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| All of my planners arranged by how many transfers I spent in the area. The first row was Clark Lake in Kent. Second was Glacier Park/Lake Wilderness in Maple Valley. Third is North Tapps in Puyallup. The 4th is a combination of my time in Skyway A and B. |
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| The Front and back of all of my planners so far on my mission. I love decorating them a lot! You can also see how I have improved. It certainly is an art. |
Hello Brethren and Sisteren!
I hope you are all having an amazing week and recognizing Gods goodness in your lives! Elder Cardin and I are certainly experiencing a bountiful amount of blessings this week!
One of the greatest is being blessed to be in the path of an Agent we have been looking for! We were out looking for people (the first step is to look!) and we walked up to this lady. Her name is Vicky and she has only been in America for 2 months since she moved here from China. She didnt have any religious background, but was interested in coming to church on Sunday with her 4 year old daughter Hannah. She wasnt willing to meet with us because she wanted to just read the pamphlets, but we did get a very solid commitment for church.
On Sunday she came to church and she said she loved it! Even though she didnt understand most of what whats going on (she speaks pretty good English, but with no religious background in anything it was hard to understand it all. Especially when in Gospel Principles we talked about the Priesthood organization and she was just lost haha. Gospel Principles is some of the more stressful times at church because some deep doctrine tends to get dropped and put into the class which is scary for brand new investigators as it doesn't make tons of sense). Even with her lack of understanding everything, she said she felt really good and is going to be meeting with us on Tuesday! We also have some Chinese members in the ward who speak great Mandarin, and they invited her over for dinner next Sunday and she is going to that. I love it all! I am so grateful to have been blessed for our paths to cross with Vicky! It seems all the slammed doors or rude comments are worth it just to find the 1 "Vicky!"
Elder Cardin shared some profound truth yesterday or so ago that I really liked. He said "If you can't convince them, confuse them!" He said that in context about arguments and applies to what Satan does to us as members of the church! You have heard them, stories of faithful members of a very long time leaving the church. Satan desires to sift us all as wheat and if he cant get us to disbelieve church doctrine, he will confuse us up about it!
Satan will try to confuse you on official church stances and on other doctrinal teachings. He will throw a half truth here and some false information here and a false witness there. Anti-Mormon misinformation is one of the biggest tools the adversary is using now a days. My advice for that stuff is to avoid it like the plague! It truly will infect your faith and seek to destroy it. Avoid it like you would pornography is something many of my leaders have said. It wont build you up or make you feel good and if it doesnt make you feel good, it isnt from God (see Moroni 7:12-13). These things will leave you confused and that is when Satan will bring you lower and away from the straight and narrow.
I read a talk last week that interested me due to the nature of it being the 4th of July. I found in this talk about how people now a-days are putting down the decisions and things that George Washington did. Making him appear lower or less great that he truly was. President Benson had a few words to say about that!
"Not infrequently this penchant for historical criticism has resulted in the defamation of character of the founding fathers. It is done under the guise of removing the so-called “myths” that surround their background. A favorite target of this defamation has been George Washington, our nation’s most illustrious leader. Some of these so-called “new” historians have questioned his honesty, challenged his military leadership and executive ability, and impuned his moral character.
Others who have taken measure of the man have assessed matters differently. John Lord, author of a well known work of the nineteenth century, Beacon Lights of History, wrote this of Washington:
Washington . . . had . . . a transcendent character. . . . As a man he had his faults, but they were so few, and so small, that they seemed to be but spots upon a sun. These have been forgotten, and as the ages roll on, mankind will see naught but the lustre of his virtues of the greatness of his services. [Beacon Lights of History (New York: Fords, Howard, and Hulbert, 1884), 7:168]
...
"When one casts doubt about the character of these noble sons of God, I believe he or she will have to answer to the God of heaven for it. Yes, with Lincoln I say, “To add brightness to the sun or glory to the name of Washington is . . . impossible. Let none attempt it. In solemn awe pronounce the name, and in its naked deathless splendor leave it shining on.” That is the charge I would leave to people everywhere, faculty, students, others of this and every other university—leave Washington’s name “shining on.”
May no teacher, in the name of scholarship, attempt to blemish Washington’s illustrious character."
I definitely wont be able to state as eloquently as he did about this topic and I neither have the time to try haha. I encourage you to read this talk Not only did it help me better understand some of the things that society is naturally affecting history, but it also strengthened my testimony about Joseph Smith and the things that he did during his life. There are many principles and truths in here that will help you overcome anti concerns and to avoid them altogether. I encourage you to read or listen to it.
Gods Hand in our Nations History
I love you all so much and I testify that if you have doubts that just like with our bodies at Resurrection, God can completely heal you! There is a plethora of resources on lds.org that you can turn to and I invite you to turn to if you are struggling.
Love you!
Elder Sumsion
"Search the Book of Mormon and the words of the living prophets every day, every day, every day! It’s the key to spiritual survival and avoiding deception. Without it, we are spiritually lost." -Elder Kevin W. Pearson
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