Mon, Feb 25,
2013
Hello people in the real world,
This week has been all over the place. To start off with we were not even in our area for half of the week. My companion left for exchanges on Tuesday. Then we met up at some other elder's house and camped out with them for Zone Conference and District Meeting. We didn't get home until Thursday night. We then had the amazing opportunity of having a mini-missionary for the weekend. For those that might not know what a mini-missionary is they are a youth that has set aside some time to go out with the missionaries for a certain number of days and basically be a missionary. It was an awesome experience. He had a very humble spirit about him that gave him a lot of power as a missionary. There is so much power in humility, I have noticed that as we grow older we need to learn that in a temporal sense we need to become more self reliant, but in a spiritual sense we grow as we become more dependent on the Lord and the knowledge he is willing to offer us. Although our mini-missionary may think that he did all the learning, I believe that I may have done just as much learning if not more from this experience.
Despite the little time in our area this week we managed to see enough miracles to cover the space of a month. We met two people this week that told us that they have a strong interest in hearing the discussions with the intention of being baptized. Both of them are very thirsty for knowledge and are tired from the trials of the world and they have a faith about them that the words we bring them will give them happiness in their lives. We met with V... again, and although we postponed her baptism she feels that she knows that she must get baptized and she understands why. I feel that she knows everything see needs to know in order to become a member but we both agree that there is more that she can do as she prepares herself for the reset date that has been set. During our exchanges we had the great opportunity to meet with G... again. She is a perfect testament of the ability the spirit has to teach to ones understanding and heart. For a quick recap of who G... is she is a woman from Uganda that is very interested in what we have to say and believes all of our words. As we teach G... I begin to feel as Ammon did, teaching King Lamoni. Despite the fact that there is a huge language barrier between us, she responds to us with insightful questions that invoke truth. At the end of our lesson I sometimes get worried that she may not understand what I have said, but then I am comforted when she says "I understand the things you have said and I believe all of your words." Even though she cannot understand the English Book of Mormon at all the Lord is still teaching G... through his spirit.
I was not sure if I had mentioned this in a previous letter, A..., our recent Taiwanese convert, had the opportunity of going to the temple to participate in Baptisms for the dead for some of her ancestors. I am glad that she had the opportunity to give to those that have not had the chance to receive the gospel in their mortal existence the chance to accept this essential ordinance of salvation. I am glad that our God is a just God that gives all people the chance to accept Christ's atoning sacrifice and invites us all to be His friends.
This week I have begun to see how there are other things that can keep people from the gospel than just a lack of knowledge. We have taught many other people this week, who I will not name, who have told us that they know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true and that they know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ's Church reestablished. But despite this there are fears in the hearts of man that keep them from having faith in what they know to be true. This is proof that it is faith that brings about change and not knowledge alone.
Thank you for reading about my experiences and being so supportive of the mission for the Lord that I am on. Although I am not the best at things pertaining to writing I hope that these things can help you in your lives somehow. And with that I would like to reveal the secret to all effective missionary work. The secret is Love. When you lose yourself to the Lord that is when you will find yourself.
Elder Erb
This week has been all over the place. To start off with we were not even in our area for half of the week. My companion left for exchanges on Tuesday. Then we met up at some other elder's house and camped out with them for Zone Conference and District Meeting. We didn't get home until Thursday night. We then had the amazing opportunity of having a mini-missionary for the weekend. For those that might not know what a mini-missionary is they are a youth that has set aside some time to go out with the missionaries for a certain number of days and basically be a missionary. It was an awesome experience. He had a very humble spirit about him that gave him a lot of power as a missionary. There is so much power in humility, I have noticed that as we grow older we need to learn that in a temporal sense we need to become more self reliant, but in a spiritual sense we grow as we become more dependent on the Lord and the knowledge he is willing to offer us. Although our mini-missionary may think that he did all the learning, I believe that I may have done just as much learning if not more from this experience.
Despite the little time in our area this week we managed to see enough miracles to cover the space of a month. We met two people this week that told us that they have a strong interest in hearing the discussions with the intention of being baptized. Both of them are very thirsty for knowledge and are tired from the trials of the world and they have a faith about them that the words we bring them will give them happiness in their lives. We met with V... again, and although we postponed her baptism she feels that she knows that she must get baptized and she understands why. I feel that she knows everything see needs to know in order to become a member but we both agree that there is more that she can do as she prepares herself for the reset date that has been set. During our exchanges we had the great opportunity to meet with G... again. She is a perfect testament of the ability the spirit has to teach to ones understanding and heart. For a quick recap of who G... is she is a woman from Uganda that is very interested in what we have to say and believes all of our words. As we teach G... I begin to feel as Ammon did, teaching King Lamoni. Despite the fact that there is a huge language barrier between us, she responds to us with insightful questions that invoke truth. At the end of our lesson I sometimes get worried that she may not understand what I have said, but then I am comforted when she says "I understand the things you have said and I believe all of your words." Even though she cannot understand the English Book of Mormon at all the Lord is still teaching G... through his spirit.
I was not sure if I had mentioned this in a previous letter, A..., our recent Taiwanese convert, had the opportunity of going to the temple to participate in Baptisms for the dead for some of her ancestors. I am glad that she had the opportunity to give to those that have not had the chance to receive the gospel in their mortal existence the chance to accept this essential ordinance of salvation. I am glad that our God is a just God that gives all people the chance to accept Christ's atoning sacrifice and invites us all to be His friends.
This week I have begun to see how there are other things that can keep people from the gospel than just a lack of knowledge. We have taught many other people this week, who I will not name, who have told us that they know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true and that they know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ's Church reestablished. But despite this there are fears in the hearts of man that keep them from having faith in what they know to be true. This is proof that it is faith that brings about change and not knowledge alone.
Thank you for reading about my experiences and being so supportive of the mission for the Lord that I am on. Although I am not the best at things pertaining to writing I hope that these things can help you in your lives somehow. And with that I would like to reveal the secret to all effective missionary work. The secret is Love. When you lose yourself to the Lord that is when you will find yourself.
Elder Erb
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