Sorry about the late weekly letter. Monday
we had a meeting with one of the quorum of the seventy who looks after
the New Zealand mission. His name is Elder Nielsen. While shaking his
hand I was about half way to his stomach. He is very, very, VERY TALL
and for some of you that don't know me yet I'm pretty short. Today is
our P-day instead and it is really weird to have one on Tuesday
which is something new but fun and I am being obedient not trying to
break any rules promise. This week was an eye opener weak for my
companion and I.
We were able to ride our
bikes through the streets and meet people here and there making sure
that we didn't miss someone we didn't talk to. Gotta love the Islanders
down here because they all have really inspiring stories. My companion
and I had a week of just following the spirit and letting it do the work
instead of us. We were at one of our members house teaching one of
their daughters who is a member but not active in the church. We ended
up getting to know her and what she has been doing. Her partner that she
is with is a member as well but is also not active and they have a
small son. She expressed that even though she grew up as a member she
never knew "what her purpose was". That caught our attention, we both
sat there and listened to her reason and were able to focus on her
rather than to focus on what to say. We showed her a video on Mormon
message about a brief description of the plan of salvation and then gave
her an invitation to read the plan of salvation pamphlet. She happily
accepted the invitation! What a special miracle to be able to follow the
promptings of the spirit to go to that house to be able to see her at
the right place at the right time. Later on we were able to tell some
jokes with her and gain that trust from her that we were there to help
her and her family. After we got done, her brother who is a returned
missionary from a long time ago showed up to the house with his wife who
is a non member. His name is Noah and his wife and him were happy to
see us at their place. We have been able to teach Noah's wife about the
truth. We had a lesson with him and her a couple of weeks ago and they
both left with something new to learn. We were able to catch up with
them both, Noah has never been open to the missionaries before but is
now openly engaged with us. For example he thought he still was the
young missionary that he once was and asked if he could ride one our
bikes. While trying to do some tricks that he once was able to do, Noah
while on my companions bike heard something crack!...all of the sudden
it went from laughing to "oh snap!". My companion being the great Elder
that he is shook it off and smiled and said everything is okay. Noah
accidentally broke the chain of his bike, but we all still laughed it
out!. The thing is, we were blessed to have the opportunity to take Noah
out with us for the rest of the night to visit some investigators. This
was the first time in ages that he has been out with the missionaries,
so having the moment to go out with him sure did bring great memories
back to him. At the end of the night all that mattered was that the Lord
put us in the right place at the right time and that we didn't panic.
We trusted in the Lord and went with what he planned out. Even though
one of us is without a bike we were able to still move on and work
hard.
Monday
rolled around and we had one of the Seventy show up to our mission to
have a big meeting with us and four other zones in the mission. Elder
Nielsen was able to come out to teach us about the principle of working
in unity, loving others and their differences, loosing ourselves,
trusting in the Lord, understanding the spirit and much more. Our
mission president told us a story that stood out and something that we
could all apply. He told it like this. "there was this man rock climbing
and found himself hanging onto a branch for dear life. The man then
suddenly heard a small voice and this voice was a gentle voice. It went
like this,
the Voice: "do you believe that I created this mountain?"
the man: "yes'
the voice: "do you believe I can make these rocks fall?"
the man: "yes"
the voice:" do you believe that I can make a strong enough wind that will blow you back onto of this mountain?"
the man: "yes"
Then
there was this long pause...and the still voice then said these three
powerful words "then let go". This story can be applied in all our
lives, we need to trust in the Lord and let go of the past and move
forward hoping that our future will be better than our past. There are
times where Heavenly Father is going to tell us those exact words that
the man heard "then let go". We need to let ourselves go and go to work,
loosing ourselves and being more selfless. Not letting our natural
selves interfere with the spirit that hinders the work. Doing His will
is more satisfying than doing our own. Follow the spiritual promptings
that we get having that full faith that Heavenly Father has a plan. We
have to find our connecting points with others, get to know them, and
then when they say a concern or problem turn fully and let the spirit
direct us in "what to say and what to do". We used the spirit as an
example of the wind, we can't see the wind but we can feel it, just like
the spirit we can't see the spirit but we can feel its influence on us
when we start doing what is right. A missionary once told me this "by
small and simple things, great things are brought to pass. When we
understand who we are then those basic principles of the gospel are what
will help more in feeling the influence of the spirit. There's nothing
more satisfying than work!!! We were also taught about marriage and how
being with a companion teaches us to love our differences, accept each
other and to be able to work things out just like we would when the time
is right to get married. The mission is preparing us to become better
sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, and grandparents. That is why is is
important to work in unity!
Last experience we had, was right after the meeting we went back to our area around six o'clock.
We were walking down the street on a hill and noticed that one of our
investigators named Phil was sitting on his front porch. Phil expressed
to us that he was concerned about his family, he was one day at this
party and saw and man get beaten to death and was one of the witnesses.
He went to the police to see those six guys that beat that man to death,
he said that ever since that experience he has been very uneasy and
scared if one of them would shows up to his place. Now they are all
getting out of jail. Our brother was looking for a way out, to find the
peace and comfort that he needs. We shared the importance of becoming
closer to God. We were instruments in the hands of the Lord seeing him
change from scared to being comforted by the spirit, he said he didn't
believe something that wasn't there. We told him to read read Alma 32:27
which says "let this desire work in you" meaning let the spirit of the
Lord in your heart that he will be able to help. He changed after that
and told us he didn't know how to really pray so we directed by the
spirit to go into helping him become acquainted with his Heavenly
Father.
What just happened this week, I have
no idea just doing Heavenly Fathers will. A week of lessons, insights,
and uplifting moments. It is time to let things go and get to work!
Thank you all for all you have helped with! hope everyone has a great
week!
Elder Thorpe a.k.a Islander boy with a smile :)
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