Good morning everyone! I hope you guys are all doing swell. Sorry, I forgot to tell everyone that this week, p-day is on monday. This is because I and elder fielding are going to Helsinki for a thing called "return and report" on tuesday, wednesday and thursday. Me and the rest of my district from the mtc are going to be there. It is a sort of three day meeting where we learn some new stuff and talk about our first few weeks in Finland. It is at the mission home.
It has been a really really good week with missionary work. We got to talk to a lot of people this week. Very fun stuff.
Personal study:
In personal study I read a lot of great stuff. I feel like on my mission, i have read stories in both the bible and the Book of Mormon that I have never heard of before. There is such good stuff in there. These books really are the word of God. The Book of Mormon holds the fullness of the Gospel. As I read both of them together (I think that I talked about it last week) I can really see how they support each other in what they say. I fell like every chapter that I read in the book of mormon is talking about or quoting something that I am reading in the old testament.
Yesterday in alma, I read about the story of ammon.
Alma 18: 8-10 are three verses that I really like.
8 And it came to pass that king Lamoni inquired of his servants, saying: Where is this man that has such great power? 9 And they said unto him: Behold, he is feeding thy horses. Now the king had commanded his servants, previous to the time of the watering of their flocks, that they should prepare his horses and chariots, and conduct him forth to the land of Nephi; for there had been a great feast appointed at the land of Nephi, by the father of Lamoni, who was king over all the land.10 Now when king Lamoni heard that Ammon was preparing his horses and his chariots he was more astonished, because of the faithfulness of Ammon, saying: Surely there has not been any servant among all my servants that has been so faithful as this man; for even he doth remember all my commandments to execute them.
Ammon is doing what king lamoni had asked him to do. He is feeding his horses. Just after he chopped a whole bunch of guys arms off. When we are obedient and put forth all our righteous effort, we build trust. Because of this, king Lamoni says that Ammon is the most faithful servant he has ever had! Had ammon not have done his part in being obedient and earning the trust of the king, how could he have taught with the spirit later and have testified to the king about God? There would have been no success.
This reminded me of a talk in the last general conference i think it was. It is one of my favorites. It was in the priesthood session though, so you might not all have heard it. It is called, Earning the trust of the Lord and your family, by elder maynes of the 70. In it, he tells a story of when he was on a business trip with his dad, and they were offered a deal that was not so honest, but would be making a lot more money for the company. It was called a win win situation. They replied that they would get back to the company later that week to give them their reply. When him and his dad got to the car, his dad asked if he should accept the deal. the answer was no. He then explained Listen, Rick, once you take a bribe or compromise your integrity, it is very difficult to ever get it back. Don’t ever do it, not even once.” If we ever compromise our integrity, how can the lord trust us? Especially with those who are seeking to learn more about the gospel? It probably wont happen. God will save them for somebody else.
This week:
We had a very good week. On friday and saturday, the district leader and his comp came to seinäjoki to go on splits with us. On splits we ran into some great people. We found like 5 potentials (where they give us their phone number and say they want to learn more). Elder Jordan and I were even let into two apartments and gave lessons. Really cool. One of them says we can come back and teach again on friday! So that is our first investigator! In the middle of his lesson I was explaining something , i cant remember, probably about the book of mormon. But my foot cramped up super bad as I was talking...haha...and then I like stood up really fast and grabbed my foot and I said something like "ahhhh ahhh my foot!" I think the guy and elder jordan thought I was dancing or something. I stood up for like another minute and kept talking and then everything was good. I have been getting foot cramps a lot for some reason. Missionary work is really fun when you work hard. you get a lot more done too! I tell you that miracles are happening in seinäjoki as we talk. Slowly, people are being prepared for us to find and teach...we just need to find them. Splits was really good and gave me another point of view on how others do missionary work different than us. Sometimes we do the same thing but it is always good to mix it up. There isnt a set way to do finding.
The district missionaries also ate most of our food, so we only had potatoes today and yesterday. I tried this thing that is in the Martian movie...where the guy is stuck on mars with only potatoes and ketchup. I like cooked the potatoes in the microwave, and then dipped them in ketchup. It was actually really good. I am going to be doing that a lot now.
We did a lot of good tracting this week. Lots of biking around looking for people. On Wednesday, it got to -14 or-13 while we were tracting. We were out at Heikkilä (the far away farming village) when it was time to go back, elder fielding hands were freezing because he didnt have mittens...(i brought mine just in case for the first time ever) and I didnt have a beenie. We have never been so cold in our lives. I think I got permanent brain damage. We never rode home that fast before. It was lightning speed. I am not sure if my legs were getting the blood pumping, or if I was going numb. Since this day, i keep thinking I am hearing the alarm in the middle of the night, and then I get out of bed for my morning prayer. One time it happened three times in the night . It is good though, when I am done praying i look at the clock and get really happy.
The work is real! I have grown so much in every way. the church is true! I have set goals this year.(we all need to) A good one is to read with intent, The Book of Mormon everyday. This brings so many blessings. It will change you if you let it. It is one of president Monson's last talks. One of the last things that he talked about was reading the book of mormon everyday. It is important that we do it.
love you all! keep serving each other!
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