Written November 18, 2013
Monday again everyone! Sorry this week will be shorter, I only have like 30 minutes left and I had to do a survey since we are having a GA come to the mission in January!! whoo! I am stoked for that. But I would like to give a shout out to Elder Jensen who provided the advice that made this week a good one and also to Elder Anding! Man congratulations! I am excited to see the hard work is paying off and the work is marching on. Elder Larsen keep baptizing Africans, helps me out :) Elder Wells, man I am so pumped for you to get out here. Advice for you and for everyone is 1 nephi 8:30.
Here is a difference in verbs, you look back several verses and you will see people 'clinging' to the iron rod. So they seem solid, yet they 'fall away into forbidden paths and are lost'. I am not sure if there is a more disappointing verse for the master. The Less active or inactive of the Church, are in a difficult situation and I can only imagine the concern Heavenly Father has for them. It would be very difficult to come back, they are in a 'midst of darkness'. Many want to, but just don't know how, to come back. As a missionary I meet the Less and Inactive. I see those that others must have worked hard to bring to the truth only to see them fall away. I invite everyone to leave the 90 and 9, and find the one. They are out there, they are just as important as the new member. Please help us, help our Heavenly Father.
These people need someone who has followed the example of verse 30. 'Continually holding fast to the rod of Iron.'
You can either cling, or you can hold fast; and not just hold fast the once, but 'continually'. Clinging means you are just holding on, yet opposition can take those. Holding fast means you go constantly to the word of God for the answers. That you make that your anchor and none other.
Another thought, If you are feeling discouraged, alone, forgotten. Maybe you feel the call you have been given or the burden you bare is more than you can carry. It is. By your self it can't be done, but that is exactly the point. I will never claim to understand your challenges, your trials. Everyone faces whatever mountain will take them to the high heights. But I do know the challenges or trials don't matter. For the Savior has 'overcome the world, are [we] greater than he'
Paul teaches us in the wonderful book of Romans chapter 1, That we are not called by our works. We are called by the Grace and plan of God.
We are saved by Grace, but have you been changed by Grace? Paul also teaches us in Timothy 1. I would look at those three scriptures and find what is in it for you. Sometimes in being taught what the scriptures say we forget that that is only one way to apply it to your life.
But the message I want you to find is that Grace is the strengthening power of the Atonement. As a missionary you learn to do many new things. Grace is the only way. The enabling power given to us by the nature of being born, a child of God.
A quote my mission president shared this week helped to emphasize this:As we have discussed earlier, learn to lose your "self" in the service of others.
I may have shared this with you before from one of my favorite Christian writers, C. S. Lewis, the most oft quoted non-general authority in General Conference:
"Our real selves are all waiting for us in Him. The more I resist Him and try to live on my own, the more I become dominated by my own heredity and upbringing and surroundings and natural desires. . . . It is when I turn to Christ, when I give myself up to His Personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own."
“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”
(C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, New York: Macmillan, 1960, 189)
This week has been a good one. Deciding to let him into my house, even the parts I didn't want to have changed, is showing me something more about the plan Heavenly Father has for us.
Some of the people:
I have had the opportunity to meet with Corney this week, he is a great kid, 19 coming from Accra and then Lome, Togo. Now he is here is Ho, as we taught him I felt the spirit tangibly enter the room. He said, there is something different here. Ghana has thousands of Churches, most claim the Bible. They have good intentions for the most part. WE also claim the Book of Mormon. To Corney and all the people we meet, it is true, whether they see it now or later, their is something different here.
The Spirit of God, like a fire is burning. Take the light of the fire to another, even and especially those whose fire is dimmed or may be dying. There is work to do, and the coming Lord is nigh, sooner I think and feel than we expect.
President says the church is in each nation, even in the land of Jerusalem. People go to school at the Jerusalem extension, and then come to America to continue, and then become members and return.
I know fear gets us very commonly, fear to speak the truth to the people. That won't matter in the end, the very best thing you can do is invite others to follow Christ. Not in word alone, but in action as well.
I love you all and I am praying for you, each and every day.
Hey family, make sure you re-read 3 nephi. Discuss what the 'most correct of any book on earth' has in regards to direct words from Christ. Those chapters are incredible.
Good luck this week :) I love you all
Elder Van Wagoner
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