This week has been pretty good. Monday was a full day of missionary work and we got to talk to some great people. There wasn't anything that really suck out that happened on Monday. We were hoping to have a lesson with one of our investigators at the home of a member, but we weren't able to get that to work out. We have actually been having trouble getting in contact with her lately. We are going to be visiting her again tomorrow night to see if we can help her out some.
Tuesday was our temple trip and it was a bunch of fun. We got to ride down with one of the members and the zone leaders and the English sisters that cover the same area as us. We had a bunch of fun both down and up from the temple. We got to talk about a bunch of different things and we went through all of Elder Calls pictures. It was cool being able to go to the temple with Elder Call for a third time. We had a good group of five of us that went to the temple together last year this same time. We got to take a picture together. (Sorry I don't have the pictures today. I forgot my SD card converter.) At the temple I was able to ponder the importance of the temple in the work of salvation. I recently read through a talk by Elder David A. Bednar called "Missionary, Family History, and Temple Work". In his talk he associated the purifying of hearts with the work of the temple. He also associated missionary work with the changing of hearts and family history work with the turning of hearts. There is one quote I love fro the talk that summarizes this work of salvation. He says;
"Preaching the gospel and seeking after our dead are complementary parts of one great work—a labor of love intended to change, turn, and purify the hearts of honest seekers of truth. The artificial boundary line we so often place between missionary work and temple and family history work is being erased; this is one great work of salvation."
I agree in his stating that this is one great work. We shouldn't be separating it into parts. There is so much joy we can find as we participate in the different parts of this work. We can see that this is one great work as we read in the scriptures.
39 "For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." -Moses 1:39
The bringing to pass of the immortality and eternal life of man is accomplished through that work of salvation. That is all being achieved through missionary, family history, and temple work.
Tuesday night I was able to start exchanges with Elder Call. This was our fourth time going on exchanges together. We had a great time Wednesday being able to meet some really great people. I was over in his are and I was able to meet the people that they have been telling me about. It was a bit hectic and we didn't have as much time as we wanted, but I feel that it was great and we were able to do the most with our time. A guy we talked to showed us up he terrace garden and then gave us two huge handfuls of habenero peppers. We still haven't figured out what to do with them. Our one plan is to make some good salsa. We also got to meet one of the people they had on date that just this weekend moved to Texas. She has loved getting to know the church and is excited to continue learning when she gets back to Texas. We already sent off her information so the missionaries there can get in contact with her.
Wednesday we also had our district council. We talked about how we can use family history as a missionary tool and how we can get the members more involved in it. What made district council even cooler was that we had it in the Zone Leader's mini-van. The church was under a bit of renovation and we didn't have anywhere else to go so we parked and had it in the van. It was defiantly a new experience.
We had a very exciting Saturday night as we were able to find some amazing people that were very interested in talking to us. We invited them all to church, but sadly none of them were able to make it. We are going to continue working with them and help them to progress more. We just have to make sure we keep being persistent with them and keep inviting.
There was one more insight I wanted to share from my studies.
"15 And now the Lord was slow to hear their cry because of their iniquities; nevertheless the Lord did hear their cries, and began to soften the hearts of the Lamanites that they began to ease their burdens; yet the Lord did not see fit to deliver them out of bondage." -Mosiah 21:15
As I was reading this morning it stuck out to me that the Lord was slow to hear their cries. In an ealier chapter Abinadi prophesies of that happening.
"23 And it shall come to pass that except this people repent and turn unto the Lord their God, they shall be brought into bondage; and none shall deliver them, except it be the Lord the Almighty God.
24 Yea, and it shall come to pass that when they shall cry unto me I will be slow to hear their cries; yea, and I will suffer them that they be smitten by their enemies." -Mosiah 11:23-24
I thought about how the Lord loves everyone and will not abandon us in our time of need. The important part is to know that our choices can sometimes affect how the Lord will reply to our prays. In D&C it is explained why he is slow to hear their cries.
"7 They were slow to hearken unto the voice of the Lord their God; therefore, the Lord their God is slow to hearken unto their prayers, to answer them in the day of their trouble." -D&C 101:7
The people of King Noah who later became the people of Limhi were slow to hear the voice of the Lord. The were given warnings from a prophet and rejected him and did not repent. Because of their slowness to hear the Lord he was slow to answer their prayers. He still answered, but not immediately. We can apply that in our lives by making sure we are quick to heed the promptings of the spirit and do as the Lord commands. When we do so we will find that the Lord is a lot more ready to bless us with the things we stand in need of.
I hope that everyone has a great upcoming week. We are going to be making the most of ours here. Have a Happy Halloween!
With love,
Elder Boren
Elder Boren
a note to Mom:
The weather has been really wet these past few weeks. It just doesn't want to stop. We joke that we have all of the sudden been moved to Seattle. I hoping that the rain clears up here soon. It makes the cold all the more uncomfortable. It hasn't gotten too cold yet, but it is getting there. The only thing that comes to mind that I would need is some more socks. Specifically grey and black. My gold toe socks are starting to get holes in the bottom. Thank you for sending the package.We will be looking forward to getting it this week. I'm glad you had a great stake conference experience. Sounds like there was a lot to learn. I hope you have another great week.
Love,
Elder Boren
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