Date
August 15, 2016
Area
Parker Colorado
Companion
Elder Heiner
For starters.... WE ARE GOING TO THE FORT COLLINS TEMPLE OPEN HOUSE TODAY!!!!!
We were originally told that we were not allowed to go and anyone we invited needed to go with members. This past week we were told that they are holding a special early open house just today from 4-7 pm for missionaries and our investigators. We are taking Steff with and we are PRAYING that she has an amazing experience. Stuff believes everything we teach, but doesn't understand the concept of absolute truth. She thinks that Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ, but that other Churches are the same and that every path gets us to the same destination. We have quite a few people struggling with a similar thing, they don't understand that God has one plan and that our goal is to discover that plan, not simply what works for us. If there is anywhere that she will feel the Spirit testify of the Plan of Salvation, it is in the temple! So we will be heading up there with her in a few hours!
We had another great week! We are soon close to just having amazing success! We found 5 new investigators this week, and we are really working on doing our part to help them progress. We have been much bolder in helping people to understand our purpose as missionaries and showing them that baptism is the goal and where we are heading once they have received an answer. I think a lot of missionaries struggle helping people get to that point because they shy away from it and don't want to be bold, but bold is what we are here to be! This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it is the TRUTH! There is no need to beat around the bush. We just invite people to find that for themselves, and they have their agency. What an amazing thing our agency is!? Boy am I grateful for it!
We finally met Becca's husband and boy is he a treat! He actually really is a super nice guy and I really enjoyed teaching him, but he "believes in science" and so he is tough to help him understand some things that we teach because he doesn't realize what the spirit is. We have noticed a common theme in a lot of people we teach struggling to understand and recognize the Spirit and its role as we learn so we will be teaching a LOT of lessons about the Spirit this week. Hopefully we can be effective teachers and help people to understand. Elder Heiner struggles with the same thing and so this past week in our companion study I have been going over the Spirit and how to recognize. It is cool to see how even in just a week his understanding has really developed and he is starting to recognize the different ways that the Spirit speaks to him. That really is the secret to all our questions.. Understand the Spirits voice in our own life. Everything else falls into place once we can recognize and discern the Spirit.
We have begun teaching this awesome couple. I know I have mentioned how all the kids at the apartment complex LOVE us and always get excited when we come around. Well we were knocking on a random door once when two of the boys and their mother came walking up. Turns out it was their house and the mother told us how much her boys talk about us and love playing sports with us. They just moved from Tennessee and are looking for a church to go to.... :) So we set up a time to come back and talk with them. Unfortunately we got stuck in another lesson which got pushed back because we got stuck in a different lesson (man teaching a lot is difficult! Just kidding we LOVE teaching!) And so we went a little bit later at night and rescheduled because her husband was out with the boys. We went were she told us he was but he was nowhere to be found. We ended up luckily running into him as we were leaving (It wasn't luck) and we taught the husband. He is great! And really understands a lot of doctrine that no other churches teach! We are excited to go back later this week and teach them more!
We also had a cool experience where we felt prompted to go to a less active part member family and as we knocked the husband answered laughing "We were just talking about you. We have a bunch of extra food and where hoping you would stop by to eat some of it!" Even though we had just come from dinner.. we told them we were hungry (We weren't...) and forced a plate of food down. It was a struggle but Elder Heiner has realized I will do whatever it takes to prepare an opportunity for us to teach and testify, even if that means eaten 3 dinners. As we taught, we could tell the Spirit was there. The husband told us to come by whenever we need food and whenever we want, that they love having us in their home. Next time we go over we are going to invite the mother to take the lessons. We are not sure why she never has, but we are hoping that we can help their family! We invited them to go to the open house and they are going with some family in a few weeks!!!
This is becoming a book.. I really need to try to keep it a little shorter so my apologies!
I will leave my testimony of this great work! I saw a video this week that talked about leaving it all on the field and compared sports to what we are willing to give Christ and further this work. I love analogies to sports because that is an easy way to motivate me. One of the athletes from Logan Utah made the connection that Christ gave everything for me and to me. When I stand before him, I want to be able to say, I gave you everything. I gave everything I had.
I leave my testimony that this should be our goal in life. The money, the cars, the fun, all of those things are great and it is ok to have those things. When I stand before me maker at the close of this life however, I will not give an accounting of the money I earned or the fun vacations I had. I want to be able to tell him that I gave him everything. That I used every gift and talent he gave me and that I learned everything I could. I don't want to leave this life, or this mission for that matter having an ounce of strength left in me. I want to give it all to Him who gave it all for me.
I love you all and pray for you! Thank you for your examples to me!
Elder Richards
We were originally told that we were not allowed to go and anyone we invited needed to go with members. This past week we were told that they are holding a special early open house just today from 4-7 pm for missionaries and our investigators. We are taking Steff with and we are PRAYING that she has an amazing experience. Stuff believes everything we teach, but doesn't understand the concept of absolute truth. She thinks that Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ, but that other Churches are the same and that every path gets us to the same destination. We have quite a few people struggling with a similar thing, they don't understand that God has one plan and that our goal is to discover that plan, not simply what works for us. If there is anywhere that she will feel the Spirit testify of the Plan of Salvation, it is in the temple! So we will be heading up there with her in a few hours!
We had another great week! We are soon close to just having amazing success! We found 5 new investigators this week, and we are really working on doing our part to help them progress. We have been much bolder in helping people to understand our purpose as missionaries and showing them that baptism is the goal and where we are heading once they have received an answer. I think a lot of missionaries struggle helping people get to that point because they shy away from it and don't want to be bold, but bold is what we are here to be! This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it is the TRUTH! There is no need to beat around the bush. We just invite people to find that for themselves, and they have their agency. What an amazing thing our agency is!? Boy am I grateful for it!
We finally met Becca's husband and boy is he a treat! He actually really is a super nice guy and I really enjoyed teaching him, but he "believes in science" and so he is tough to help him understand some things that we teach because he doesn't realize what the spirit is. We have noticed a common theme in a lot of people we teach struggling to understand and recognize the Spirit and its role as we learn so we will be teaching a LOT of lessons about the Spirit this week. Hopefully we can be effective teachers and help people to understand. Elder Heiner struggles with the same thing and so this past week in our companion study I have been going over the Spirit and how to recognize. It is cool to see how even in just a week his understanding has really developed and he is starting to recognize the different ways that the Spirit speaks to him. That really is the secret to all our questions.. Understand the Spirits voice in our own life. Everything else falls into place once we can recognize and discern the Spirit.
We have begun teaching this awesome couple. I know I have mentioned how all the kids at the apartment complex LOVE us and always get excited when we come around. Well we were knocking on a random door once when two of the boys and their mother came walking up. Turns out it was their house and the mother told us how much her boys talk about us and love playing sports with us. They just moved from Tennessee and are looking for a church to go to.... :) So we set up a time to come back and talk with them. Unfortunately we got stuck in another lesson which got pushed back because we got stuck in a different lesson (man teaching a lot is difficult! Just kidding we LOVE teaching!) And so we went a little bit later at night and rescheduled because her husband was out with the boys. We went were she told us he was but he was nowhere to be found. We ended up luckily running into him as we were leaving (It wasn't luck) and we taught the husband. He is great! And really understands a lot of doctrine that no other churches teach! We are excited to go back later this week and teach them more!
We also had a cool experience where we felt prompted to go to a less active part member family and as we knocked the husband answered laughing "We were just talking about you. We have a bunch of extra food and where hoping you would stop by to eat some of it!" Even though we had just come from dinner.. we told them we were hungry (We weren't...) and forced a plate of food down. It was a struggle but Elder Heiner has realized I will do whatever it takes to prepare an opportunity for us to teach and testify, even if that means eaten 3 dinners. As we taught, we could tell the Spirit was there. The husband told us to come by whenever we need food and whenever we want, that they love having us in their home. Next time we go over we are going to invite the mother to take the lessons. We are not sure why she never has, but we are hoping that we can help their family! We invited them to go to the open house and they are going with some family in a few weeks!!!
This is becoming a book.. I really need to try to keep it a little shorter so my apologies!
I will leave my testimony of this great work! I saw a video this week that talked about leaving it all on the field and compared sports to what we are willing to give Christ and further this work. I love analogies to sports because that is an easy way to motivate me. One of the athletes from Logan Utah made the connection that Christ gave everything for me and to me. When I stand before him, I want to be able to say, I gave you everything. I gave everything I had.
I leave my testimony that this should be our goal in life. The money, the cars, the fun, all of those things are great and it is ok to have those things. When I stand before me maker at the close of this life however, I will not give an accounting of the money I earned or the fun vacations I had. I want to be able to tell him that I gave him everything. That I used every gift and talent he gave me and that I learned everything I could. I don't want to leave this life, or this mission for that matter having an ounce of strength left in me. I want to give it all to Him who gave it all for me.
I love you all and pray for you! Thank you for your examples to me!
Elder Richards
0 comments
« Back
Local
Colorado