Hello there!
Alright so I feel that Monday just comes faster and faster each week. Time is flying by too fast. I'm getting tired of hearing the following conversation daily:
person: "Elder, how long have you been out?"me: "19 months"person: "oh, wow, you are almost done!" or "you don't have much longer"me: "yeah, I guess"person: "well what are you going to do when you go home?"me: "enter the 'real' world I guess and go to school"
I was getting tired of this conversation which happens practically verbatim daily so the other day I was in Shelley working with a companionship and had this following conversation:
person: "how long have you been out Elder Walker?"me: "well these missionaries are training me so I haven't been out very long"person: "how long?"me: "a few days"person: "cool, you've got a long time left to serve then don't you?"me: "I sure do"
okay, okay, so it might have been bad to lie but it felt so good to hear the words "you have a long time left." I still do have a while left to serve and I'm going to make the best of every second of it.
We had a great experience with Tyler yesterday. We took him to the Temple Visitors' Center for an investigator fireside on the restoration. After the fireside I got to talking with him and he expressed to me that he didn't think he was ready to be baptized on Saturday. When I asked him why he didn't really have a good reason other than he didn't think he was ready. I explained to Tyler that if we all waited until we were ready to live the commandments then none of us would be baptized. We explained to him that it doesn't really matter if we think we are ready but what matters is if the Lord thinks we are ready. We sat down in front of the Christus and had him read D&C 20:37. When we read this verse with him we had him stop after each requirement the Lord lays out for baptism and asked Tyler if he believes the Lord accepts his desire for each point. The great part was that at the end Tyler was looking at the Christus and then told us that he is ready to be baptized on Saturday! Tyler is the most prepared investigator I have ever taught. I love that he is really searching and being "difficult" because that means when he is a member of the church he'll be more solid than if he was just jumping into it.
On Friday we had our monthly zone leader council which includes all the zone leaders, the directors of the visitors' center, the assistants, and President and Sister Colton. At each council President takes an hour to give us a doctrinal training. This doctrinal training is my favorite part of the month as President expounds the scriptures to us. This time we were studying in Gal 6:9, 2 Thes 3:13, and D&C 64:33-36 and learned a very important principle on enduring. When you read the passages listed you'll find a common trend in them which is "be not weary in well doing". This was a directed to me I'm pretty sure. It's interesting being out 19 months because I'm so tired all the time and I've been searching for my "second wind" if you will. President wrote the word "entrenched" on the board and said this is what we need to get out of. Why do we get ourselves stuck in a rut? So common we find ourselves doing the same thing time and time again and getting the same results. We find ourselves in a rut when we try our own will, let our pride get in the way, or even sin by omission. We constantly need to pray and ask the Lord what would he like us to do today to fulfil His purposes. I don't know about you but this puts a whole new meaning to the principle of endure to the end.
I think Heavenly Father is much like a theatre director to where he wants us to try something different each time we run a scene or in other words try something different in our efforts to building up the kingdom of God. Every soul is different and therefor their needs are different. This is a principle I'm learning as I approach people and offer them the Gospel.
I had a great experience with this when I was in Shelley on exchanges. We were driving through this Elder's area when he stopped the car, turned around and said he felt impressed to knock a certain door. We knocked and waited then a Hispanic man came to the door (I was in a Spanish area so luckily my companion speaks Spanish). Elder Duarte talked with him for a little bit getting to know him and then asked him this inspired question: "do you believe God has a plan for your family?" The man replied that he didn't know if He did or not. Then Elder Duarte said, "we felt that we needed to talk to you because we are here to teach you what the plan for your family is." This man let us in to an empty trailer with nothing but a husband and wife and three children ages 11, 10, and 8. The Hernandez family just moved from Mexico a week ago with nothing but their family for work. Elder Duarte and I (well actually just Elder Duarte because I don't speak Spanish) were able to teach them about the Book of Mormon and God's divine plan for them. They were so excited to hear the good news of the Gospel and invited us back and told us they wanted to be baptized. This work is so great!
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Peace and Love,
Elder Tyson Rigby Walker
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