Seeing original Book of Mormon

Things here in Springfield are doing good. Investigator wise, not so much. We have 2 investigators who we were unable to meet with this week, those two being our only in the pool. Fortunately, we have a lot of good potentials. We have a couple originally from Nigeria named Dipo and Nimota. An old man from Italy named Filip who has come to church several time; we just can't quite get his home address. We also received a referral from a woman named Audrey who referred herself to have a copy of the book of Mormon and have missionaries come teach her. Her brother's family is Mormon in Champagne. We haven't been able to meet with her yet because she is recovering from surgery. Also, we had a cool experience with the children of record list. We were finally able to get the list, and so we called the Rieck's family who had two 9 year old unbaptized twins. As we called Sister Riecks she told us that the day before she wanted to call us and thank us for coming over a couple weeks ago. She meant to call us the night before we called, but she didn't know our phone number. She explained that she believes that the Lord blessed her in getting a significant, needed job promotion all because she let us in to her home. The Riecks family came to church yesterday, but only for the first hour because one of the 9 year old sons has really bad autism and can't sit still. They would have stayed for all 3 hours, but the other 9 year old was sick at home. Sister Riecks wants us to teach them the missionary discussions, have her two sons baptized and have the whole family start coming back to church again! 

I am excited to be companions with Elder Hays. I hear he is really cool! If we end up meeting with Filip, his spanish speaking will be helpful in understanding him better because he has a really thick accent. We will seek out lots of Spanish people too. 

I am stoked to get to work this new transfer.

I don't have a lot of time to type since we are going to have the rest of P Day at the Uhe's home! I am really excited! 

So this week was good. We had an appointment with Kim at a cafe called Moxo. We took brother shamp with us. The lady was really nice, and tried explaining the trinity to us which made no sense whatsoever. She also brought with her a triple combination scriptures and tried to tell us that the original book of mormon was really different from the one in print today. When she was reseraching about the church she said that she compared the two and I knew there were little grammatical and format changes, but as to doctrine I highly doubted it. 

Today for P-day we actually went to the Lincoln Presidential library and asked if we could see the original 1830 edition of the book of mormon. We read through it and it reads the same from what we could tell. That lady wasn't telling the full truth. It was sad because she was a nice person

Also today I did a firebrand challenge at a chili restaurant. It was supper super hot chili and I ate it all after many tears and sweat. But I got my name on the wall!

Also this week I have been studying a lot about how to become more grateful and closer to
God. I studied "The tender Mercies of the lord' by Elder Bednar again and also the talk by Elder Renlund. I love that talk! It talks about how if we seriously prepare ourselves for the sacrament we will become closer to God. i've been trying a lot lately just to see God's influence in my life, because before I didn't really. i was super ungrateful and self righteous, and still am sometimes. But I like a few quotes from that talk a lot :

To draw closer to the Savior, we must increase our faith in Him, make and keep covenants, and have the Holy Ghost with us. We must also act in faith, responding to the spiritual direction we receive. All of these elements come together in the sacrament. Indeed, the best way I know of to draw closer to God is to prepare conscientiously and partake worthily of the sacrament each week.

On the day of the Savior’s Resurrection, two disciples traveled to a village called Emmaus. Unrecognized, the risen Lord joined them on the journey. As they traveled, He taught them from the scriptures. When they reached their destination, they invited Him to dine with them.

“And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.

“And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.

“And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?

“And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven [Apostles] gathered together.”

And then they testified to the Apostles that “the Lord is risen indeed. …

“And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.”13

The sacrament truly helps us know our Savior. It also reminds us of His innocent suffering. If life were truly fair, you and I would never be resurrected; you and I would never be able to stand clean before God. In this respect, I am grateful that life is not fair.

No matter where you stand in your relationship to God, I invite you to draw nearer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, the Ultimate Benefactors and Givers of all that is good. I invite you to attend sacrament meeting each week and partake of the holy emblems of the Savior’s body and blood. I invite you to feel God’s nearness as He is made known to you, as He was to the disciples of old, in the “breaking of [the] bread.”

As you do, I promise that you will feel nearer to God. Natural tendencies to childish whining, disgruntled entitlement, and derisive skepticism will dissipate. Those sentiments will be replaced by feelings of greater love and gratitude for Heavenly Father’s gift of His Son. As we draw closer to God, the enabling power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ will come into our lives. And, as with the disciples on the way to Emmaus, we will find that the Savior has been nearby all along. I so witness and testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

Love you all, and I could write a lot more but I'm being nagged to go. 

If you remind me next week I will give you more details and experiences that I wish I could share with you this week. 

Elder Soutas