The Church Is True

Another week has gone by here in the Ohio and it is already half way through the transfer and I think that my time here in Painesville is running short. 

Well here is how my week has gone.

Tuesday: We were asked to teach the 6 Am seminary class at the church so we had to wake up at 4:30 to get everything ready...  I am glad that I was able to take release time seminary, that’s for sure. But it was fun to be able to interact with the youth of the ward and be able to learn together. The church is true no matter where you go in this world. Later in the day we met a Jehovah’s witness who ended up giving Elder Watkins and I had both copies of their bible and then proceeded to try to bible bash with Elder Watkins (that was a mistake) and reminds me of a quote by Elder Holland that says "We don’t bible bash but when we do, we win" So that is always interesting. 

Wednesday: We had another awesome lesson with Doug And Jessica. During the lesson I realized that one of the biggest reasons that I have seen my testimony grow so much on my mission has been because of Doug and Jessica. I have been able to see the gospel work in other people’s lives that both formerly had large problems with the word of wisdom and other things. The change that has happened with both of them in the past 4-5 months has been very big and they both know it and all of their friends know it and we know it. Being able to see the gospel be a light to someone who was in the dark has been eye opening for me and I am and always will be thankful for the friendship that I have formed with both of them. 

Thursday: Just a regular ole day of getting mistaken for Jehovah witness missionaries.

Friday: I had a pretty cool experience during my personal study. We had Elder Gong of the 70 come a couple weeks ago and he told us to take our next step forward in progressing as a missionary and I had decided mine was being able to teach from the scriptures better. So having a companion that know the scriptures better than any other missionary I have ever met has really helped with that, but he also gave me the Idea to buy a study journal so I did.

So during my personal study I had the thought to go through each of the lessons and for each main point I would find 4-6 scriptures that back up/ relate to or teach about that point from all the scriptures available to us. So I have been doing that and it has already helped me out a lot! That was a testimony builder of listening to church leaders and taking their advice and applying it into my life because it really does work. 

Saturday: Met with Tim and he is still progressing really well. We also met with Raquel who is getting baptized at the end of this month and she is awesome. Even though her whole family is Jewish and they all think she is weird for getting baptized in a Christian religion, she still wants to go forward with it and knows that it is true. That has also been another testimony builder for me of the truthfulness of the gospel.

Okay so quick little story. So the catholic father that we met last week knows a couple of former investigators that we have been trying to get in contact with recently and on Saturday we were able to go to their house and meet with them. When we told them that we had been invited to go to lunch with Father Chris and had been to their church they were really excited and said that they would agree to start meeting with us again because we were willing to look at it from their side of the street as well. So now we have another awesome family that we are meeting with once a week.  

Sunday: Well sad story. Tim was not able to make it to church so we have had to push his baptism back a week :( but that is okay! I hope I am able to be here still to see him be baptized but either way I am happy that he is making the right choice. Also I still have no clue who won the super bowl... Now the challenge is to see how long I can go before someone says something about it. 

Well, even though not a whole lot of huge crazy miracles happened this week, I felt that my testimony has grown and has been strengthened more this week than any previous. I love the gospel. I love the Church. I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father and for his Son and our older Brother Jesus Christ. I am thankful for The Atonement and all that it encompasses. I am grateful for the scriptures and a great companion. I am grateful for the great examples I have had in my life. Last but not least I am very grateful for an awesome family.

Love you all!  Remember: The Book is blue and the Church is true. 

Have a good week