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!
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