So we did some exciting things this week. We went church-tracting. You might be reading this thinkin I'm crazy, but it was actually President's idea and it turned out way better than I expected. In Alma 26:28-29 says,"And now, behold, we have come, and been forth amongst them; and we have been patient in our sufferings, and we have suffered every privation; yea, we have traveled from house to house, relying upon the mercies of the world—not upon the mercies of the world alone but upon the mercies of God.And we have entered into their houses and taught them, and we have taught them in their streets; yea, and we have taught them upon their hills; and we have also entered into their temples and their synagogues and taught them." So we've been going house to house, why not church to church? So we made a list of the churches in our area (a giant several pages long list by the way) and set out to go introduce ourselves and see if we could do any service for them. Everyone we talked to was super friendly and even if they didn't need service it was still really good for us to introduce ourselves to them. I think we'll have more success in giving service to some of the smaller churches rather than the mega ones, but it's been really great. Hopefully we can do a little more of that this week. We also went to the campus service fair looking for more opportunities to get involved which I think was a really good opportunity. Hopefully we can build some good relationships from that.
Also, at dinner a couple nights ago some members showed us a clip of these scripture videos made by church people and it's called Liken the Scriptures. It's pretty hysterical. We watched a clip from Jonah and the Great Fish and the premise is a parent telling their child a story from the scriptures to help them with some struggle in their life and then the story gets acted out. It's ridiculously cheesy and I love it. I don't know what it is, but I really enjoy terribly cheesy things. It was quality singing and pretty good dancing, but so overdone in such a funny way. I fully intend to buy some when I get home.
As far as more spiritual matters are concerned, we had an amazing Zone Conference this week where we learned more about and practice the "Gospel of Jesus Christ" lesson which talks about the principles of Faith, Repentance, Baptism, The Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End and how that process brings us closer to Christ. It was really good. One of my favorite parts though was President's explanation of Vision, Goals and Plans. He drew it on the board like a cake shape with Vision on the bottom, then Goal, then Plan. He helped us understand how that applied to God and us. God's Vision is Moses 1:39. To bring to pass the Immortality and Eternal Life of man. The Goal is that we return to Him, and the Plan is the Plan of Salvation. As missionaries we our vision is our purpose, to invite others to come unto Christ. So we need to set goals and make plans to accomplish that. Our purpose needs to be the foundation of all we do, we need to catch the vision. Goals are vital, they require personal introspection and change/repentance. Where there are no goals, there is no progression or refinement. There is no becoming. And becoming is the central purpose of our lives. We are to become like God.
We've had some other amazing miracles in the people we're teaching. We got to read 1 Nephi 13 with an investigator this week and her love for the Book of Mormon grew as we showed her the truth it taught and how it complimented and supported the Bible, and she is eager to learn more. The Book of Mormon is key. I think I've been understanding that more and more lately. We've been slowing down the lessons to make sure they're really grasping the significance of the Book of Mormon and that they're actually reading and praying about it before moving on to other lessons. We also had a former potential investigator text us asking if our church does baptism because he wants to be baptized. We're meeting with him on Wednesday and hopefully we can help him understand how amazing that decision can be. Love you all! Thanks for your ideas on A-frames and for your support and love.
All the best,
Sister Andreason
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