Hey fam!
To start off I would like to share a story to explain the title of the letter. The other week we were tracting in the Hood (Ghetto, poorer area, whatever you would like to call it) and came into some people that we sitting on their porch, enjoying the weekend with some drinks and family. We started talking to them about religion and had a great conversation and they told us about the church that they attended and they then invited us to come to one of their services. Well, I have really not done a whole lot of that on my mission because the time that church has started has always been in the morning, when most other churches meet but since the branch meets at 1:00, I now have the opportunity to do that. So we accepted. I didn’t realize the shock that I was in for! It was a Baptist church in the middle of the hood and here is how the services went: We walked in and the assistant pastor ran up to greet us and introduced us to the pastor. They were both extremely nice. Well the services started and they had a live band and a guy who played the organ professionally to go along with the pastor to add a little "umph" to the sermon. They had a fellowship moment where the pastor said "And today we are honored and privileged to have 2 young distinguished ministers with us, make sure to make them feel welcomed." The next thing I know, I realized he was talking about us and we had a bunch of old, sweet, black ladies come up and give us hugs and pull us up to the front for their community prayer. Well, that finished and they had a welcome song to all visitors and once again he pointed us out as the "2 young distinguished ministers" and they sang this really cool song to welcome us to the church that day. Next, the pastor had invited a gospel group to come and sing for 15 minutes and not gonna lie, that group was really good but I have never been in a church service with so much dancing, singing, shouting and not being able to hear myself think because it was so loud. Here are some of the best quotes from the service: "We are gonna have a Holy Ghost great time" "God is the God of the white house and he is the God of the Hood... and God loves the Hood!!". It was pretty cool to be able to see how different people worship and show their love to God and at the same time it was an experience that showed the difference in the spirit that I felt going right from that to our church service. God is good and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Say Saints is His church.
We had a new family come to church this Sunday!! Tony is the husbands name, we have been working with him mostly and he has recently started to progress more and finally came to church. We had a really good lesson with him with a member of the ward that works with him and has recentloy became his friend. They hit it off right away and during the lesson Tony’s wife decided to join and opened up to us about how because of some challenges they have had in the last couple years, that it has led them to search more for God in their lives and how they were looking for a church. She would have come to church but called into work Sunday so she wasn’t able to make it. We had another great lesson with Tony yesterday and it just felt so much more comfortable and like we have a solid foundation set that will help him to accept the gospel and have his family follow along after. I am really excited to work with them. We also had another recent convert /less active family come to church for the first time in a while and it was great.
Peter, The law student and friend of some members in the branch came to the branch pot luck and loved it! We are hopefully going to go to Kirtland with him this Sunday. He is in 2 Nephi and doing great. He is just going to be so busy with him studying for the bar for the next couple of months that it might be hard to meet with him.
We were able to go to Kirtland with a recent convert, his wife and his wife's sister on Saturday and it was super awesome. The recent convert and his wife got into a wreck about a year ago and it got her pretty bad and she was in a coma for a while and has been recovering ever since and he joined the church after that and she has seen miracles in her recovery. The School of the prophets was super awesome and I haven’t felt the spirit that strongly for a while when they talked about how God has helped them through the last year. Then we went to the temple with him and Elder Rawson and I knew more about the temple than the tour guides did so we ended up breaking off and giving Vince the tour of the temple, lol.
A couple of nights ago we were stopping by a less active and he didn’t end up being home but the guy who answered the door lit up when he saw us. At first we were confused but he then told us about how he had literally just been sitting there thinking about how something was missing in his life and how he and his girlfriend were looking for a church and he prayed about it and then we knocked on the door. This dude was covered in tattoos and was a rough tumbler, which once again goes to show that we cant judge others by how they look because we are shutting heavens door on them if we do. We ended up teaching him and his girlfriend the restoration and they loved it. We have a return appointment with them next week.
In closing, I would like to share a little bit from my studies this week. I have been pondering on what it really means to be a Christian and the scriptrues that I have run into are D&C 81:5, John 13:34,35 and a few others that talk about how to be Christs disciples. We first need to have love one for another. Being a christian isn’t about finding a community of others like you and just stay there thinking that you are safe and that you can kick everyone else out that isnt like you... it is about succoring the weak and lifting the hands that hang low and strengthening those around you. It is about becoming something, becoming as Christ is and turning outward and thinking of others and not worrying about our "Checklist' to get to heaven. Reaching out to those that are lost in forbidden paths is all about compassion and mercy, not compromise. I have really enjoyed pondering on this subject and studying it as well. I love being taught things from the scriptures that connect together and help me to improve. That is all for this week! Love you all :)
Read your scriptures and be good!
Stay cute,
Elder Frandsen
No comments:
Post a Comment