#Transfers
Date
July 20, 2015
Area
Arlington 1st Ward
Companion
#Transfers
Today we got our transfer doctrine. Transfer doctrine is just telling us where we're going and the new situation for the upcoming transfer. Drumroll!!! Alright, Elder Price will be serving in Lewisville with Elder Bowles who neither of us know anything about. He will be in a bike area and he has the best gym in the whole mission! He is gonna be fit!! He will be serving as district leader there. Ok, now my transfer doctrine. I will be staying in the Arlington 1st Ward for at least the next six weeks! My companion will be Elder Trent Reynolds (I threw in the first name so mom could find his mom on face book! ;)), we will keep our car and I will be the senior companion (weird I know...)! We have yet to find out who will have driving privileges and frankly, I really hope it's me, I really hate not driving haha!
Alright well, this past week has been quite the eventful week! To start it off, we found the track next to our apartment! We went 12 weeks without realizing that the high school a couple blocks away has a track that is open to the public starting at 6 am so it's perfect! Plus, it is a waaay nice track. We never really bothered to look at the high school before and now, I really wish that we had. But hey, now Elder Reynolds and I can go and work out there.
Second, Faye was finally baptized! Elder Price performed the ordinance and the entire service went perfectly! Elder Price had sweat dripping because he was so nervous and frantic for the service haha but it was merited. Most baptismal services have something go wrong but this time we didn't have any issues! Faye was so happy and rightfully so, she has been looking for the true church for years! She was confirmed yesterday, I performed that. She is now a full fledged member of the church!! Now for the depressing side of this story: she is moving. To Kanaab, Utah. Luckily though, she is moving in with her daughter and son in law. Her son in law is a member of the church but her daughter isn't so Faye is set on converting her daughter haha. To make this story even more crazy, Elder Price will be living 20 minutes away when he gets home from his mission and his cousin is serving in Cedar City right now! It's crazy haha!
We have been doing service for an investigator for the last four Saturday's. We help him destroy bathrooms in the apartment complex he works in. It is soooo much fun!! I took a timelapse of it, it is pretty awesome.
This past Wednesday we had an exchange that neither of us had ever met before. We gave him our address and told him to pick us up by 6:30. 6:50 rolls around and he still hasn't shown up yet so we give him a call. He says that he was there, couldn't find our apartment number which is on the ground floor and probably the easiest to find. He couldn't find it so he did what any person would do and call us right? Nope. He went home, and was three miles away haha I thought it was hilarious but Elder Price just got really mad then I laughed harder because of how mad Elder Price was... We figured out who the brother was and we figured it made sense knowing his personality. So it's all good now! :)
Hmmmm... What else cool happened this week.... Oh yeah! Saturday we went to see Michael and Olevia with brother Green. Brother Green is a beast! He has probably the biggest testimony about the Book of Mormon that I have ever heard! Those appointments went so well! It was amazing.
So Michael doesn't have a whole ton of questions. Brother Green told us his story about his personal demons and how he has been able to overcome them through reading the Book of Mormon everyday for the past like 195 days or something like that. It's so awesome! So Michael realized that we have taught him most everything we can without him doing anything and has accepted our invitation to read the Book of Mormon and to pray everyday. We will be going over and discussing a story from the Book of Mormon.
Olevia is progressing so hard right now! We left her 3 Nephi 11 and she read to chapter 13 then read Matthew 5 and 6.. That is a lot! It's so great! She is also thinking about baptism again which is so exciting for everyone involved!
This week I think my spiritual thought will need to be from one of my studies of Alma 32. I have been pondering faith a lot lately and with mom sending me Joseph Smiths "Lectures on Faith" I was able to think and realize a little deeper than I had before. For this I would like to focus on verses 27 and 28.. They're great verses and it's as far as I got.... 😛 so verse 27 says:
"27 But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words."
I don't think it's a coincidence that Alma uses the words "exercise a particle of faith." When we exercise a muscle consistently, it grows and becomes stronger. When we go for a period of time without exercising it, we lose the strength, endurance, and motivation that comes with consistent exercise. So it is with our faith. When we exercise our faith; when we pray, search the scriptures diligently, serve our fellow man, go to church meetings and obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit, our faith gets stronger. We are nourishing it and helping it grow. We have given the seed fertile soil to thrive in.
And 28 says:
"28 Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves--It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me."
It says by your unbelief. Telling us that if we don't have a testimony it's not because the word is bad, our hearts are not fertile enough to even try planting it and caring for it. That dictates people being prepared by the Lord or not. It shows that ultimately it comes down to us. What is our goal. What do we want to do with it, what is our intention and vision? What does it mean to "enlarge my soul"? Well "enlarge" can mean to make bigger or it can mean to make something show in greater detail. I believe that Alma was using "enlarge" with the latter meaning. He says it "beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me." It begins, it initiates, it starts it. That indicates two things. The first being that this enlightens, understanding and becoming delicious is a process, it isn't a one and done type thing. The second, that there is more to be done. We need to put forth much effort. If we started to go toe the gym and as soon as we saw progress would we just stop there? No! We would continue to go. Why? Because we should be getting excited at what we are doing is yielding results.
This is an amazing experience and I love being a missionary! It can be a little nerve wracking sometimes but it isn't that bad haha :)
I love y'all so much! I hope y'all have a great week!
Hurrah for Israel and Keep the Faith!
Love your missionary son and brother, Elder Jefferies
Alright well, this past week has been quite the eventful week! To start it off, we found the track next to our apartment! We went 12 weeks without realizing that the high school a couple blocks away has a track that is open to the public starting at 6 am so it's perfect! Plus, it is a waaay nice track. We never really bothered to look at the high school before and now, I really wish that we had. But hey, now Elder Reynolds and I can go and work out there.
Second, Faye was finally baptized! Elder Price performed the ordinance and the entire service went perfectly! Elder Price had sweat dripping because he was so nervous and frantic for the service haha but it was merited. Most baptismal services have something go wrong but this time we didn't have any issues! Faye was so happy and rightfully so, she has been looking for the true church for years! She was confirmed yesterday, I performed that. She is now a full fledged member of the church!! Now for the depressing side of this story: she is moving. To Kanaab, Utah. Luckily though, she is moving in with her daughter and son in law. Her son in law is a member of the church but her daughter isn't so Faye is set on converting her daughter haha. To make this story even more crazy, Elder Price will be living 20 minutes away when he gets home from his mission and his cousin is serving in Cedar City right now! It's crazy haha!
We have been doing service for an investigator for the last four Saturday's. We help him destroy bathrooms in the apartment complex he works in. It is soooo much fun!! I took a timelapse of it, it is pretty awesome.
This past Wednesday we had an exchange that neither of us had ever met before. We gave him our address and told him to pick us up by 6:30. 6:50 rolls around and he still hasn't shown up yet so we give him a call. He says that he was there, couldn't find our apartment number which is on the ground floor and probably the easiest to find. He couldn't find it so he did what any person would do and call us right? Nope. He went home, and was three miles away haha I thought it was hilarious but Elder Price just got really mad then I laughed harder because of how mad Elder Price was... We figured out who the brother was and we figured it made sense knowing his personality. So it's all good now! :)
Hmmmm... What else cool happened this week.... Oh yeah! Saturday we went to see Michael and Olevia with brother Green. Brother Green is a beast! He has probably the biggest testimony about the Book of Mormon that I have ever heard! Those appointments went so well! It was amazing.
So Michael doesn't have a whole ton of questions. Brother Green told us his story about his personal demons and how he has been able to overcome them through reading the Book of Mormon everyday for the past like 195 days or something like that. It's so awesome! So Michael realized that we have taught him most everything we can without him doing anything and has accepted our invitation to read the Book of Mormon and to pray everyday. We will be going over and discussing a story from the Book of Mormon.
Olevia is progressing so hard right now! We left her 3 Nephi 11 and she read to chapter 13 then read Matthew 5 and 6.. That is a lot! It's so great! She is also thinking about baptism again which is so exciting for everyone involved!
This week I think my spiritual thought will need to be from one of my studies of Alma 32. I have been pondering faith a lot lately and with mom sending me Joseph Smiths "Lectures on Faith" I was able to think and realize a little deeper than I had before. For this I would like to focus on verses 27 and 28.. They're great verses and it's as far as I got.... 😛 so verse 27 says:
"27 But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words."
I don't think it's a coincidence that Alma uses the words "exercise a particle of faith." When we exercise a muscle consistently, it grows and becomes stronger. When we go for a period of time without exercising it, we lose the strength, endurance, and motivation that comes with consistent exercise. So it is with our faith. When we exercise our faith; when we pray, search the scriptures diligently, serve our fellow man, go to church meetings and obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit, our faith gets stronger. We are nourishing it and helping it grow. We have given the seed fertile soil to thrive in.
And 28 says:
"28 Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves--It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me."
It says by your unbelief. Telling us that if we don't have a testimony it's not because the word is bad, our hearts are not fertile enough to even try planting it and caring for it. That dictates people being prepared by the Lord or not. It shows that ultimately it comes down to us. What is our goal. What do we want to do with it, what is our intention and vision? What does it mean to "enlarge my soul"? Well "enlarge" can mean to make bigger or it can mean to make something show in greater detail. I believe that Alma was using "enlarge" with the latter meaning. He says it "beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me." It begins, it initiates, it starts it. That indicates two things. The first being that this enlightens, understanding and becoming delicious is a process, it isn't a one and done type thing. The second, that there is more to be done. We need to put forth much effort. If we started to go toe the gym and as soon as we saw progress would we just stop there? No! We would continue to go. Why? Because we should be getting excited at what we are doing is yielding results.
This is an amazing experience and I love being a missionary! It can be a little nerve wracking sometimes but it isn't that bad haha :)
I love y'all so much! I hope y'all have a great week!
Hurrah for Israel and Keep the Faith!
Love your missionary son and brother, Elder Jefferies
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