Hey Family,
What a week. I just have to laugh at all the miss fortunes that happened to us. Sister and I got soaked by all the bad luck poured on us. It seems like Satan finally recognized how strong Sister Tanodra and I are together, he's called extra forces to weaken us. Although what he didn't know was all the trials, is actually doing the opposite effect. Its been motivation for us to try harder. Walk faster, Testify more, and beg for Gods help. We may have lost 2 baptismal dates, but invited 4 more to be baptized. Many of our appointments fell though, but it gave us a great opportunity to find some new hopeful investigators. Trials are just doing the rebound effect with us. Gaining blessings along the way.
I've been pondering the principle of Faith lately. Many Christians believe in Christ, but do they have Faith in Him? Do they have Faith to follow His ways? Along with these thoughts, I've been thinking about my mission and the mission of the Apostles in the time of Jesus Christ. Many of their investigators were Jews, whom believed a Christ would come, although had not yet come. Many of their investigators had heard of Jesus, and the Apostles mission was to convince the world that he was the Christ. They testified of his works, miracles, and teachings. I thought how different their mission was compared to mine. I thought about how I was teaching people who already believed in Jesus. Although when I really analyzed it, I noticed its not so different. I am going out testifying of Christs works and teachings in our time period. People often ask me, Who is the founder of your Church? and I tell them Jesus Christ. People normally are looking for a persons name like "Joseph Smith", and they sometimes are taken back by what I said. But little by little we are helping them gain faith that Jesus is the Christ, and He once again established His church on Earth. In primitive times, people lacked faith that the things Jesus did proved he was the Christ. Now, we are inviting people to gain faith that Jesus is the Christ in things he has done in our day. Its the same type of mission in Primitive times. It appears to me that Christ life has just become a tale, that has been passed down from generation to generation. Just because they've heard the tale, doesn't mean they have faith in it. The ones that sincerely know its true, follow His commandments. How many of them would believe that Christ is in fact once again speaking to the world through a living Prophet? Probably the ones who would have believed on Christs words in His time, or believed in the Prophets in Old Testament time. Jesus taught this concept to the Hypocritical Pharisees which stated they believed in the scriptures, yet would not receive His words. Christ stated In Matt. 23:29-31 "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets."
It makes me think about being born into the true church. How many of us are just born into believing, or who of us actually have gained faith that Jesus is the Christ, and trust in keeping His commandments*? I guess that's a personal evaluation question for us all to think about. What am I doing in my life to show my faith in Christ? Do I have a personal relationship with Christ? If so, what is it like? Would I recognize His voice?
* Faith is an action word. If we have faith in living prophets, we follow the Church standards, because we know it came directly from God.
Those are just basic testimony starter questions. After we evaluate ourselves, think about what we can do more to gain a testimony of Christ and his restored gospel.
Thanks for everything!
Yours truly.
What a week. I just have to laugh at all the miss fortunes that happened to us. Sister and I got soaked by all the bad luck poured on us. It seems like Satan finally recognized how strong Sister Tanodra and I are together, he's called extra forces to weaken us. Although what he didn't know was all the trials, is actually doing the opposite effect. Its been motivation for us to try harder. Walk faster, Testify more, and beg for Gods help. We may have lost 2 baptismal dates, but invited 4 more to be baptized. Many of our appointments fell though, but it gave us a great opportunity to find some new hopeful investigators. Trials are just doing the rebound effect with us. Gaining blessings along the way.
I've been pondering the principle of Faith lately. Many Christians believe in Christ, but do they have Faith in Him? Do they have Faith to follow His ways? Along with these thoughts, I've been thinking about my mission and the mission of the Apostles in the time of Jesus Christ. Many of their investigators were Jews, whom believed a Christ would come, although had not yet come. Many of their investigators had heard of Jesus, and the Apostles mission was to convince the world that he was the Christ. They testified of his works, miracles, and teachings. I thought how different their mission was compared to mine. I thought about how I was teaching people who already believed in Jesus. Although when I really analyzed it, I noticed its not so different. I am going out testifying of Christs works and teachings in our time period. People often ask me, Who is the founder of your Church? and I tell them Jesus Christ. People normally are looking for a persons name like "Joseph Smith", and they sometimes are taken back by what I said. But little by little we are helping them gain faith that Jesus is the Christ, and He once again established His church on Earth. In primitive times, people lacked faith that the things Jesus did proved he was the Christ. Now, we are inviting people to gain faith that Jesus is the Christ in things he has done in our day. Its the same type of mission in Primitive times. It appears to me that Christ life has just become a tale, that has been passed down from generation to generation. Just because they've heard the tale, doesn't mean they have faith in it. The ones that sincerely know its true, follow His commandments. How many of them would believe that Christ is in fact once again speaking to the world through a living Prophet? Probably the ones who would have believed on Christs words in His time, or believed in the Prophets in Old Testament time. Jesus taught this concept to the Hypocritical Pharisees which stated they believed in the scriptures, yet would not receive His words. Christ stated In Matt. 23:29-31 "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets."
It makes me think about being born into the true church. How many of us are just born into believing, or who of us actually have gained faith that Jesus is the Christ, and trust in keeping His commandments*? I guess that's a personal evaluation question for us all to think about. What am I doing in my life to show my faith in Christ? Do I have a personal relationship with Christ? If so, what is it like? Would I recognize His voice?
* Faith is an action word. If we have faith in living prophets, we follow the Church standards, because we know it came directly from God.
Those are just basic testimony starter questions. After we evaluate ourselves, think about what we can do more to gain a testimony of Christ and his restored gospel.
Thanks for everything!
Yours truly.
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