August 22, 2016

Here's something I got deeper insight on this week. If you want to
know truth, read and pray. And when you do so don't do it to find
inconsistencies or try to disprove it. For example, this week an
investigator asked how Jesus could be our brother if in Colossians
1:16-18 it says:

 "16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that
are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or
dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by
him, and for him:

17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the
preeminence."

You find these things from the Internet, people try to prove things
wrong to weed out the truth, but if you want truth than you have to
seek for truth, not wrong. If you want to know truth you have to read
the whole thing. So we read the the verse before and after, verse 15
and 19. Verse 15 says:

"15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature"

It says he is the firstborn. There's always a firstborn, I'm a
firstborn, it doesn't mean that my brothers aren't my brothers. And in
verse 19 it says:

"19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell"

If Jesus created all things it would mean he decided one day that he
wanted a father. So he just created a father and gave him more power
than himself. That isn't possible. And to be clear I'm not bagging on
this investigator, he has good questions but it's just one example.

So really what I'm trying to get at, is that if you want to know, you
have to look at the whole thing and look for it with real intent. It
is just annoying because I wish people were willing to truly listen to
what we have to say, it makes sense. And we aren't crazy (most of us).
Another example, people think that authority doesn't matter for
baptism. If that were the case, a hobo on the side of the road could
hold up a sign saying free baptisms and it would be valid. But it's
not. And I'm not diminishing other people's beliefs at all. But
thinking it through logically won't get you anywhere, it's more of a
fun thing to do on the side after you have faith.



Monday:
I gave my first blessing today. I was scared out of my mind. But I
just blanked my mind and went for it. Then I didn't remember much
about what I said. Pretty cliché I know. Them I felt happy and good.
It's weird, you get so in the zone that you don't realize anything
that's happening around you. And the person I blessed name was Seth.
Lole.

Tuesday:
I went on my first exchange and I'm with one of the Spanish elders. So
really I was pretty confused all day. I just sat back and laughed when
everyone else did.

Wednesday:
So today we went to give a church tour and we saw someone walking
through the parking lot. So we talked to him and said we were giving
church tours and he accepted! As we were walking in we got a text from
the guy we were going to give the church tour to saying that he was
just called into work and couldn't come anymore. The lord provides. So
we went through and had this great tour, gave him a lesson and at the
end asked him if he wanted to be baptized. Apparently he is already a
member. Haha we went through the whole thing and he never mentioned
that he was already a convert. He said he'd talked to missionaries
before but hasn't been to church since 2003 because he moved and had
no one to take him church anymore so stopped coming. Well now we know
about him so we are moving his records, finding him rides, and
arranging that stuff with the bishop. On the downside we had a solid
investigator email us today saying he's not interested anymore because
he talked to his pastor uncle and it's not for him. Everyone has a
family member who is a pastor here, mostly female pastors too. In my
opinion though it's like going to a Chevy dealer asking why you should
buy a ford.  But on a super bright side we went to teach someone who
wasn't there but her son was. We taught him for over an hour and his
testimony was so strong. He wants to get baptized. As the lessons went
on he kept saying things that got us more and more excited, like, "why
isn't there prophets like in the bible, I feel like there should be
one now more than ever" right before we taught him about prophets or
"I don't think the bible has it all, can I use one of your Books of
Mormon so I can know more about his gospel?" And before we asked, he
said he wanted to give us his number so we could set up more
appointments. The spirit was so strong! He said at the end that when
he answered the door he tried to just get back inside but then he felt
something hit his heart telling him that he needs to listen to us. He
said he knew it was God and he sent us to him in his right timing. His
name is Deshawn. So two miracles in a day! And both as a result of the
original person not showing up!

Thursday:
Today we did lots of tracting in the afternoon which was hot. Then we
went to the church where we'd meet our dinner appointment. They got
stuck in traffic so we're 50 minutes late. That means ten minutes to
eat. Lole. Then a big ol' storm came close to us and I climbed
something to watch it pass by while we waited for the mission
president for a meeting. It got super windy and I saw a wall cloud😍
that is the rotating clouds that come down before a tornado. And there
was lots of lighting in it. And I probably shouldn't have been out on
the highest point but come on, I haven't seen one for years. Also! We
met with Deshawn again today and it was awesome again. Many times
people just act like they're sincere but he really is. He asked us to
come to church and is excited to be baptized still. And here's
something cool. We couldn't get ahold of him but we went anyways and
we were 20 minutes late. It happened to be that he got off work late
and we walked up to the door a few seconds after he did, and he said
he was upset because he thought he'd missed us and his phone was dead
and was wanting to call us. I'm stoked! I also flipped for the first
time today and it was so invigorating!!

Friday:
Really not a lot happened. We planned for the week, had two lessons
and one of them I am almost certain looked up why Mormon are wrong
just because he was pulling deep deep doctrine out and using parts of
verses that stumped us, but if you read the whole scripture would
actually not disprove anything. Satan uses bits of truth to tell lies.
So get the full picture before jumping to conclusions!

Saturday:
I cut hair for the first time, and I did an awesome job. We also went
tracting and the first door we knocked on asked us to come in, we
taught the restoration, gave him a Book of Mormon and he said he'd be
baptized when he comes to know its true. So that's super cool, he
moved to America a week ago and his name is Paul. We also met an
investigator who lost contact with the Spanish elders and really was
looking forward to getting more lessons, and another person who wants
us to come back. That is really really successful for an hour and a
half of tracting, it also rained on and off all day long. It rains so
much here! Also on a random side note, less active members are the
most intimidating people to work with. They seem to take offense
really easily, it's like walking through a land mine. There's a
religion here called penicostal, when they feel the spirit they start
shaking and speaking tongues (tongues is basically just jibberish).
It's really interesting and kind of funny. They believe it brings the
spirit more strongly into them.

Sunday:
Today we didn't have anyone come to church of ours so that's a bummer.
Especially with Deshawn, he never responded to us either. Really today
was pretty mediocre. But we were at a recent convert's house and they
were bearing their testimony to us about how important what we are
doing is and how much of a role model we are. They said we don't even
know how much of a role model we are and that it may seem like we
don't mean much to people because of constant rejection. And it's
true, but when people bear their testimonies like that it's like a
recharge and it was awesome. Everyone cried except for me and I feel
kinda bad for not crying. They said to remember we are not preaching
our gospel, so don't get discouraged, it's not our fault, we are to be
spokesmen for Jesus' gospel. So that was really encouraging.

Today we went to the mall and two families gave us money for lunch.
They're awesome, it's good to be loved.