Faith (week 65)

The is so much to learn! This past week I've been thinking a lot about faith and how to improve it. Part of that is due to the fact that that was the focus of ZLC (zone leadership council) and ZTM (zone training meeting). It was also emphasized in general conference. One of the trainings in ZTM was on doubts and how they can be for our benefit. Elder Miles on of the members of our zone lead the training and talked about how our doubts can be a blessing to us. He said that when we notice our doubts we notice the things we need to work on. One we notice our weakness through our doubts we can then move forward and work on turning it into a strength. It helped me understand Ether 12:27 better than before. 

In Ether 12:27 it says, "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." 

Those doubts are some of our weaknesses. They are there to bring us to the depths of humility and turn to our loving Heavenly Father for help. When we turn to him he will aid us in turning those doubts to great strengths in our testimonies. I also like what Brian K. Ashton said in his talk about the Doctrine of Christ. He said, "Faith also causes us to stop worrying so much about what others think of us and begin to care far more about what God thinks of us." There is so much we can learn about faith and how we can strengthen it. I think a large part of it is stepping out of our comfort zones and trusting that the lord will help us through. When we are comfortable we won't be be to progress as much. There is still a bunch more to learn from the talks that were given at general conference. I'm excited to read through them now that we can print them out. 

This area is so great and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be up here. The members are great and I'm looking forward to meet more of them. We have been able to find some great people while we are out working. We just have to have faith that if we keep going that the Lord will provide us with people to teach. I've been able to read the talk by President Uchtdorf and it teaches a lot about faith and not giving up. He said, "Faith is a strong conviction about something we believe—a conviction so strong that it moves us to do things that we otherwise might not do. “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” We just have to keep going and trust in God. 

I hope everyone has a great week! 

With Love,

Elder Boren

                                          A cool little sign we saw while walking down the road. 

 A picture I got from Elder Flamm. This was me and a few of the other missionaries that went to the sunnyside service project. 

                                         From last transfer when we were about to go out biking.