize more people into the Church than
all other English-speaking missions in the world together. There are great hosts of marvelous Baptists,
members of the Church of Christ, Methodists, and Catholics who are honorable
people, and have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and love him. As they see their church veering off to the
right or to the left of those basic teachings, they will begin to search for
truth, and as pivotal teachers come into the Church and have influence, they
will begin to search for truth, and as pivotal teachers come into the Church
and have influence we will see the time when we will baptize hundreds and thousands,
tens of thousands, in your day you will see a million members of the Church in
the South. There will be Temples plural
in the South States. What a great call
you have to serve with these marvelous people.
The missionaries love the South.
We are making great strides and expect to continue." - President
Spencer W. Kimball.
This week was amazing. We now have found three investigators. Ever since I got out in the field, I have
felt kind of lost and, in a way, blind.
As [my companion] and I have spent the Lord's precious time driving to
visit less active members and potential investigators only to find them not
interested or not there, tracting through neighborhoods for hours and coming
out with no potential investigators, and spending our nights searching through
the ward directory for people we can visit, I have gotten more and more
discouraged.
I have wondered what I am doing wrong
and what I can do to be a better representative of the Lord. I have been searching through the White
Handbook for rules that I can obey better and trying to find the courage to
open my mouth more. It has been a
humbling experience for me. However, in
the last week I received some hope, and it feels very good.
Up till now I have been kind of
hesitant about opening my heart up to my mission here in Tennessee for fear
that it will be broken when I receive my visa and have to leave this place to
serve in Brazil. However, I think that
my heart is beginning to open and will continue to do so as I diligently strive
to continue to find those the Lord has prepared for me. I would rather have my heart broken helping
someone come unto Christ than keep it intact and miss the chance to experience
the Lord working through me to touch the lives of His children in the
South.
I know that the Lord is preparing me
to meet and teach some amazing individuals here in the South who I probably
knew before I came to this earth and who I promised to find. I have every intention of keeping those
promises and, although I may not remember them now, I know that with the help
of the Lord, I will be able to.
In the last week I have been
pondering the blessings of the Atonement and the blessings of the
Sacrament. When you worthily partake of
the sacrament each week, because of the Atonement of Christ, you become as pure
and clean and perfect as you were the day that worthy Priesthood holder brought
you out of the waters of baptism then laid his hands upon your head and
bestowed upon you the Gift of the Holy Ghost and confirmed you a member of the
Church. What an amazing blessing this is.
President Howard W. Hunter said,
"Any time we experience the blessings of the Atonement in our lives, we
cannot help but have a concern for the welfare of others...A great indicator of
one's personal conversion is the desire to share the gospel with
others."
Ever since I gained a testimony of
the Gospel, I have felt like Lehi in his dream, who partook of the fruit of the
tree of life, which filled his soul with exceedingly great joy, and immediately
desired that his family do likewise, for he knew the fruit was desirable above
all other fruit. As I have been in the
mission field for two weeks and invited individuals to come unto Christ, I have
recognized that there are some who the Lord has prepared who are like Nephi and
Sam and Sariah and willingly and enthusiastically partake of the fruit. It has been really amazing seeing how the
Lord has prepared them.
However, there will of course be
others, who are like Laman and Lemuel and murmur and reject the fruit. As you come across these people, you may
become discouraged and feel like you are not making a difference. However, if you ever feel this week, think of
Mormon and Moroni. They were two great
Book of Mormon prophets who probably didn't feel like they were making much of
a difference among the Lamanites.
However, if you look at the fruit of their labors now, you cannot deny
that they have changed the world.
Missionary Experiences of the Week:
1. We went caving last P-Day. We got pretty muddy!
2. When we were tracting the other
day we knocked on the door of one house and explained who we were to the girl
who answered. She told us she was a
Christian and already went to church. However, she couldn't remember what
church she went to. How sad would it be
to not even know what church you belong to?
3. Did you know that ladybugs
hibernate? There were ladybugs
everywhere on Tuesday! I guess it's time
for them to hibernate for the winter, so they're trying to find someplace warm
to stay. They were all over the doors as we tracted, so they didn't exactly
help our cause, seeing that many people didn't want to open the door when we
knocked in fear of letting the ladybugs in.
We had to speak through a few glass doors, which is [my companion’s] pet
peeve.
4.
Halloween was canceled due to bad weather, so the Trick-or-Treaters came
on November 1st. But [my companion] and
I had "Dinner in a Pumpkin" and when the Trick-or-Treaters came we
had bonus treats.
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