A State of Love

Life's good in Ohio. A bit hectic recently, but i guess i volunteered for that when i set in my papers over a year ago. Elder Whittle and i had an interesting conversation with President Jensen last night. A companionship in one of the branches in the souther part of our zone has been struggling for a while, and one of the companions has insisted on going home. To ease the pressure on him president is tranferring him out on saturday to a much more productive area. The difficult part is that it leaves his companion without a companion. So Elder Whittle and i are recieving a companion for the remainder of the transfer. His names Elder Warner. He was in my district when i was in Chillicothe. He's got some learning disabilities and will probably be a little similar to serving with Elder Picinich. We're excited though. The only struggle will be that because we live in the city we have a rather small apartment. It'll be interesting, but it's only for the next 3 weeks anyway.

Life's good though. We started teaching a girl named Hannah. She's got a very similar personality to our Hannah. It feels a lot like teaching Megan again, which makes life easy. Her grandparents are members, but growing up with an inactive mother she was never baptized. So we're fixing that. Her date is the 24th of October.

We're also teaching an older couple named Randy and Karen. Randy has a very fun and sarcastic personality. They're member referrals, so they've been progressing constantly and smoothly.

I've spent the last few days studying the doctrine of love and have found some incredible insights into the love of our Savior and how we increase our love for others. I've come to one solitary conclusion: when the safety, welfare, and satisfaction of someone else means more to you than your own -- a state of love exists. I simple and trivial as that sounds, it's incredible that our Savior is capable of feeling that way about everyone.

The other doctrinal points i've been focusing on have been centered around ageny. 2 Ne 2 has been my best friend this week. I've realized in God's eyes most things are very black and white. We have some opportunties to exercise our agency by choosing from more than one good thing, but most decisions in our life are between right and wrong. As we get in the pattern of choosing right it becomes easier and more desireable. Faith, agency and conversion are never stagnat. They are ever progressing forward are backward. Just as it says in D&C "there is a pattern in all things," and we must establish the lifelong patterns that will bring us back to the eternal presence of our Father in Heaven. They are what will determine at the judgment day whether we will wish to be buried in hid from His presence by the mountains, or whether we will be able to look into his face and hear, "well done my good and faithful servant."

Well i gotta run. Life is good. I'm tired. I'm happy. I miss you all.

Love,
Austin