Hello
Family and friends!
Well
it was another good week this week. We had our Stake Conference this
week, so I got to attend that on Sunday. It was inspiring to hear more
thoughts from my mission president, President Hiatt. He really stressed the importance
of members getting more involved in missionary week, because this is a
missionary church.
Members are not just members, members have the same
responsibility as missionaries in that they need to invite all to come unto
Christ. In fact, members are just as if not more important than
missionaries when it comes to the week. They have the responsibility in
fellowshipping the investigators, recent converts, and less-actives so that they
may retain what the learn. That is a very important phrase right
there. Retain what you learn.
The problem with many recent converts
is that they have no one close to them besides the missionaries to help them
retain the importance of following the commandments of our Heavenly
Father. Missionaries constantly move around, so we depend on the members
to make sure they fellow ship those we get to church. We work as hard as
we can, but we need the strength of members more than you know. Members
are key in helping progress the work. That is why this Church is called a
missionary church.
Anyway, this week we did a lot of walking, like every
week but I felt it more because, lucky me I split my heel open!!! Haha
only in the Philippines. It's alright, what happened as when I was coming
into the house, we have two steps, followed by a steel screen door and a wooden
door. The problem with the steel door is that the hinge is broken. So it
closes fast sometimes, This time it closed fast and happened to be right
where my right heel was coming up the step. It left me with a pretty good
gash. Shoes were not my best friend this week, but that wouldn't stop a
stubborn guy like me! ;)
I am already transferring again! It was so
fast here. I was just really starting to form good relationships with the
members here. I am a little sad to be leaving, but I am also excited to
help progress the work in another area!! Apparently, transfer day has
been pushed to Thursday due to a holiday, so I have an extra day here to
solidify those relationships I have with this people before I leave!
I am
about to finish 2 Chronicles right now and a lot of it is a different view of
the heritage of David. Its interesting to see the different levels of
obedience his descendants had. Some did not follow the Lord; others
followed the Lord, but did not do away with the molten images and high places;
and then others followed only the Lord and got rid of the high places.
I
feel like this is kind of like us as members of the church. We can choose
to just be ok, go through the motions and kind of follow the commandments, we
can be those who follow the commandments and have meaningful prayer and
scripture study, or we can be those who follow whole heartedly the example of
our Savior. They not only follow the commandments, they work on their
Christlike attributes, and never hesitate to share a message of the gospel with
those around them.
We need to be like those last members, center our
lives around Jesus Christ only. We need to be actively seeking to make a
change around us. So that everywhere we go, we leave it a little more
clean than when we got there. If we want to have the Spirit with us
always, that is the kind of attitude we need to have as members. Being a
member of this church isn't easy, because obtaining salvation was never easy.
Let us remember who we are aspiring to become like, Our Savior. If we are
to become like him, we need to repent.
I remember hearing once about the
definition of repentance, it is making a change in our life and
turning... The turning we should be doing is to our Lord if we would like
to truly repent. Only be relying upon Him may we become truly changed and
walking more uprightly before our Heavenly Father.
Well I hope you all
have a great week and I will let you know where my new area is this coming p
day!
Until next week, much love,
Elder
Warren
