"Build Up My Church"
Date
January 30, 2017
Area
Burleson Ward
Companion
Elder Matthew Newey
"Build Up My Church"
Why does time just keep going? I am getting sad at how fast it this is
going. This week we had a lot of fun. We taught quite a few people and
we found out a lot about members who have moved in or out. A lot of
people have moved out. It is crazy.
On Saturday we had the wonderful opportunity to help out at a Bishops
storehouse distribution at our stake center. It was a wonderful
experience. Yet another chance to get outside myself and help others.
It is so awesome when you see the humility and the thankfulness of the
people that come to help and to receive assistance. There was a lot of
food there.
As a lot of you might know, there was a worldwide missionary broadcast
last Wednesday. We didn't watch it on Wednesday as it was our transfer
day and the brethren weren't going to change the broadcast to
accommodate our transfers haha. Actually, we didn't even ask. Anywho,
the broadcast was basically a recap of the broadcast last year
entitled "teach repentance and baptize converts." In fact, if you
teach a class at church, seminary, or really if you are or are going
to be teaching anyone anything about the gospel, i suggest you watch
that broadcast. It is a awesome! It was a lot of reminding us to be
sure that we are teaching clearly and correctly and inviting people to
make and keep commitments. It was a really great learning opportunity
and helped me realign my vision and my commitment to helping others
repent and make the changes necessary in theirs lives to receive the
Atonement. And I have already seen it in action!
However, y'all probably didn't hear about that. Y'all probably heard
about the schedule change. Really, the schedule change isn't as huge
as the headlines are making it sound. They just cut our lunch in half
giving us a half hour instead of an hour, which is fine, put that half
hour in the morning to give us an hour and a half to get ready and
they took our nightly planning and moved it to the morning. They also
took comp study out of the morning and let us do it when we need to as
needed throughout the day. I'll send a pic of the new schedule.
Another change is that we now have a simplified version of the Key
Indicators that we would report each week. Now we only report
investigators baptized and confirmed, those with a date for baptism,
investigators at church and new investigators. That is it. It will
take some getting used to but it will be a nice readjustment and it
should help us be less stressed out. Already Elder Newey has beaten 3
times at chess.. All 3 times we have played it!
We taught victor this week and got him started on his family history.
He has already found quite a few family members mostly due to his
cousin who did a ton of work using family search! All he had to do was
connect to his maternal grandmother and he got a gold mine. He is
progressing so well. I don't know if I told y'all but he got the
Aaronic priesthood a couple weeks ago! He is doing awesome!
It has realigned my vision and my desire to teach repentance. We had a
wonderful experience yesterday where we are able to do that. There is
a couple in our ward who joined the church years ago (actually dad,
the husband is from southern Italy! He is so awesome! I love
Italians... ). They have since been less-active due to offense and
bullying. As we were seeking greater understanding we discovered that
they still have testimonies, they just don't feel comfortable going to
church. We asked them if they knew the importance of keeping the
Sabbath Day holy. We started to testify about how the Savior loves
them and wants them to renew their covenants. They had a question
about that. They did not understand that you renew your covenants when
you partake of the sacrament. When they understood that not doing that
was preventing them from keeping the spirit with them even more then
you cold see in their eyes a look of regret and an awakening to the
realization that they are missing out on the blessings that the Lord
has for them. It was a reminder to me that I do have authority as a
representative of Jesus Christ and how important it is to hold on to
the gospel. To stay faithful even when it is hard.
Elder Newey and I have found that this ward needs strengthening. We
are striving to connect the hands of the less-active members and their
home and visiting teachers all the while teaching the doctrine of
reactivation in members homes when we visit them. We have already seen
a difference! We have been able to get the priests on board with going
on rescue visits, we're teaching some of the priests and their family,
we have connected members with their home and visiting teachers and we
are starting to get the youth pumped up to do missionary work! The
work is slow right now, but there will be big things happening in the
near future, we can feel it!
I'd like to share something that has been on my mind this week. I've
shared it in the past but I love this. It starts out with Helaman 5:12
which says:
"And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our
Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your
foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds,
yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his
mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to
drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the
rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation
whereon if men build they cannot fall."
If we look at how that verse shows us that we need to build our
foundation on Christ then think about how we do that. How do we build
upon our foundation, Jesus Christ?
Yesterday during the sacrament meeting, I had a thought to read in 3
Nephi where the resurrected Christ, who is visiting the the people on
the American continent, institutes the sacrament. This is one of my
favorite scriptures. 3 Nephi 18:11-12 says:
"And this shall ye always do to those who repent and are baptized in
my name; and ye shall do it in remembrance of my blood, which I have
shed for you, that ye may witness unto the Father that ye do always
remember me. And if ye do always remember me ye shall have my Spirit
to be with you.
And I give unto you a commandment that ye shall do these things. And
if ye shall always do these things blessed are ye, for ye are built
upon my rock."
He continues to say in verse 18:
"Behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, ye must watch and pray always
lest ye enter into temptation; for Satan desireth to have you, that he
may sift you as wheat. Therefore ye must always pray unto the Father
in my name; And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which
is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given
unto you. Pray in your families unto the Father, always in my name,
that your wives and your children may be blessed."
By these words from the lips of Jesus Christ we come to understand
that it is by prayer, renewing our covenants through the sacrament and
also feasting on the words of Christ that we build our foundation on
His rock and we will not fail if we continue to deepen and keep our
relationship alive with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ through
prayer and the sacrament. We avoid the entrapment of Satan when we do
these things. This is what we call, spiritual CPR. We go to church, we
pray everyday and we read our scriptures. Those three things combined
with daily service and regular temple attendance will help us to
remain true and steadfast. I know that this is true! I have felt the
power of it in my life! I know that these things will bless your life!
I love being a missionary. It is by far the best thing I have done up
to this point in my life. I love the Savior and I know that I can feel
his love when I study his word and strive to apply it to my own life.
Keep the Faith and Hurrah for Israel!
Love, your missionary son and brother, Elder Jefferies
The new schedule:
going. This week we had a lot of fun. We taught quite a few people and
we found out a lot about members who have moved in or out. A lot of
people have moved out. It is crazy.
On Saturday we had the wonderful opportunity to help out at a Bishops
storehouse distribution at our stake center. It was a wonderful
experience. Yet another chance to get outside myself and help others.
It is so awesome when you see the humility and the thankfulness of the
people that come to help and to receive assistance. There was a lot of
food there.
As a lot of you might know, there was a worldwide missionary broadcast
last Wednesday. We didn't watch it on Wednesday as it was our transfer
day and the brethren weren't going to change the broadcast to
accommodate our transfers haha. Actually, we didn't even ask. Anywho,
the broadcast was basically a recap of the broadcast last year
entitled "teach repentance and baptize converts." In fact, if you
teach a class at church, seminary, or really if you are or are going
to be teaching anyone anything about the gospel, i suggest you watch
that broadcast. It is a awesome! It was a lot of reminding us to be
sure that we are teaching clearly and correctly and inviting people to
make and keep commitments. It was a really great learning opportunity
and helped me realign my vision and my commitment to helping others
repent and make the changes necessary in theirs lives to receive the
Atonement. And I have already seen it in action!
However, y'all probably didn't hear about that. Y'all probably heard
about the schedule change. Really, the schedule change isn't as huge
as the headlines are making it sound. They just cut our lunch in half
giving us a half hour instead of an hour, which is fine, put that half
hour in the morning to give us an hour and a half to get ready and
they took our nightly planning and moved it to the morning. They also
took comp study out of the morning and let us do it when we need to as
needed throughout the day. I'll send a pic of the new schedule.
Another change is that we now have a simplified version of the Key
Indicators that we would report each week. Now we only report
investigators baptized and confirmed, those with a date for baptism,
investigators at church and new investigators. That is it. It will
take some getting used to but it will be a nice readjustment and it
should help us be less stressed out. Already Elder Newey has beaten 3
times at chess.. All 3 times we have played it!
We taught victor this week and got him started on his family history.
He has already found quite a few family members mostly due to his
cousin who did a ton of work using family search! All he had to do was
connect to his maternal grandmother and he got a gold mine. He is
progressing so well. I don't know if I told y'all but he got the
Aaronic priesthood a couple weeks ago! He is doing awesome!
It has realigned my vision and my desire to teach repentance. We had a
wonderful experience yesterday where we are able to do that. There is
a couple in our ward who joined the church years ago (actually dad,
the husband is from southern Italy! He is so awesome! I love
Italians... ). They have since been less-active due to offense and
bullying. As we were seeking greater understanding we discovered that
they still have testimonies, they just don't feel comfortable going to
church. We asked them if they knew the importance of keeping the
Sabbath Day holy. We started to testify about how the Savior loves
them and wants them to renew their covenants. They had a question
about that. They did not understand that you renew your covenants when
you partake of the sacrament. When they understood that not doing that
was preventing them from keeping the spirit with them even more then
you cold see in their eyes a look of regret and an awakening to the
realization that they are missing out on the blessings that the Lord
has for them. It was a reminder to me that I do have authority as a
representative of Jesus Christ and how important it is to hold on to
the gospel. To stay faithful even when it is hard.
Elder Newey and I have found that this ward needs strengthening. We
are striving to connect the hands of the less-active members and their
home and visiting teachers all the while teaching the doctrine of
reactivation in members homes when we visit them. We have already seen
a difference! We have been able to get the priests on board with going
on rescue visits, we're teaching some of the priests and their family,
we have connected members with their home and visiting teachers and we
are starting to get the youth pumped up to do missionary work! The
work is slow right now, but there will be big things happening in the
near future, we can feel it!
I'd like to share something that has been on my mind this week. I've
shared it in the past but I love this. It starts out with Helaman 5:12
which says:
"And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our
Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your
foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds,
yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his
mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to
drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the
rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation
whereon if men build they cannot fall."
If we look at how that verse shows us that we need to build our
foundation on Christ then think about how we do that. How do we build
upon our foundation, Jesus Christ?
Yesterday during the sacrament meeting, I had a thought to read in 3
Nephi where the resurrected Christ, who is visiting the the people on
the American continent, institutes the sacrament. This is one of my
favorite scriptures. 3 Nephi 18:11-12 says:
"And this shall ye always do to those who repent and are baptized in
my name; and ye shall do it in remembrance of my blood, which I have
shed for you, that ye may witness unto the Father that ye do always
remember me. And if ye do always remember me ye shall have my Spirit
to be with you.
And I give unto you a commandment that ye shall do these things. And
if ye shall always do these things blessed are ye, for ye are built
upon my rock."
He continues to say in verse 18:
"Behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, ye must watch and pray always
lest ye enter into temptation; for Satan desireth to have you, that he
may sift you as wheat. Therefore ye must always pray unto the Father
in my name; And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which
is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given
unto you. Pray in your families unto the Father, always in my name,
that your wives and your children may be blessed."
By these words from the lips of Jesus Christ we come to understand
that it is by prayer, renewing our covenants through the sacrament and
also feasting on the words of Christ that we build our foundation on
His rock and we will not fail if we continue to deepen and keep our
relationship alive with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ through
prayer and the sacrament. We avoid the entrapment of Satan when we do
these things. This is what we call, spiritual CPR. We go to church, we
pray everyday and we read our scriptures. Those three things combined
with daily service and regular temple attendance will help us to
remain true and steadfast. I know that this is true! I have felt the
power of it in my life! I know that these things will bless your life!
I love being a missionary. It is by far the best thing I have done up
to this point in my life. I love the Savior and I know that I can feel
his love when I study his word and strive to apply it to my own life.
Keep the Faith and Hurrah for Israel!
Love, your missionary son and brother, Elder Jefferies
The new schedule:
0 comments
« Back
Local
Texas