Wowzza
Date
September 26, 2016
Area
Boulder Colorado
Companion
Elder Layton
Wowzza
Best Week Yet!!! Seriously... everything about life is good right now!
So let me explain... Elder Layton is basically my best friend lol. Seriously, I love this kid and can never say enough how much I am loving serving with him again. We are almost positive that we will stay together for at least one more transfer if not two more. We were told that President really likes our companionship, because we have no issues and we are doing great work. So hopefully, we will spend another few months together. It’s true, Elder Layton and I really have no issues. We get along great, which is mostly because he is a Saint and is helping me learn to not be such a punk, and I am helping him learn English. He is from Canada and the language was a big barrier for him, and he also loves learning more and understanding the doctrine from me. Basically, we are a great team! We keep getting told how well we work and teach together, so that is a good thing!
So last week I talked a lot about that training that I gave in Zone Meeting. The greatest thing is, that that training has had a huge impact on me from the things that the Spirit taught me. This week, I have been more motivated than probably any other time since I have been out here. Which is good, because in missionary work... there is a LOT of reasons to get discouraged. Elder Layton and I are pushing through all of those reasons and working hard. We are also really focused on putting ourselves in situations that challenging (scare us) and make us uncomfortable. We are both really confident with our skills and comfortable talking with people, so we are finding ways to make it more difficult and help us to grow more. We can’t grow without stretching ourselves! Sometimes we go to the outdoor mall here, which is FULL of people and we just talk to EVERYONE we see! Even people who clearly don’t want to talk to us. I taught Elder Layton how to point out the awkward. So like when people are clearly trying to avoid us and we stop them to talk, when they look angry at us for stopping them, we say "you do not look happy to see us today!" or "uh oh! You let the Mormon Missionaries catch up to you!" It ALWAYS breaks the ice and totally removes most of their anger or apprehension. It makes it a much calmer and hospitable exchange. So we do that a lot, which is actually just funny. We make sure that we are working hard and showing respect to our calling and Him whose name we wear on our chest. We also make sure we have fun doing it. Too many missionaries are too rigid!
We went on an exchange this week, and at the end of the exchange (that means we switch companions for one day so Elder Layton and I are both with missionaries who serve in a different area of our Zone) I was following up with the missionary about what we had learned during the day and he said the thing he noticed most about me when I talk to people is that I am completely genuine. I offered to help these old people that I saw moving something and he could tell that I was offering because I wanted to help, not because I wanted to teach them and helping was an empty offer. He commented on how even when someone rejected me, I found a way to leave them with something and still teach them briefly about our Father in Heaven. He could tell that I was sincere in my desire to help them; not merely get numbers of lessons or people. It was good to hear he had noticed that; truly that is the secret I have learned from the missionaries I look up to the most out here. Always, at all times, be sincere in my concern for the people I talk to. God is always concerned about us. Always. Whether we choose the right or make mistakes, He still loves us. That is the key to missionary work and really most things. We love the people. Always. No exceptions.
So with that being said, we had an AWESOME week! Found a lot of new YSA to teach and had several people at church! We are also getting less active members of the ward out to activities that they haven't been to in years or months. When we do the work that the Spirit prompts us to do, we can not fail!
I will close with one last thought. We were teaching one of our investigators this week. It is a VERY interesting situation. He is homosexual. Up until the lesson this week we kind of had avoided it and where teaching him more so that he could learn, not so that he would join the church. He has known many members and went to the Temple open house. Then this lesson took a quick change. He had been reading 2nd Nephi 31 and he talked about it bothering him as he read because he could never not be gay. That even if he got baptized, he would be a hypocrite and he couldn't do what the chapter was saying he needed to do. It was a tense moment for a bit, and then the spirit took over. We shared with him that we could never give him our empathy because we don't know the situation he is in. We could never tell him we understand how he feels because we will never know how he feels. I told him I couldn't give him the answer for why people are put into his situation, because I don't know the answer for that. Then I told him what I did know. I told him I knew that Heavenly Father was real, and that he knew each of us individually. I knew that EVERYTHING He does is for our good, the same way everything Christ did was for our good. Then I told him I knew that God would never ask anything of us that wasn't possible, and that I knew whatever He asked of us, He would provide a way for us to accomplish it. We read some scriptures and then I told him if he wanted an answer to these tough questions, he first needed to get answers to the simple questions... is God there and does He know us. The rest of the lesson was the best lesson we have had yet with him and it was simply awesome!
That is the testimony I leave with you. We often want the answer to the big questions. We want answers to come in the order we want. However, that is not how it works. We learn basic math before we learn calculus. So we must learn the basic truths before we learn the tougher things. I know that when we develop our testimonies on the basic eternal truths, that God lives and knows us, that He sent his Son to be our Savior and Redeemer, we will continue to have truth added to us little by little for the rest of our lives until one day, we see perfectly all that God has revealed. I love the lifelong pursuit! At times it is tough, and at times it is discouraging, but the best views come only after we sweat and climb high on the mountain.
I love you all!
Elder Richards
So let me explain... Elder Layton is basically my best friend lol. Seriously, I love this kid and can never say enough how much I am loving serving with him again. We are almost positive that we will stay together for at least one more transfer if not two more. We were told that President really likes our companionship, because we have no issues and we are doing great work. So hopefully, we will spend another few months together. It’s true, Elder Layton and I really have no issues. We get along great, which is mostly because he is a Saint and is helping me learn to not be such a punk, and I am helping him learn English. He is from Canada and the language was a big barrier for him, and he also loves learning more and understanding the doctrine from me. Basically, we are a great team! We keep getting told how well we work and teach together, so that is a good thing!
So last week I talked a lot about that training that I gave in Zone Meeting. The greatest thing is, that that training has had a huge impact on me from the things that the Spirit taught me. This week, I have been more motivated than probably any other time since I have been out here. Which is good, because in missionary work... there is a LOT of reasons to get discouraged. Elder Layton and I are pushing through all of those reasons and working hard. We are also really focused on putting ourselves in situations that challenging (scare us) and make us uncomfortable. We are both really confident with our skills and comfortable talking with people, so we are finding ways to make it more difficult and help us to grow more. We can’t grow without stretching ourselves! Sometimes we go to the outdoor mall here, which is FULL of people and we just talk to EVERYONE we see! Even people who clearly don’t want to talk to us. I taught Elder Layton how to point out the awkward. So like when people are clearly trying to avoid us and we stop them to talk, when they look angry at us for stopping them, we say "you do not look happy to see us today!" or "uh oh! You let the Mormon Missionaries catch up to you!" It ALWAYS breaks the ice and totally removes most of their anger or apprehension. It makes it a much calmer and hospitable exchange. So we do that a lot, which is actually just funny. We make sure that we are working hard and showing respect to our calling and Him whose name we wear on our chest. We also make sure we have fun doing it. Too many missionaries are too rigid!
We went on an exchange this week, and at the end of the exchange (that means we switch companions for one day so Elder Layton and I are both with missionaries who serve in a different area of our Zone) I was following up with the missionary about what we had learned during the day and he said the thing he noticed most about me when I talk to people is that I am completely genuine. I offered to help these old people that I saw moving something and he could tell that I was offering because I wanted to help, not because I wanted to teach them and helping was an empty offer. He commented on how even when someone rejected me, I found a way to leave them with something and still teach them briefly about our Father in Heaven. He could tell that I was sincere in my desire to help them; not merely get numbers of lessons or people. It was good to hear he had noticed that; truly that is the secret I have learned from the missionaries I look up to the most out here. Always, at all times, be sincere in my concern for the people I talk to. God is always concerned about us. Always. Whether we choose the right or make mistakes, He still loves us. That is the key to missionary work and really most things. We love the people. Always. No exceptions.
So with that being said, we had an AWESOME week! Found a lot of new YSA to teach and had several people at church! We are also getting less active members of the ward out to activities that they haven't been to in years or months. When we do the work that the Spirit prompts us to do, we can not fail!
I will close with one last thought. We were teaching one of our investigators this week. It is a VERY interesting situation. He is homosexual. Up until the lesson this week we kind of had avoided it and where teaching him more so that he could learn, not so that he would join the church. He has known many members and went to the Temple open house. Then this lesson took a quick change. He had been reading 2nd Nephi 31 and he talked about it bothering him as he read because he could never not be gay. That even if he got baptized, he would be a hypocrite and he couldn't do what the chapter was saying he needed to do. It was a tense moment for a bit, and then the spirit took over. We shared with him that we could never give him our empathy because we don't know the situation he is in. We could never tell him we understand how he feels because we will never know how he feels. I told him I couldn't give him the answer for why people are put into his situation, because I don't know the answer for that. Then I told him what I did know. I told him I knew that Heavenly Father was real, and that he knew each of us individually. I knew that EVERYTHING He does is for our good, the same way everything Christ did was for our good. Then I told him I knew that God would never ask anything of us that wasn't possible, and that I knew whatever He asked of us, He would provide a way for us to accomplish it. We read some scriptures and then I told him if he wanted an answer to these tough questions, he first needed to get answers to the simple questions... is God there and does He know us. The rest of the lesson was the best lesson we have had yet with him and it was simply awesome!
That is the testimony I leave with you. We often want the answer to the big questions. We want answers to come in the order we want. However, that is not how it works. We learn basic math before we learn calculus. So we must learn the basic truths before we learn the tougher things. I know that when we develop our testimonies on the basic eternal truths, that God lives and knows us, that He sent his Son to be our Savior and Redeemer, we will continue to have truth added to us little by little for the rest of our lives until one day, we see perfectly all that God has revealed. I love the lifelong pursuit! At times it is tough, and at times it is discouraging, but the best views come only after we sweat and climb high on the mountain.
I love you all!
Elder Richards
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