The Elder Poe Report
This week was an exciting and interesting. This week I saw the Lord’s church in action and some powerful lessons on the importance of trust in the Lord.
We will start with the bad news of this week. David unfortunately was not there yesterday for the appointment we are not sure why, but we will try getting back in contact with him soon. In addition we had two less active members this week tell us they would prefer not to have any contact with us or the church anymore. So that really stunk in the extreme, but people were given their agency and they are free to use it, that is what we fought a war in heaven over was whether or not we would have that agency. That makes it all the worst that people seem to be so willing to give up their agency to a substance or behavior because it is making them slightly happy for the time. I really just wish I could help people see that the Gospel of Christ can free them from worry, sin, and remorse. That is what the Gospel of Christ is here for, to make us free and happy.
Yesterday I saw what was nothing short of the Lord working a miracle for the benefit of his children. There is a man, we will call him Les, in our ward who is a little bit elderly and several months ago had a serious stroke that brought about a speech and memory impairment, as well as some degree of physical disability. During church you could tell that he was not doing very well, another member of the ward Robert saw that, and he could relate as he had a similar experience occur to him several years ago. After church we got a call from Robert asking us if we would be able to come with him to go talk to Les and see how he is doing, we immediately accepted and later that evening went to see Les, who we talked with for a while and who was doing better after we left. The thing that really struck me though is that one brother of the church saw another one of his brothers struggling and acted as Christ would’ve to comfort him, because he cared and loved him. Isn’t that what we covenanted at baptism, to mourn with those that mourn and comfort those that stand in need of comfort? Additionally this showed me why we really have the home teaching program, home and visiting teaching is more than just visiting once a month and sharing a lesson, it is loving another family and caring and looking out for them and helping them come closer to Christ. It is really about loving another family as the Saviour would, how blessed are the members of this Church that we have the opportunity to serve each other selflessly and exercise the saintly virtue of Charity.
The final experience was more of a weeklong learning experience. At a certain point this week I was feeling a little down on myself, due to a previous day spent mostly in tracting without fruit being brought forth and several other items this week that were aforementioned. I expressed my sentiment to my companions and they helped me to see that this work is not necessarily about convincing others of the truthfulness of what we have but rather finding those who will receive us as it says in D&C 42:8. As it says in 2 Nephi 12:3 “many people shall go and say, Come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob” it doesn’t say let’s go convince other people to come up to the house of the Lord because of how good it will be for them but rather that they will have a desire to. God is preparing people to receive the message but not all of the people are being prepared all the time to accept the Gospel, like a good friend said to me shortly before I departed and reminded me in an email. We aren’t teaching people anything new everyone we teach already knows everything we are telling them they were taught it in the Pre-Earth Life (not the Pre-Existence, that is for you Parke family) they just forgot it for a while. Our duty as missionaries is to create an environment in which the Spirit can be present to bring these things to their remembrance.
I know that God is our loving Heavenly Father, I know that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to work an infinite and all powerful atonement, and that through it all mankind can saved through Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End. I know also that all these truths were restored through Joseph Smith, who was called of God to be the prophet, seer, and revelator that opened the dispensation of the fullness of times. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is God’s church once again restored on the earth again in these last days and it is lead and guided by Thomas S. Monson under the direction and guidance of Jesus Christ.
The Report of Elder Hunter Poe
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