Alrighty!
This week was so crazy packed with meetings. We hardly had any time in our area and hardly any time to find this week. We did get to meet with Michael though. If you have a deep question about the gospel... ask him haha. He can tell you all about the Priesthood especially. Way better than me haha. He's legit. Too legit to quit ;)
Lisa and Jim are coming to church and...we are going over to their house tonight and they said they will have a wedding day picked out so that they can get MARRIED! Then baptized. So it's going to be like on The District. It will be so great :) We are a little worried about Jim and the word of Wisdom because he thinks that he needs the bottle of beer sitting in front of him and then he can tell it "no". We are like... Jim No! That is temptation. haha and he thinks that the issue with smoking is not that it is even bad for you, but that it is expensive and they should warn people about the price instead... we are like, oh dear Jim haha. He's starting to understand everything else though.
It was SO cute though..we went over to their Jim and Lisa's home and we had showed them a picture of the temple on a card and gave it to them and Lisa put it on her coffee table and leaned it up against the light. She said, "it was just so beautiful, I wanted to look at it all the time and then I can remember it :)" Brother Sears printed them out some pretty pictures of the temple for them to put up and they were stoked.
Something funny.. you know you are missionary minded when you have dreams about missionary work all the time. hah Sister Coontz said that I talk in my sleep all the time. She said that this week I was saying, "but but...we were teaching and serving..." haha
We found a couple new people this week, but for the most part.... we had amazing meetings. I really want to talk about them. The first one was our "trainee" meeting for my companion with our mission president. It was almost all day long.... then we had another meeting with our zone. It was so inspiring. We were preparing for the general authority who was coming to our mission. Then the general authority, Elder Bowen, came! I wanted to share what I learned.
But first, we were at sites and Elder Bowen came with his wife and our mission president and his wife and then our site directors and Karl Anderson. Karl Anderson is the patriarch who wrote the book i was reading before I came out about Kirtland (he is a legend around here). We were coming back from one of our tours and we stopped and talked to them. They were so sweet, so we were the first missionaries that got to meet Elder Bowen. Then we went upstairs and prepared a song to sing for him with just a couple of sisters. So we sang to him "More Holiness Give Me". He said that now he can say he has heard the angels sing. Then we had lunch with Elder Bowen yesterday after the meeting and he came and sat with me, Sister Coontz, Sister Ence and Sister Derrek! ha ha he quized us a lot and asked us what we learned and then we got to ask him deep doctrinal questions. We just felt special :)
I seriously learned so much... Elder Bowen asked us to study the Abrahamic covenant, the gathering of Israel, the baptismal covenant and the Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood. At first I didn't understand why he would ask us to study those, but really they all intertwine together. The gospel really is so perfect. I cannot even begin to describe the feelings that I felt this week. When you learn to know who you are, you really do act differently. When you don't know who you are and what your goals are, what your potential is, what lies in store for you in the future then it is harder to be obedient and be as happy. We need to decide now what we want to be like, who we are going to be and decide RIGHT now where we are going. That is why he had a study the Abrahamic covenant because of the blessings that come from that.
God gives us commandments and we are asked to follow them. He then in return gives us SOO many blessings. To follow the commandments can be so simple when you realize what is in store in the future. Then when we are obedient, even more blessings come. Why wouldn't we want blessings?
Then... the priesthood. This world that was created was created by the power of the priesthood. It is a power, but only "worthy" men can exercise it. Once you have the Priesthood, there are places you can never go again. If you choose wrong, the Priesthood power is lost. Elder Bowen just said, "Don't do stupid stuff." We all make covenants. In the temple, at baptism, the Priesthood, to be faithful serving a mission, etc. If we ever choose wrong, we can always repent only through our Savior. He can always mold us, but only if we come to Him. Don't ever forget that. He knows the desires of our hearts. He knows what we can become. He also talked about pride.... Satan can grab you when you have pride, he can make you think things that aren't true or real. Satan doesn't have a body or a family. With that being said, that is what he will attack.
The sooner we realize life's hard and that it isn't about us... and the sooner that we realize that we are nothing... that is the moment that God can use you, the moment that He can mold you. It's so wonderful. The Savior is the living bread, he is the way and the only way. We have been offered so much and sometimes people choose the world instead. Just remember when we understand who we are, we act differently. We need to understand WHO we are and what our potential is. We can become like God. It is fantastic. We can receive all that He has. If God broke His promise, He would cease to be God. Understand who are. Choose now who we want to be and where you want to be in the next life.
This is a crazy world and as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we are weird, we stand out like a sore thumb, but that is okay. "If you ever, EVER feel comfortable in this world, shame on you!"
I am grateful that we are able to learn and to grow and are able to receive insight's. Elder Bowen helped inspire me to want to be better. I know this is Christ's church. It is so real. So true.
Love always,
Sister Johnson
Elder Bowen said that when I get home and am going to get married... ask my fiance "Sweetheart, can you tell me where the Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood is found? What it means to you? and How you have applied it in your life?"
haha
 |
Kirtland and Kirtland East Zone Conference   |
No comments:
Post a Comment