Good morning Universe! This is your total epicness elder, Elder Z.S.Weber, reporting in once more from the Prairie Ridge/Taft Canyon Wards in the Colorado Fort Collins mission. It's been a long week since I last wrote to any of you—long, but very fruitful. I know, you don't hear that from me very often. Usually I say that the work was slow, or I say something witty about the weather, or complain about how sick I'd always be getting. But this week, for once, things are actually moving forward. I've seen a lot of success this past week, both in seeking out those who with listen to the discussions, and in just living my life as a missionary. This week has just been wonderful. So, without further-ado, let's get into the week!
So, Tuesday started off as being a very slow day at the start. As it was Transfer Day, we mainly spent the day getting our bags moved into our new house, settled in, and just preparing for the week we were about to start off. However, towards the end of the day, we had an...interesting experience. We were out doing our rounds of going down the former investigator lists to see if anyone would be interested in learning the missionary lessons. We knocked on one door, and we were answered by a man who was smoking a cigarette and VERY drunk. However, he let us in, and they expressed some interest in joining a new church. So, we set up a time for us to stop by again later in the week to share our message with them.
We also encouraged them not to be so...drunk next time.
Anyways, the next day was Wednesday, which started off with us doing some small service at Good Will. Afterwords, we had a couple very great chances to teach. The first was with the Salmonds, who I believe I probably mentioned last week. In this meeting, we taught Sister Salmond's fiancé, Dwain, about the Plan of Salvation, as he had some concerns with the afterlife. It was an interesting experience to share our beliefs with someone who had very little understanding of religious beliefs such as life-after-death. He had quite a few interesting questions as well, and I was very glad that we were prepared enough to answer his questions fairly well, and were able to help him understand for himself the Plan our Father has for us.
Then, that evening, we had a chance to teach a less-active member of the Prairie Ridge Ward, John Bass. We have been teaching Brother Bass the lessons for a while—in fact, I think I've mentioned him once or twice in past emails—and he's been taking to them fairly well. Last Wednesday night, we went into the Commandments portion of the missionary discussions, and shared with him the various commandments we have been given as Heavenly Father's children, and what blessings we can expect from keeping the commandments. We went into great detail on the subject of Keeping the Sabbath Day holy, and Brother Bass actually had some very interesting points on the Sabbath Day that made me look at how the world treats the Sabbath Day a lot differently...and not in a good way.
Thursday was a good day, as at the beginning of it, we had a big Zone Lunch at our Stake President, President Foster's house, and had a quick training from the Zone Leaders to get our next transfer rolling right. That afternoon, we took what we learned from the Zone Lunch and jumped straight into work, with a chance to teach one of our investigators, Roland. Brother Haynes, the Ward Mission Leader, came along with us to help in teaching Roland. We mainly spent the lesson reading from the Book of Mormon and helping Roland see the importance that it could have in his life. I truly feel that the lesson helped him to improve his views on the Book of Mormon. We plan on meeting with him this week, so hopefully his reading went well.
Thursday led into Friday, and Friday brought with it a great chance to do service. Once again, Friday morningfound Elders Anderson, Christenot, Chan, and myself driving down to the Stake Center to help out with the Bishop's storehouse, and in organizing the food that members had ordered through their Bishop. After it was all done with, Brother Johnson—who is the main supervisor for the Bishop's storehouse—asked if we could lend a hand with some work he needed to finish.
His son is moving, and he had to get all of these keyboards (25-ish, I think) packed up. So, we drove off to the townhouse Brother Johnson's son lived in and got to work wrapping up the keyboards in plastic wrap and bubble wrap so they'd be safe for travel. It was a lot of fun, actually, and went along fairly quickly.
And that pretty much wraps up my week (heh...wraps up...like plastic wrap...heh). Now, I promised all y'all a spiritual message this week as last week I sort of flaked out on it. So, I actually do have a message I can share.
This past week, while we've been sharing our messages with members and investigators in our area, we've heard a lot of sad news from some we've taught. Friends and family have passed away, close companions have fallen on hard times, and the harshness of the world only seems to get harsher with every day. As I've listened to these messages, I can't help but find myself traveling back to about eight years ago, when I learned the shocking news that my grandfather, Kenneth Weber, had passed away. At the time, I didn't really know how to respond. I don't know if I could say I was saddened by the news, as I was probably too numb to feel sadness at the time. Whatever it was, I know that it left me with a feeling that I can only describe as emptiness inside myself.
However, even back then, as a young eleven-year-old, I knew I could be comforted by the knowledge that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints gave me. My grandfather wasn't a member of the Church, no, but he was a great man, kind and loving. I knew, then, even in my childhood, that he wasn't lost to the cold grasp of death, never to be heard from again. Though his body was dead, his spirit still lived, and dwelt now in the Spirit World. There, he would be taught the fullness of the gospel, and could be received into the wondrous joy that is paradise. About a year after his death, I was able to do his baptism for him in the Jordan River Temple. This saving ordinance, without which no man can see the Kingdom of God, was done there for my grandfather, so that he would see and dwell in the Kingdom of God after the great day of Judgement.
In the scriptures, it says, "...for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" (1 Corinthians 15: 52-55) I know of a certainty that Death has no more power over us. We are no longer slaves to eternal death and despair, but Death is now merely a rest between this life and the glorious life to come—a life spent in the eternities with our Father.
I bear my personal witness, which I have had from my childhood up, of this divine truth. Through Christ's atonement, death hath no sting, and the grave hath no victory. We shall all live again, and dwell in endless joy for the rest of our days, so long as we believe in our Savior, and follow his commandments on until the every end. I am so grateful for this truth, which brings so much comfort and hope to my life. As Paul exclaimed to the Corinthians thousands of years ago, so exclaim I today, "thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 15: 57) This I say in the holy name of our Savior and Redeemer, the breaker of the bands of Death, even the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
—Elder Z.S.Weber
No comments:
Post a Comment