Hey everybody!
I'm glad that everyone is safe and enjoyed watching conference!
This week flew by again. Kind of. A lot of good tings happened.
On Wednesday I had the privilege to attend the Saint Louis Temple for the first time! I also got to be a baptist! It was my first time ever baptizing a living or a dead person! I was a pro at it. After, Elder Villalobos baptized me. I hit my head on the rail on one of them as I went under. I think it is because I am unflexible and can't bend my knees or back very well. It's kind of funny how God chose dunking people under water as a ritual to enter his kingdom. I enjoyed it though. I'm really good at pronouncing foreign names, too. I also got to confirm Elder Lolo in behalf of a lot of people. it was pretty cool! The endowment session was great. I'm not really sure what I got out of it but it was cool to watch and then enter the terrestrial and then celestial room.
On Friday, we picked up a new investigator named Susan! On Tuesday we were walking about the more dilapidated area of Springfield. We were about to leave to go somewhere else, but I felt the prompting to go try talking to some people sitting on their porch in their backyard. As we started towards there, we ran into someone getting out of there car in front of their house. We set up a return appointment for Friday. The lesson with her went great. She seems to have a sincere desire to know the truth. She has a pretty open mind too because she has been multiple faiths at various times in her life which has caused her to question. She is currently a baptist but like I said is willing to listen to what we have to say. She told us that how God has helped her overcome her enlarged heart and her being born with half of a foot! At the end of the lesson I asked her if she would be comfortable praying, and she surprised me and said yes. We all knelt, and she said a really great prayer and asked if the book of mormon is true. After the lesson she told us how impressed she was at our spiritual maturity at such a young age. She hoped that her daughter could be more spiritual like us is what she basically said. Also, something else she said was surprising. Elder Peterson mentioned for some reason that women don't hold the priesthood in our church, and she said how she feels like it should be that way. She says she likes to be more old-fashioned. funny thing is that her church she currently attends has a woman pastor so that is a good sign!
Elder Peterson and I were both on a spiritual high for the remainder of the night. I wrote in my journal "I wish this feeling could linger a little longer" because I knew it would gradually go away.
General Conference was stellar of course! I can't necessarily pick a favorite talk, but there were a lot of talks that I enjoyed. A lot of my questions had to do with becoming closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, not forgetting what they have done and are doing for me in my life, and being nicer to people. I liked what Elder Renlund said that keeping the sabbath and partaking the sacrament more prepared will help us draw nearer to the savior, and he will draw nearer to us. I also liked what Gerit W. Wong said about 6 steps of how to always remember Christ rather than forgetting about him. I liked talks by Steven E. Snow, and Uchtdorf, plus a lot of the talks had little things I liked sprinkled here and there about humility and charity ,which are two attributes that it sounds like I need to work on.
But I am really excited on reading all of them again. I wish I could print out the talks right now, but I guess I will have to wait until next week!
Love you all! I know that Heavenly Father loves us very much. He is very much in the details in our lives and it is really really really important that we reflect everyday how he reached out to us to bless us. I've been thinking a lot lately about "the tender mercies of the Lord" and how "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass." I really like what Elder Bednar has to say:
"The Lord’s tender mercies are the very personal andindividualized blessings, strength, protection, assurances,guidance, loving-kindnesses, consolation, support, and spiritualgifts which we receive from and because of and through theLord Jesus Christ. Truly, the Lord suits “his mercies according tothe conditions of the children of men” (D&C 46:15).
Recall how the Savior instructed His Apostles that He would notleave them comfortless. Not only would He send “anotherComforter” (John 14:16), even the Holy Ghost, but the Savior saidthat He would come to them (see John 14:18). Let me suggestthat one of the ways whereby the Savior comes to each of us isthrough His abundant and tender mercies. For instance, as youand I face challenges and tests in our lives, the gift of faith andan appropriate sense of personal confidence that reachesbeyond our own capacity are two examples of the tendermercies of the Lord. Repentance and forgiveness of sins and
peace of conscience are examples of the tender mercies of theLord. And the persistence and the fortitude that enable us to press forward with cheerfulness through physical limitations and spiritual difficulties are examples of the tender mercies of theLord."
In order to recognize these tender mercies, Elder Henry B. Eyring in his talk. "O Remember, Remember" said:
Recognize, Remember, and Give Thanks
God asks that we give thanks to Him for whatever blessings wereceive from Him. It is easy for us to become mechanical in ourprayers of gratitude, often repeating the same words butwithout the intent to give our thanks as a gift of the heart toGod. We are to “give thanks … in the Spirit” (D&C 46:32) so wecan feel real gratitude for what God has given us.
How can we remember even a part of all God has done for us?The Apostle John recorded what the Savior taught us about a giftof remembrance that comes through the gift of the Holy Ghost:“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Fatherwill send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring allthings to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you”(John 14:26).
The Holy Ghost brings back memories of what God has taughtus. And one of the ways God teaches us is with His blessings;and so, if we choose to exercise faith, the Holy Ghost will bringGod’s kindnesses to our remembrance.
You could test that in prayer today. You could follow thecommand “Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things” (D&C59:7).
President Ezra Taft Benson (1899–1994) suggested that prayercreates time to do that. He said: “The Prophet Joseph said at onetime that one of the greatest sins of which the Latter-day Saintswould be guilty is the sin of ingratitude. I presume most of ushave not thought of that as a great sin. There is a great tendencyfor us in our prayers and in our pleadings with the Lord to askfor additional blessings. But sometimes I feel we need to devotemore of our prayers to expressions of gratitude andthanksgiving for blessings already received. We enjoy so much.”1
You could have such an experience with the gift of the HolyGhost today. You could begin a private prayer with thanks. Youcould start to count your blessings and then pause for amoment. If you exercise faith, with the gift of the Holy Ghost, youwill find that memories of other blessings will flood into yourmind. If you begin to express gratitude for each of them, yourprayer may take a little longer than usual. Remembrance willcome, and so will gratitude.
You could try the same thing as you write an entry in yourjournal. The Holy Ghost has helped people with that since thebeginning of time. You remember that the book of Moses says,“And a book of remembrance was kept, in the which wasrecorded, in the language of Adam, for it was given unto as manyas called upon God to write by the spirit of inspiration” (Moses6:5).
President Spencer W. Kimball (1895–1985) described thatprocess of inspired writing: “Those who keep a book ofremembrance are more likely to keep the Lord in remembrancein their daily lives. Journals are a way of counting our blessingsand of leaving an inventory of these blessings for our posterity.”2
As you start to write, you could ask yourself, “How did God blessme and those I love today?” If you do that often enough and withfaith, you will find yourself remembering blessings. Andsometimes you will have gifts brought to your mind that youfailed to notice during the day but that you will then know were atouch of God’s hand in your life.
I pray that we may make a continuing effort in faith to recognize,remember, and give thanks for what our Heavenly Father andour Savior have done and are doing to open the way home toThem.
I challenge each of you as well as myself to do what Elder Bednar and President Eyring said.
Have a wonderful week! It won't be long until next week. It is starting to fly by!
Elder Soutas
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