Monday, January 13, 2014

January 13, 2014

Well ladies and gentleman good news the New Castle West Elders, Tollefsen & Poe, survived the arctic vortex alright. Our mission president had us stay inside for 2 straight days to keep us safe and I have decided that missionaries do not do well in captivity, also in case you were ever wondering if a scribble monster and a fracking monster get in a fight with their associated allies, the fracking monster doesn't survive but his side wins, and Ariel escapes the destruction with her waterlogged toaster. Sadly although Porter Rockwell does take out the Goldfish of Doom he gets taken out by Sister Voyles. There is a lot more to it than what is mentioned here, but the point is missionaries don't do well in captivity. 

This week has been absolutely splendid though for missionary work in our area even with two days cut off of our proselyting, we found two wonderful new investigators Daniel and Richard, they really have a desire to learn, unfortunately  they have a little more of a difficult time with retaining what we teach, but we are going to try and keep working with them and helping them come to Christ as best as we can. 

We also had another wonderful miracle this week our investigator Mercedes came to church this week. Mercedes is a woman that lives completely alone and has several very severe and crippling health issues, and to boot her family has disowned her and refuses to associate with her. Missionaries have been working with Mercedes since before my companion, Elder Tollefsen, had gotten here 6 months ago, and during that time it had been difficult to help her progress and she didn't always seem to understand everything we taught the first or second time so it was also an exercise in patience. Persistence pays off though and once we show the Lord our faith by doing everything we can the Lord makes bare his arm and starts to work miracles. In 6 months meeting with the missionaries Mercedes had still not been able to quit smoking however 2 weeks ago she had quit and hasn't smoked a cigarette since, then the biggest miracle happened yesterday when she came to church, it was awesome to see her there and she stayed for all 3 blocks and enjoyed it immensely. It was awesome to see what the Lord will do for his children. The experience with Mercedes has also taught, how vital and critical it is to continue to work with people even when it feels like you aren't making any progress and things aren't progressing forward. The Lord is willing to work with us and search out for us no matter how little we move forward and how often we end up stumbling or getting lost, the Saviour's arms are always outstretched and reaching to lift us up if we will let Him. 

I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God the Savior and Redeemer of the world and if we will look to him and take advantage of his great Atoning sacrifice by repenting he will lift us up. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God to restore the fullness of the Gospel in these great last days, and because of that I love the Prophet Joseph Smith, he was willing to live and die before denying that he had seen a vision, and because of all he has done we now understand many of the plain and precious truths that were lost because of conspiring, evil, and misguided men. I know that God is our Loving Heavenly Father and he knows and loves each of us completely and entirely, he weeps when we do, and is happy when we are happy. 

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