So I thought I would start with some oldie music for all you oldies out there! I hope you enjoy it! I had a great week this week but an amazing sunday! It was one of the most spiritual and edifying meetings that i have been in! It was just fantastic and i will tell you all about it! First though, a little spiritual thought to kind of go with trails.
1. I was reading Alma 17:5 and it really touched me. This is talking about the best missionaries in the Book of Mormon and probably the world, and it is saying even their mission was really hard! It reads, " 5 Now these are the circumstances which attended them in their journeyings, for they had many afflictions; they did suffer much, both in body and in mind, such as hunger, thirst and fatigue, and also much labor in the spirit." This is a comfort to me that even though we all go through life and some look so much higher or better then us. we can see that they still had trials. It is like the army of Helaman they were all righteous young men and did what they were supposed to in Alma 57:25 it says that "[to] the joy of our whole army, there was not one a soul of them (the 2000 stripling warriors) who did perish; yea, and neither was there one soul among them who had not received many wounds". Even the righteous are hit and attacked by the adversary but i think that it is perseverance and diligence that separates them from the average Joe they get up use the atonement and are made better through it their trials. Trials are blessings, they make us better if we use them how God wants us to. I am so grateful for the mountains that i have had to climb and i look for the next one ahead of me.
2. Mark and Brenda are the awesome part member family that I mentioned last week and we went back and gave them an awesome lesson! Mark said something great that i really like. He said that he loved our visits that he is a very busy guy with a really busy life. but he said he was really excited that we were coming back that after our first visit. He said that he never really gets excited about much but he loved the good feeling that we bring into his home! So he invited us back this Tuesday! They have lots of potential and i am very excited to see where this leads to. I can tell they will be a very strong family in the gospel, I am just so very blessed to help them in that journey to the gospel.
3. Rachelle is another lady I talked about last week. We had an awesome lesson with her and her member boyfriend. She said that the first time we showed up there was a white light around me and Elder Farris and that she knew right then that we had something very important to give to her! So i am very happy about that and hope she continues to feel the lobe she has felt as she meets with us.
4. I have been on my mission for 6 MONTHS!!!!! Man that is so crazy, I feel like it was just a few days ago i was in the MTC and now look where I'm at in Marianna teaching the gospel and training! Sp that is awesome! It is a missionary tradition to burn a tie when you get to 6 months so i did that on Saturday night! Sadly my companion wasn't the most camera talented so i didn't get any pictures of the actual burning, but i got a pre-burn picture! The 6 on the tie is made out of some super flammable stuff a member taught me to make.. I won't say what it is cause i don't want my mom to worry! but it worked great! happy 6 months!
5. We went to a funeral at a church on the black side of town. one of the sisters' investigators had a family member died so we went with them. Man did we get some bad stares walking in, but after a while they all loved us! It was a super cool church and they all talked about how their faith in Christ is what they should focus on during this time of trials! But man do i love their songs! It is really fun to sing with drums in church! But don't worry, i am not going to convert cause they have a really cool rockband!
6. Brother McDaniels, our high councilor, gave an awesome missionary thought in priesthood. he is a Sergeant in the Army and told us that he received a call during sacrament that one of his soldiers had died, and his job was to call his mother. He said he was about to leave church but instead he stayed because he felt like he should. So he did and told us he was comforted by the spirit and he said that he knew if he did not have the spirit with him he could not have made the call. He then challenged us all to bring people to church so they could feel the same spirit that he was feeling! Man it was so great, Ii could feel the spirit so strong as he spoke.
7. President Parker of the stake presidency spoke to us on sunday about home teaching. It was great. He told us we should not look at it like an assignment but a privilege that we get to do this. The Lord has let us prune a part of his vineyard for him. That as we home teach we are personally accounting to the Lord for what we do. We should home teach because of love for the people not cause of the calling. He went on to say that home teachers should be your best friends, those people that you call in the good or bad times! The ones that you can say "hey guess what!" or say " i need help". I challenge you all to be those home and visiting teachers!
8. President Bess, the stake president our stake, the Dothan Alabama stake, came and talked a lot about home teaching and it was really great! He told us a story about the best home teacher he ever had. Before this guy, Eddie Roy Harrison, was a member, his wife was one and they went to general conference. His grand daughter wrote the prophet at the time and said that he had to meet her grandfather! So Gordon B. Hinckley took time out of his schedule to talk with her grandfather. This act of love by the prophet is why he joined the church. He then became an amazing home teacher, who was also a great friend. he didn't know a lot about the gospel but he cared a lot and that is what matters
9. So we received a referral this week and it is going to be awesome to teach it. Well here is the deal... the people who want to learn more are from Guatemala and speak a Mayan language called Mam, which is nothing like Spanish. The guy who speaks this language can speak Spanish and a little tiny bit of english so he will translate for us. But man this is going to be a really interesting experience, I guess I will be praying very hard for the gift of tongues!
10. This was one of the greatest moments of my mission so far. We have been working with a less active family a lot! And we have been going over there almost every week! They love the missionaries but they have a little boy that is 7 and will be baptized in December. The grandma and mother asked me to baptize him in December. T almost teared up in the middle of church it was great. but the little kid, Teagan, was so excited and wanted me to baptism him so hopefully i get that chance!
I love you so much and pray for you all!
Love,
Elder Taylor
No comments:
Post a Comment