6/23/2014
Dear
Friends and Family,
So I am finally messaging again after a long
absence. We have been so busy lately we haven't had time to even take our
full 'P' day. Although we have not been able to teach B---- very much, we
have been able to teach our mini-motorcycle friend and he has made a lot of
progress. He is already telling us how he wants his friend to come down
and baptize him when he is ready. Despite the moves of several of our
members out of the branch, our small Branch's chapel is starting to fill up not
only with nonmembers but also members that have not been seen for a while.
In the last three weeks we have been able to
be a helping hand of the Lord in bringing back many members into the fold.
I would like to talk about a couple of them. One is a member that
has moved recently from another ward nearby in Rhode Island. He called us out of nowhere one day and asked us to come
over and give him a blessing of healing.
Upon arriving the man was
so filled with the Spirit that he began telling us how much he has missed the
feeling of the Spirit in his life and that he knew he had to come back to
church starting the coming Sunday. He then told us that he needed a
blessing so that he could live long enough to be able to make it to the Temple in Boston and re-commit to the covenants he made in the Temple.
During our time there, he
explained to us that he has never seen the Boston Temple and that he has been away from the church for over 20 years.
Since this initial visit, he has come to church every week, faithfully,
with a bright hope and beaming testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel.
In addition, he has been sharing his testimony with all those that he
comes in contact with and those that live near him and has invited many people
to come with him to church.
Now if this is not a lesson that it is never
too late for anyone I don't know what is. But, in case you are not
convinced yet, there is another person I want to tell you about. This
person, like the last, is also a member that has not been to church for a long
time.
He may not have lived the
most Christian life before he was a member, as a member of the biker gang 'The
Hell's Angles', but when he found the church and the effect the Spirit had on
the missionaries that taught him, he said to himself "There is something
here."
Well, he joined the
church but then got addicted to smoking again and felt that he did not want to
be a hypocrite and not do that which he believed. So, like so many
others, he decided that he would stop coming. Then, much later, we find
him and he tells us about himself and his situation. Basically to the
point of saying that he knows it’s true but that he needs to stop smoking.
We talked about it and he came to the conclusion that now is the time for
him to stop, go back to church, and get a calling again in the Branch.
We had the opportunity to
give him a blessing as well to help him take strength from the Lord in his
righteous desires. Now he too has been coming to church faithfully and
even sharing that which he knows to the point where he cannot be silenced in
his sharing of the gospel with his friends and neighbors and even those that we
bring to church such as our mini-motorcycle friend.
I am running out of time and this message is
already pretty long so I will have to hold off on the other recent
opportunities we have been able to have. I love the work though.
And I know that Christ lives. And with this knowledge it compels me, my companion,
and also those I have talked about and many others to share His gospel with the
world.
Elder Erb
