Date
August 1, 2016
Area
Flower Mound 3rd Ward
Companion
Elder Jacob Parsons
Always Get Back on the Horse
Well, this week, like just about every week, was a roller coaster. We
had some pretty awesome and we had days that nothing got done. It
seemed like we had a lot of days this week where nothing really got
done, but the things we did get done were awesome!
On Friday, we had a Meet the Mormons movie night where members could
invite their friends just to come and break the ice. There weren't as
many people there as we would have hoped, but we did learn some things
so we can improve the next time we do it. Do it Saturday night at 7
not on Friday at 5:30 haha.
Another lesson that we learned this week is that when a member says
that they are going to order you pizza, respectfully decline. Because
sometimes, the delivery service is 2 hours late and you can't do much
of anything with the time that you have left in your night. So that
was that!
Bradon Smith is finally home from vacation and we met with him last
night. He said that he either wants to get baptized this Wednesday
before his brother leaves to his dad's home in Arizona or the 20th of
August. We have another meeting with him tonight that will determine
which he decides on.
We haven't met Chris Tarrantino this past week, he didn't seem to
respond. He has a lot of financial issues so I hope that he is
alright. We will prbably swing by him here soon to check up on him. He
has been reading Job in the Old Testament and so now we are going to
move on to the Book of Mormon.
We visited the Dallas temple on Tuesday. Going to the temple for the
first time in 15 months was amazing! The session ended up being
delayed once we were in it and the 1hr 45 minute session turned into
almost 3hrs! At that point, I couldn't be frustrated. It was nice to
just be in the temple and learn. I learned at least where to start
learning what I wanted to learn about the relationship between
Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. It really helped!
Yesterday, I gave a talk in sacrament meeting, my first one since I
left on my mission 15 months ago (I will send it). The subject was on
following the example of Jesus Christ and Inviting all to come and
see. I tried to teach enough doctrine that the Ward would understand
the important reasons why we need to share the gospel but also give
the a simple formula from Preach My Gospel that helps the members see
how it all works and that they can do it. Pray, ponder, act in faith.
That is basically the pattern. It all starts by starting a
conversation then, bc of the way that we live our faith, our religion
will come up at some point in the conversation. And if it doesn't, oh
well! That person just had a positive experience with a member of The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I found that it is the
pattern for just about everything! The rest of the meeting and the
fifth Sunday meeting were all on missionary work. The leaders in this
Ward are truely inspired and the work here will soon become very much
alive!
My call to repentance this week was about talking with everyone. I
feel like I have been pulling punches and not talking to as many
people as I can or should. I am going to repent of that this week and
get back to talking to as many people as I can. After all, nothing
happens in missionary work until we find someone to teach. So that is
what I am going to work on this week.
I felt impressed to share some thoughts on something that I am in the
middle of learning and perfecting, well actually, I think we all are
in the middle of learning and perfecting this. It is becoming better
everyday. Basically, everyday repentance. We have the awesome
opportunity to live here on this earth during a time when 1) The
gospel of Jesus Christ is once more upon the face of this earth, 2)
there are temples, literal houses of the Lord, all over the world, 3)
technology helps us is so many different ways for learning,
healthcare, communications, security, preserving our family history
and so much more. But I think that some times, we have so many things
that we over look that are simple. Like waking up ever morning and
having a chance to start over again and improve.
A few years ago when I was in the 8th grade, I think, I was grounded
in my room for a week. I don't remember what happened to get me there,
but my parents were prbably wrong ;P jk, I probably deserved it! While
I was in there, I only had one book to read since my parents took all
my other books as I loved to read and would read books for hours on
end. To this day I don't remember the title of the book nor most of
the stories in it. But I do remember what the message of the book was.
It was this: "live so that when someone asks you how your day is, you
can answer 'it's the best one I've had so far!'" Now, 5-6ish years
later, I am starting to gras the principle that my parents wanted me
to learn. Daily improvement and progression. That is the purpose of
this life. That is why we have this time on earth. That is why we have
the Atonement and the grace of God to help us become something better
tomorrow than we were today.
"For behold, this life is the time for man to prepare to meet God;
yea, behold the day of this life is to day for men to perform their
labors ... Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis,
that I will repent, that I will return to my God ... For behold, if ye
have procrastinated the day of your repentance even until death,
behold, ye have become subjected to the spirit of the devil." (Alma
34:32, 34-35)
Really, God has given us a never ending supply of chances. If we mess
up we aren't cut off from the presence of God externally because we
have the gift of repentance. We are not expected to immediately
change, and neither should we expect others. It can be just as had for
them as it is for you and it might even be harder for them. "We need
to keep in mind that people can change. They are put behind them bad
habits, they can repent from transgressions." But we can change
everyday.
Recently, as you might have seen from my emails, I have been
prayerfully picking one thing to consciously work on every week. I am
not perfect in that thing by the end of the week, but I have tried to
work on it. That is repentance. Working on becoming better. I guess,
my whole rambling on of thoughts is that do not be discouraged when
you mess up or when you see your behavior inconsistent with what you
know is right. That doesn't mean that we get complacent, but that we
don't hate ourselves and give up on ourselves. God hasn't.
In the movie "Zoolander," it was put this way:
Morey: "What do you do when you fall off the horse?"
Derek: "I'm not a gymnast Morey."
Morey: "We get back on!"
Always get back on the horse!
Keep the Faith and Hurrah for Israel!
Love, missionary son and brother, Elder Jefferies
Quote of the week:
"Strive to be that kind of disciple of the Father and the Son and your
influence will NEVER FADE!" - Elder D. Todd Christofferson