Monday Already? 8-15-16

So this week flew by and was just a blur. We had a lot of exchanges and District Meetings, but we had a pretty great week. We set some baptismal dates for September with a couple investigators too.

Monday our District walked around downtown Chattanooga. We took a couple pictures and ran into a few homeless people. One guy was passed out drunk and a few others around him looked like they were going to jump us. It didn't help that we were under a bridge and no one could see us down there, but we made it out. Later we did some finding and tried to see a couple people in Hixson's area.

Tuesday we went to a District Meeting and did exchanges. I got to go on the exchange with Elder Alston, who was in my last District and switched missions with me so that was fun. We went to dinner, had a lesson with a non-member, and went over the Restoration. It was a pretty good lesson. We then helped a lady out who is on bed rest with twins.

Wednesday we had our own District Meeting and then we had a couple awesome lessons. Travis set a baptismal date for Sept. 17. He was a referral a few weeks ago and has prayed about the Book of Mormon and believes it to be true, which is awesome. Later we had a lesson with a less-active member, which was awesome. We talked about the Atonement and shared Alma 7: 11-12. She really liked it.

Thursday we went to another District Meeting and then I went on an exchange with Elder Park. He is from Nampa, ID. We worked in my area for this exchange. We had a lesson with two sisters named Jacqueline and Letia and their 8 kids. We had a lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and we committed them to be baptized on Sept. 24. They said they would and before we left, all of their kids wanted their own copies of the Book of Mormon. They are awesome! We then went tracting and found a couple new people to teach. We went and worked in Hixson's area after that and then went back to my apartment.

Friday we were able to go to a harder section of my area called Lookout Mountain. It's hard to get to because we are on bikes and it’s a really long ride. Don't let the name “mountain” fool you though, its only up on top of a big hill. People may call them mountains out here, but they are only hills. We contacted, or at least tried to contact some less-active members up there and then did some tracting. Not really any success that day so after that we drove back to Hixson and did some tracting there.

Saturday we did more tracting in the earlier hours of the day. Then Bro Smith came and got me and we went to my area for an appointment with Jacqueline and Letia. We read through 2 Nephi 31 with them. When they opened the door, all of the kids had their Book of Mormons in hand ready to go, which was awesome! They sit there during the lesson and are quiet and really pay attention. At the end of the lesson we helped them recognize that they were feeling the Spirit and how they can have that feeling always. They said they wanted to come to church too. Then we went back to Hixson where I got dropped off. We went and knocked on doors for the rest of the evening.

Sunday we had church and Jacqueline and about 6 of the kids came. We also had another investigator at church too. It was a great day at church! After church was over, I went up to Jacqueline and the kids and asked them how it was. She said she liked it and the kids did too. I even heard one of the kids ask her if they could come back next week. That pumped me up. I then went to the YSA branch for church, again. Nothing too exciting happened for the rest of the day.

So I want to share a scripture with you that I came across in my studies this week: Alma 46: 15. It says, "And those who did belong to the church were faithful; yea, all those who were true believers in Christ took upon them, gladly, the name of Christ, or Christians as they were called, because of their belief in Christ who should come." As I read this, I asked myself a couple questions. Am I as faithful as I should be? Am I a true believer in Christ? I took upon me the name of Christ when I got baptized into His church by the proper Priesthood authority. The thing is, am I as faithful as I need to be or should be? On my mission, I meet a lot of people who have lost their faithfulness. It is sad to see how they struggle and suffer because of that. Our faith should be so strong, that we will never falter and fall away from the church. So, what is a true believer? I think a true believer is someone that does whatever Christ wants them to do. It goes back to one of the other questions from a previous post, do we believe in Christ or do we believe Him? We may have faith in Christ, but the stronger thing to do is to believe Him and follow through. Do what He asks, no matter the situation or how it is going to make us feel. We may even be made fun of for our choices to follow our Savior, but a true believer will do it no matter what and will remember that they hold Christ's name upon them. We all need to make sure we are doing the things that help our faith continue to grow and we need to make sure we are being true believers of Christ by following through with action. Faith is an action word. I close these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Elder Ellison