Things are really wonderful.
The Zone Leaders had a second exchange this week on Tuesday with us. It was very needed and went very well. On the exchange I stayed in Glacier Park/Lake Wilderness with Elder Holtry and it was great! We had a very nice lesson with a Less Active/Part Member family and one of the members is deaf. This is my third time having a lesson there, but it really is a wonderful experience to teach clearly, slowly, and simply by the spirit and have someone translate it for you into ASL. The best part for me was just how Elder Holtry and I were able to eb and flow and teach by the spirit according to their needs. The Spirit was most definitely the Senior Companion in that lesson.
Its a strange thought to think that Elder Meads could be gone by the end of the week. Depending on what my Mission President chooses and feels to do. He could also stay by the end of the transfer, but if that is the case that he leaves this week or next I will have had as many different companions as I have had in 8 months as I have had in 6 weeks. We will see what happens when we come to it. A big focus has been on helping Elder Meads develop the good habits of obedience and consecration now, so he can use this time here in the Washington Federal Way Mission as productively and effectively as he can. I know that the time he will spend here will be very very beneficial time for the rest of his mission if he chooses to make it so. I cant force it upon him, but already so much progress is being made and he has had a big change since I first met him.
Yesterday we had a really great lesson with a non-member family we helped move in a couple of weeks ago. They are from Arizona and this is the first time living up in Washington, it was a pretty big move and it was super wonderful that we were able to help them out. We had the opportunity to go by and share the message of the restoration with them and it went rather well. We brought a member with us, Brother Zitzelberger, and he was definitely someone who needed to be at this lesson. They were super duper willing to learn and were asking sincere questions about what we talked about which was really wonderful. They didn't fully understand Prophets and the restoration of the priesthood and after clarifying some things they understood. They didn't fully believe, but they whole heartedly agree on praying and asking God (James 1:5) to feel and know if that experience with Joseph Smith really did happen and they are doing that.
Brother Z had some really great insights. One example is when they asked about the verse in Revelations and that it said nothing should be added to or taken away. In order to bring it into a different context Brother West (west is the family name of the family we are teaching) asked for a comparison on the level of the Star Wars movies.
Brother Z talked about how the original trilogy is there and that the new trilogy (episodes 1-3) really don't take away or change that original three. They add a different perspective and another view. One specific example of how the first 3 episodes benefit the other three is on Anakin Skywalker and his transformation to Darth Vader. Ever since Anakin had been taken in and becoming a Jedi, since he was 9, he was always told "if you join the dark side you cant turn back" and that message was ingrained so hard into his being that when he turned he didn't believe he could come back. Luke Skywalker was only being trained to be a Jedi a lot older in his life and that idea of "once you join you cant turn back" and that didn't settle with him. He knew there was still good in Darth Vader and when Luke told him that he can still sense the good fighting inside of him to get out and that he can change, the idea that he cant come back was still so ingrained in him and that's why he said "Its to late. There is no hope for me."
Those first 3 episodes make that line from Vader so much more meaningful because we understand the context behind why he is saying that, because he was told that since he was 9. And as well, it makes it all the more meaningful when Darth Vader starts on the repentance process and starts to change right before he passed away.
Just like how those first 3 episodes add so much more meaning and perspective, the Book of Mormon adds that to the gospel of Jesus Christ and we come to understand it some much more. The Wests really understood that and it really explained it. I probably didn't do the best job, but hopefully you understand the idea.
Anyway, missionary work is very wonderful and I love it! Continue to have a wonderful week and be sure you strive to be a better person everyday and repent! Repenting every single day, renewing and making promises to God every week, and consistently making goals to change and following through with them is a pattern for an increasingly rewarding life!
Love,
Elder Sumsion
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