Hey Everyone!
First off, Happy Birthday tomorrow to my Mom! Hope it’s a great one :)
Week 5 has been amazing! We are
currently teaching 14 people! We go on
splits with either the guys in the Elders quorum or the young men waiting to
leave for their mission!
This week, I went on a split with a young man named Brandon (He's
leaving on a mission next month to Honduras) and we visited a non-member named Ace Avery. He's 85 and is married to an active member of our Church but, has never cared to be
baptized. He told us that he loves the people of the Church but doesn't believe in
the Book of Mormon. He also said he's
been visited by the missionaries countless times. He's heard ALL the
discussions and knows everything there is to know about our Church. He mentioned that he'd even read the Book of
Mormon cover to cover…but he didn't think it was true.
I asked him if he knew about Moroni's promise or the Book of Mormon
promise (Moroni 10:3-5) and he said yes. I asked if he had read with real intent as
instructed by Moroni. He said he did not
believe he read it with real intent,
because he read it on account of a dare! I asked him if he could try to find the
willingness to read with real intent. He
said no. When I asked why, he said that he
just didn't have the desire. I asked if
he had ever prayed about the Book of Mormon being true. He said he had not. Then, I asked if he could do that and he just laughed
and said he couldn't. I was
confused, so I asked him if the reason
he couldn't pray to know the truth was because he thought God would be offended. He said yes, God would be offended if he
"bugged" him with that kind of a prayer.
He told us that he was a strong Southern Baptist and that he was currently attending a Bible
school. So I asked him if he knew the
scripture in the Bible, James 1:5. He said yes and quoted it... "If any of ye
lack wisdom, let him ask of God, and it will be given him." I pointed out that he had left part of the
scripture out. "If any of ye lack
wisdom, let him ask of God, *who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth
not*, and it will be given him."
Then I asked him if he knew what "upbraideth not" meant. He said he didn’t know. I explained to him that it meant, if we ask
God a "stupid" or "dumb" question, he would not be
offended. There is no such thing as a
dumb question to God :) He then looked at me with a puzzled face. I invited him once again to pray about the
truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and that if he did so with a sincere heart
and real intent, he could know of its truth through the Holy Ghost. We haven't been back since and he is out of town for the next few
weeks, but we’re planning to meet with him when he gets home :)
I was also able to start teaching 2 young girls. Their mom is a less active member but wants to
come back to church. Their names are
Linden (13) and Casey (8). I was able to
teach them The Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Restoration. They are amazing and retained so much of the
lesson! We are inviting them to be
baptized when we visit again on Tuesday night! While teaching them, it reminds me how we all need
to be like little children and humble ourselves. Children are the greatest example of what we
need to be in order to become truly converted ourselves.
Ricardo Lopez is still on date for this Wednesday, the 21st! He asked Elder Allen and I to sing a special
musical number for the program so we are going to be doing that--with a guitar!
;) It’s a nice nylon string that belongs to one
of our Ward Mission Leaders, so it'll be
a lighter sounding tone :)
Our other baptism is set up for next Sunday on the 25th. It is Donell Christensen! She's super prepared and everything is going
smooth. She also asked us to play a song
at her baptism as well :)
James (the one we took to Temple Square) has recently told us that he
doesn't want anything to do with the Church anymore, but thanked us for being
nice and trying to help him. Keep him in
your prayers. His family is hard on him and he's had lots of troubles recently.
We are trying to set up an appointment
with him asap. Please keep James,
Ricardo, Donell, and Ace in your prayers for me!
We are averaging about 22 lessons taught a week, so we are plenty busy!
Afternoons are somewhat slow, but we are trying to find as many service projects
as we can to keep us busy. Nights are
double booked and most of the time we get home late. Sundays are definitely the busiest days. We have 1-2 stake correlation meetings every
Sunday and then several Ward Council meetings that we are asked to attend.
Sunday nights usually have 3-4 lessons
planned with Investigators.
We were able to attend the Salt Lake City Temple this morning! It's beautiful and holds the Spirit so strong.
It was an amazing experience. We are able to attend the Temple once a
transfer, so that’s every 6 weeks.
It's still hot here, and everyone says this is the hottest summer
Utah has had on record! So I still feel
your pain for the heat :) Although, they
say it's gonna cool down soon.
Hope everyone is well at home! You are all in my prayers.
Don't ever forget that we are given the Gospel to share it. Is there anyone that you know that could
benefit from knowing the truth of the Gospel? That person you're thinking of right now is
the person that needs it the most. Share
the joy and love of the Truth we know.
-Elder Carroll
PS Don't forget to write me! I love getting letters from friends and family :)
My favorite scripture this week… Mosiah
4:11-12
(11)
And again I say unto you as I have said before, that as ye have come to the
knowledge of the glory of God, or if ye have known of his goodness and have tasted
of his love, and have received a remission of your sins, which causeth such
exceedingly great joy in your souls, even so I would that ye should remember, and
always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God, and your own nothingness,
and his goodness and long-suffering towards you, unworthy creatures, and humble
yourselves even in the depths of humility, calling on the name of the Lord
daily, and standing steadfastly in the faith of that which is to come, which
was spoken by the mouth of the angel.
(12)
And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be
filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins; and ye
shall grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created you, or in the
knowledge of that which is just and true.
No comments:
Post a Comment