Hi everyone!
This week has been pretty good. There's still a lot of appointments getting canceled which is bothersome, but I guess it's all part of the job. But people are still progressing and we had some great lessons! One highlight was on exchange with the Zone Leaders, Elder Prior came to my area with me, and we taught a guy named Bernie, and his wife Sherrie. We've been teaching him for a few weeks now. Anyway, we had a lesson right out of the Book of Mormon. We read with him in 3 Nephi Chapter 11. We just read and discussed the whole chapter and the things that Christ says in it and the lessons we need to take from it (basically the gospel of Jesus Christ). It was really cool, and they're thinking seriously about baptism.
Exchanges were really fun! Elder Prior was with me in the MTC, and it was cool to be with him for the day. One of the things we got to do was service at a senior center, working in the kitchen, washing dishes mostly. It was funny because after the meal was over, we heard them playing, wait for it...Bingo. Old people playing Bingo! The stereotype is true, at least in this case! We both got a kick out of it. We taught a lot of good lessons during the exchange, and it was just really awesome.
Halloween was kind of fun because we had to be in by 6:00. As much as I love teaching, it was nice to come in early and have that time to sort of chill. We did our weekly planning that evening, played a
little board game, and went to bed early. That going to bed early, along with the time change, made for a really well rested and refreshed Elder Oswald. It was literally the most rested I've felt my entire mission so far.
We also had an awesome Zone Conference this past week. It was pretty much all about The Book of Mormon, and how it's pretty much the most powerful tool we have. We need to be reading it, and the people we teach need to be reading it. It is either true or it isn't, and we can know by reading it and praying about it. If it is true, then Joseph Smith was a prophet, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ's church on the Earth today. And when you really think about it, could Joseph Smith, a farm boy with a third grade education really make up such a powerful, and I dare say perfect, book of scripture in just a few months? Either he pulled off that impossible feat (keep in mind that it took JRR Tolkien, an educated linguist and writer, his entire lifetime to write the Silmarillion, which isn't even as long or complex as the Book of Mormon) or else the Book is true, and Joseph didn't write it, but translated it by the power of God. That's really what it comes down to. The teachings in the Book of Mormon are also simple yet powerful, and it is great to teach/learn from, especially when cross referencing it with the Bible. It doesn't replace the Bible, it complements it. And it bears a powerful witness of Jesus Christ. These are things I've known, but it is so good to review it, and to get extra practice and training about it was awesome. I really enjoyed it. It also went along with what Elder Bednar told us at the Mission Conference a few months ago. Basically everyone needs to read the Book of Mormon. It doesn't matter if you've been a member of the church all your life, or if you've only just heard of the church. The Book of Mormon is important. If we read
it at least a little bit everyday, our testimonies will be virtually unshakable. So my (and Elder Bednar's) encouragement to everyone is to read it and try it out. I've seen the blessings for myself. You can
too.
Well, that's about it for today. Have a great week everyone!
-Elder Oswald
PS- Here's a picture I got on the doorstep of some members we were
visiting. Happy Halloween!
No comments:
Post a Comment