Saturday, June 28, 2014

PLANNING AND ORDER

Hello mother and family!!!


This past week quite a bit happened. We taught investigators, met an Apostle...yeah, a pretty big week.
 This week we had a traveling AP stay with us for a few days. He was going home in two weeks and so it was great to have his company, wisdom, and insight as we did missionary work. 

We continued to teach our English investigator who consistently insists on 11/29 as his baptismal date. He is so ready, but wants to wait. I am just glad that he understands that baptism is a promise with God and takes that seriously. I am confident that he can stay in the church and that he will be baptized in November. He is solid and really enjoys church.

We also met with our Jehovah's Witness investigator and I used some of the scriptures that you pointed out. He continues to learn and to consider and to ponder the message of the Restoration. He will hopefully soon realize the truth of the message and commit to start coming to church.

We met with our elderly friend that we started to teach again. We taught him about prayer (which he hasn't said out loud before). He really seems to want to change and believe but that means that he has to give up drinking and smoking, which he likes quite a lot. His wife is much to enthusiastic about baptism and reminds him that she has absolutely know gospel knowledge and so it is not the learning that is important, but joining the family. He really doesn't like her insistence which has been incessant for the last 30 years...but, he really does believe that the church is true and that it is great, and so if he has desires we and God will work with him to help him become more committed to Jesus Christ.

We weren't able to meet with our ping-pong investigator or our restaurant friend. The Gwangju investigator continues to be busy.

We met with the 28 year old and had a really good message with Ether 12:27. Hopefully we will be able to get some sparks flowing in his life.

Well, this week we got to have a meeting with Elder Christofferson of the 12, Elder Maynes of the Presidency of the 70 and Elder Whiting of the Area Presidency. It was a great meeting. As an entire mission, we all sang many hymns to prepare for their arrival. Then, Sister and Elder Maynes spoke, and then Sister and Elder Christofferson spoke. Elder Christofferson opened up the meeting to a general question and answer session, free for anyone to ask anything. It was a great experience and we learned a lot.

Elder Christofferson also spoke at a general meeting for the members on Saturday night where he told the people of Korea that the promise in the Book of Mormon that those who kept the commandments who prosper in the land applied to the land of Korea as well. We also had a special stake conference on Sunday where Elder and Sister Maynes presided and spoke. 

This week there has been a lot on my mind about a lot of things. It has now been a full year since I entered the MTC and I have exactly that amount of time left on my mission. I have learned a lot about planning on my mission. Planning is how we organize time. The way that I think about it is through bricks. Right now, our time is out there in scattered bricks. However, as we plan, we take those bricks of time and we arrange them into something more useful and more productive. Elder Christofferson said in a General Conference that this life is a stewardship of time and choices. Through those two gifts, all other results come. We can plan our time to use it effectively, and we can plan our choices (which we will make and which we will not make). Through doing so, we, in effect, organize the result of our time and choices, which is our character. So, planning is key in becoming who we want to be. The mission is a prototype of life. The same principles apply. I have so much time on my mission and we all have so much time in our lives. We know about how much time we have, but we can never be certain. But, one thing is for sure, that if we plan then we will accomplish our desires, and become who we want to be. To me there are several definitions for the word discipline. But, one that I like is "Doing what we need to do when we need to do it because we planned it that way". God is a God of order, and He created the Plan of Salvation to accomplish His purposes. We can do and become who we want to become by planning. I know that is true. 

I love you all so much and hope that every thing is going absolutely wonderful!!!! You are the best!!

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