There it is!!!!!

October 29, 2013

 

Oh man, I love being here in Canby. The work is great. We haven't had a chance to slow down yet. I'm still not even unpacked. We've been on the go for the entire past week. I love it. The ward is super supportive here. The ward mission leader does his job really well. He asks members of the ward to come to every appointment that we have and he doesn't stop until he's found someone. I've never seen a ward mission leader magnify his calling like that. Missionary work is just part of the ward here. This is good because of the nature of Canby. There's a church on nearly every corner here and they are all different denominations. Most of them preach anti-mormon material across the pulpit as well. You know what though, that's okay, because I've felt the spirit more actively in the last week with Elder Hendrickson than I have I think in my entire mission. It's been so amazing. I've seen some true miracles here in just a matter of a week.

So we're teaching a guy named E. He was born in Iran but raised in Canada. He's a graduate in religion and is currently searching for a job at a hospital as a chaplain. He's a really smart dude. also really short. we just had a really good discussion on the Atonement this morning for about 2 hours. He's got some interesting ideals, but we got him to commit to come to church this week for sacrament meeting and he also wants to meet up again later in the week. When we teach him, he likes to get things complicated sometimes, but the beauty of teaching the gospel is that it's simple. Every time we break it down in it's simplicity the Spirit fills the room and I think that E. can really feel that. The best part is that our member that we brought with us needed no coaching what so ever in what to do with being E.'s friend rather than just a fellowshipper who shows up to a teaching appointment. He got his number and they're going out to breakfast later this week! Got to love Brother Taggart!

We also got to go over and visit a woman who hasn't been to church in a really long time. She wants her baby to be blessed in church this next week and she offered to feed us authentic mexican food! Lucky us! (I love spicy food :) We asked if we could leave with a spiritual thought as it was just a drop by visit, and she said yes. Elder Hendrickson immediately whupped out 2 Nephi 2 and started teaching the atonement. But L.'s son A. is 6 and hasn't ever been to a church. This was a great exercise in learning to teach simply. When I asked him if he knew who Jesus and God were and said no to both of them I really had to think hard about it. It's been a long time since I've taught someone who has no conception about Heavenly Father. But as I opened my mouth almost befuddled the Spirit filled my mind and heart with the things that I was supposed to say. We applied it to his level of learning and then taught him how to pray. As we prayed we specifically asked for a blessing to be with the 27 year old mother who had left activity in the church long before. We asked Heavenly Father to let her feel how much He loves her and to feel of how great worth that she is to Him and you could just feel the Spirit come down like a nuke and fill your heart. Elder Hendrickson said that he raised his head to see L. and he said that he could tell that she was feeling it. It was possibly one of the best moments of my mission so far.

We also had a lesson with a woman finding her way back into the church. Her husband died a year ago and she wants very badly to be sealed with him in the temple. We are stoked for this goal! Her only thing is that she is addicted to coffee. She used to drink 4-5 cups a day. But she had whittled herself down to one. As we talked to her about the principle of obedience and light and truth and grace and the Atonement and the importance of keeping all the commandments, not just some of them, a thought entered into my mind. I didn't really think much of it. It seemed like common sense to me. If her goal is to quit coffee to be sealed to her husband then why not fight the temptation with her motivation. I suggested that she put a picture of her husband in front of the the coffee pot so that every time that she wanted to drink coffee that she could see him and know why she needs to stop. We called her a few days later and she said that she was going strong and that for the first time she hadn't drank coffee for a few days straight. :) It was sweet.

So elder Hendrickson is awesome!!!! He's 22. He's from La Habra CA and he's a competitive swimmer. He's also a surfer. He's about 6'1'' and he's probably one of the nicest guys that you will ever meet.Super funny too. His story is similar to my own. He wanted to serve a mission but he had no idea whether or not the book of mormon was true. Through the ways that we teach as missionaries he was able to gain a very strong conviction that the Book of Mormon is true. Every time this man talks  in lessons the Spirit just oozes into the room. We get along great! In fact it's hard for us to not talk to each other sometimes. It's a really nice break from the stress of being around younger missionaries. He came out a transfer after I did, but he also trained as soon as he was done being trained. It was incredible to watch that happen. I've seen him around the mission every now and again, but I've never really known him.He's a spiritual giant. I'll have a hard time not loving him.

On another note I've been learning a lot more about the difference between the authority of the priesthood and the commission of the priesthood. God send his prophets in days of old not just to sit there and have the ability to baptize or seal a couple, but to do something about it. When he sent Jesus to the Earth, he didn't just give him the authority to organize God's church, but he sent Him to organize it and to help the entire world to come back to Heavenly Father through the Atonement. He DID something with that authority. He magnified his calling by healing the sick and raising the dead. He didn't have to do the good works on the side, but He did because he loves us and understands that he was sent to USE his priesthood authority. Every Priest in our church has been charged with a commission to baptize. If we truly understand that we have been sent by God to USE that authority and not just have it, then we will actively seek for the welfare of others physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We are told that we MUST be actively engaged in a good cause. To be active we have to do something about it. We can't just know how to build muscle, we have to work out!

I love you all. I have to go.

Your Elder lloyd!

One thing leads to another

Last week was quite the eventful one! wow!

We've really been seeing a lot more support since we've done our presentation on how we can improve the missionary efforts in the West Linn ward. Members were popping out left and right to be able to come out and teach with us, and their fire for the work was evident in their faces! I love it.

We got G. all set and ready to go for her baptism on Sunday. She's had to overcome some serious obstacles. G. is 10. She was never baptized when she was 8 because her biological dad was a nonmember and an athiest who hates Mormons. I wish I could meet more athiests who were indifferent about religion rather than hostile, but that doesn't seem to be the norm here in the Godless Northwest. After the Bishop took him out to lunch and became best friends with the dad he got permission from him to have the kids baptized. He was still very opposed to it, but he would let them do it if they wanted to. that's a really tough situation for a kid to be in, either please your dad or please God. It's not easy. It's something I've dealt with my entire mission though, and every time, It's worth it after all is said and done. G.'s baptism was great!

Unfortunately, I don't have any more time to email you. But in brevity. Last week was fantastic and I got transferred to Canby 1st ward after 9 months of being in West Linn. It was crazy. In the 9 months I was there I had a total of 7 Baptisms.4 of those were in the last 3 months of me training Elder Christensen. I will miss D. (my 24 year old basketball playing recent convert) dearly. He's like a brother to me. I have nothing but good to say about my new companion Edler Hendrickson! He's a beast!