Spring

It was good to hear from you both this week. Life's going great. Not much has changed since my note a few days ago. The work is moving along rapidly. Haha, i keep finding myself frustrated with not having people to teach, then i pause to reflect and realize that 15+ investigators with 9 on date is a lot better than nearly any other point of my mission.

The zone's doing well. We've really started cracking down on things since Elder Evans came last week. We'll see how it goes.

We've had a few week so far. Lots of random things have happened. Dad asked if i'm keeping a journal. The truth is i repent frequently and try to do better at it, but i'm a horrible journal keeper. I'm trying though. I'm working on taking more pictures too. I snapped some photos of the salsa Elder Rowley made this week. He put a half dozen habeneros in. You're lucky i didn't take pictures of the aftermath.

I've realized that one of my biggest life changes as a result of my mission is my desire for education. I used to do "just enough" as mom can well atest to. (like back in elementary school in Mrs. Sewell's gifted class, when i did just enough with my current events.) Now my desire is to gain as much education as possible (both temporal and spiritual) and to exceed at it. Joseph Smith was such a great example to me of the desire for education. He learned all sorts of language and truth simply because he understood that "the glory of God is intelligence" and "if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come." D&C 93&130. Search, Ponder, and Pray applies to everything because that pattern helps us to gain education and understanding the way the Lord sees it, no matter the subject matter.

Have a wonderful week.

Love,

Austin

Working Wonders

Life is good this week. Transfers, i believe, are the thursday following general conference. I have interviews with president this week, so i may be able to give you some insight into what's happening in my next note. The other upcoming calendar item is the Mission Tour. It's where a general authority comes to visit the mission. This one will be David F. Evans of the 1st quorum of the seventy. I'm conducting the meeting, and for the first time in a while... i'm scared to death. haha.

We still teaching the Bowmans and they're doing fantastic. They aren't ready for a baptismal date yet, but we're going to try again tonite.

We're working with a few other great families, the biggest hurtle right now is that the majority need to quit smoking.

Wow, it's surprising to hear that they talked about the patriarchal chain in stake conference. It's very interesting. I've spent a bit of the last 2 weeks studying the patriarchal order of the priesthood. It's what Abraham was searching for in the book of Abraham. It's why the Moses, Elijah, and Elias appeared in the Kirtland temple. Each to restore the keys of their repective priesthoods. But i don't need to get to deep into that.

My favorite scripture for the week is the first line of Ether 2:16

"And the Lord said: Go to work" Something i've learned as a missionary is the need to work. When Elder Nelson was here he said. "You should wear out two different articles of clothing while you're hear. First, your shoes, from walking so much in the search for the elect. Second, your pants, not on the seat from sitting around! but on the knees from frequent prayer. Learn to pray as if everything depends on the Lord, and work as if it all depends on you." That is how we begin to invoke the powers of heaven.

The process of bringing the powers of heaven into our lives begins with learning to cousel with the Lord. "Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day." Alma 37:37

As we do this we become driven by the fire of the covenant by the intense power of hope we recieve from an abiding trust that God will keep His promises. We must have hope the celestial glory is truly possible. (Ether 12:32) That hope will provide the anchor for us to act in faith according to the commandments of God. (Ether 12:4)

We must trust Him. We must know who He is. We must have a love of God and of all men.

If we learn to pray and to trust we receive the power from on high that through covenant we have become entitled to. Whether through the Gift of the Holy Ghost or the higher reception of the endowment. But it all begins with sincer prayer and sincere work.

"As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are his children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part (Matt. 7: 7-11). Many of the so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship. Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work, and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings." BD Prayer.

We must pray frequently, openly, and sincerely.

Have a wonderful week.

Love,

Austin

"Remember"

Haha, my spiritual thoughts are simply not the same caliber because of the repetitive nature of our studies. It goes like this: Pray, Mark References to Christ in the Book of Mormon, Pray Again. Here's one cool insight i did find this week. I was reading through Ether and found it very random that the Brother of Jared decided to use stones. So i went searching and found a very interesting insight. I looked into the other boat builders of the scriptures and found this: Gen. 6: 16 a window shalt thou make to the ark. The cool thing is the cross-reference of the word window. HEB tsohar; some rabbis believed it was a precious stone that shone in the ark. Pretty cool eh? Brother of Jared wasn't that creative after all.

The work is going well. We started teaching another cool family this week, the Bowman's. It's a divorced mother and her two sons. Fantastic family. Referred by their neighbors who invited them over to have dinner with us. The older boy, Andy (16), has been coming to chruch and seminary for the last few weeks and Matt (14) played church ball. Wonderful family. Very humbling to see their desire for spiritual nourishment.

Cory and TJ are both doing well. TJ comes tracting with us at least once a week. Haha, he went off at an old minister the other day that tried to bash with us.

Elder Rowley and i are doing very well. He's much more subtle than me so we accent each other's strengths very well.

Tracting is gradually gaining momentum. People are nicer as it gets warmer.

My spiritual thoughts today are centered around the verb "remember". I think if we can properly understand how to remember Christ we can master this life, becuase that's how we can gain the constant companionship of the spirit. (Moroni 4&5) The more i've come to understand my need to remember Him the more i've come to know that we perform our required labors (Alma 34:32) in the name of Christ. When we act in His name we remember Him. "All things must be done in the name of Christ, whatsoever you do in the Spirit" (D&C 40:31)

"Believe and repent of your sins and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, even as our fathers, and ye shall receive the Holy Ghost, that ye may have all things made manifest; and if ye do not this, the floods will come in upon you; nevertheless they hearkened not." (Moses 8: 24)

As you preform your labors in His name, "unto you it is give to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God." (Luke 8:10) Those labors are everything from Baptism to Temple Ordinances to Scripture Study to Church Basketball. The reason we always start and end with a prayer is so that they are done in his name and so that we remember Him.

Remembering Him is learning to maintain and act in faith when it's hard, repenting when it's hard, praying when it's hard, reading when it's hard, going to chruch when it's hard, being kind when it's hard, being patient, long-suffering, gentle, meek, lowly of heart, unwearingly obedient, and exercising charity. Remembering Him is learning to become like Him and putting on His countenance.

"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen." (Moroni 7:48)

We have to remember Him.

Well I miss you and love you and hope you all are doing well. Have a wonderful week.

Love,

Austin