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| Leap of Faith :) |
I
have officially been out for 3 months now and am no longer “in training.” Crazy how time just flies by! My ponderize scripture this week was Alma 37:
37 which says "Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct
thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down with the Lord, that
he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let
thy heart be full of thanks to God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be
lifted up at the last day." First
thing I learned was that with no matter what the case may be, we need to ask
God what we need to be doing or choosing.
He will always direct us in the right path with the most good and benefit for
us. Second, I learned that by the end of
the day, we need to leave our troubles or anything else that might be on our
minds, with Him. When we do that, we
receive comfort and a sense of peace and calm. Third, I learned that we must always show our
gratitude and thanks to God, every day.
Not just dutiful repetition, but with sincerity. He has given us everything we have so I doubt
we could ever run out of things to be grateful for. I tend to focus just on the big things, but
there is soooo much more. When we do all
these things, He will bless us and lift us up higher.
Monday
we went bowling again for a couple hours and I beat my high score with a 169. It was also the highest of the day. I was the only one to beat Bro. Patterson as
well, twice. So that was P-day.
Wednesday we went and talked with Monica about the importance of church. We probably need to go over there when we have somebody who speaks Spanish because she doesn't really understand us very well. I am beginning to think she may not really know why we are there. Later that evening, a member drove us around. We went to dinner with Kerry first and taught her the Plan Of Salvation. We are praying that she feels comfortable with the baptismal date we set with her. Later we contacted 2 referrals that were way out of town. We had a good conversation with one of them. We talked about God’s plan and tried to comfort her because her husband had passed away a couple months ago. We did the best we could, but only the Lord can do it the way she needs it.
Thursday was Thanksgiving. We started the day by going to the Christian Faith Center church to help them hand out dinners to people. We then went to the Patterson's around 1pm and ate there. I made sure I didn't eat too much because we had a second dinner appointment to go to later. On the way to our next dinner, we stopped by a less-active member’s house and she was actually home this time. We went in and got to know her and her husband. They were super cool. Afterwards we went to the River’s home around 6, but we didn't end up eating until 7:15 because the turkey wasn't done. This was the first Thanksgiving that I wasn't stuffed to the brim, although I was extremely tired. It was a good Thanksgiving.
Friday we went over early to Bro. Vincent's house and helped him put up his Christmas tree and decorations. He has a ton of ornaments. He has some cool ones from the Hallmark store. After that, a member drove us around all day. We were able to see 3 less-active members. One of them said they were going to be at church this coming Sunday.
Saturday was Transfer Calls and I am getting the boot. I am being transferred out, while Elder Wardle stays to train a new guy for his last 6 weeks. I am so sad to leave Dickson, but I know I am needed somewhere else to help build up the kingdom of God. I find out where I'm going and who my new companion will be on Tuesday. It rained all day and so tracting was fun😐😐. We taught John that night and shared The Hope of God's Light video with him because it kind of fits his situation.
Sunday I got an early Christmas gift from Bro. Vincent which was a tie and some banana bread - yummmmm. There was like, no one at church today and we only had one investigator. I guess that's what happens with the Holidays. We taught Mike some more and had to reschedule his baptismal date for next Saturday because he still hasn't quite overcome some of his problems yet, but he is making big improvements. I am so happy for him. I gave him a blessing for strength and comfort. I hope to be able to come see him get baptized. That night we went to the Church of God of Prophecy. It was their district meeting or something and so there were more people than usual. It wasn't as crazy as it can be except for one part at the beginning when one lady was speaking gibberish (“in tongues”), but that was it. We then went and had dinner with the Valdez family. They are super cool. I hope that she gets baptized during my next transfer at some point so that I am around to come and see it. We then went to the hospital to give a blessing to a lady who had broken her ankle and was getting surgery the next day. I sealed the blessing.
Well, Dickson has been good and I am going to miss this place and the people here as well. I hope to be able to come back someday after my mission and visit all the cool people I meet in all my areas. I know however that I am needed in another place and that I am going to learn more from my new companion (the “Greenie Buster”). I will send my new address in next week’s email. I hope that as the Christmas season is now upon us that we will all be able to show forth the Light of Christ that is within us by being able to serve or share our testimony with at least one person. We need to always look for those opportunities and take advantage of them. We get them a lot more then we may think. Have a wonderful week everyone.
Elder Ellison
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| Jammin' |
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| Mike |
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| My Last District Meeting |
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| Santa's Helpers - Bro. Vincent's Tree |
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