Week 62 - "Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord" - thrust in your sickle!

Well since I slacked last week, I'll start off with my ponderizing scripture: 2 Tim. 1:7-8

 "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but ofpower, and of love, and of a sound mind.

 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;"

I like this scripture a lot and I think it applies to sharing the Gospel really well. 

This week was great!  S. is still progressing pretty well. He was only able to go to the last hour of church yesterday because another friend invited him to a Pentecostal church and he went there during the first 2 hours. He seemed to like that church a lot but hopefully he can come to Sac. meeting next week so he can feel the spirit of the Sacrament. We ate at the Alarcon's house yesterday and we invited S. to come with us. We ate chicken and mole and it was good that he was able to meet the family and establish a relationship with some people in the branch. 

I gave a talk in Sac Meeting yesterday and I talked about sharing the gospel and more specifically, how helpful and necessary it is to have members with us in lessons. I shared 2 Cor. 13:1 which talks about how the word being established by 2 or 3 witnesses. I also shared one of my favorite stories from the Book of Mormon about Alma and the sons of Mosiah and the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi. I specifically shared Alma 27:4-5

 4 Now when Ammon and his brethren saw this work of destruction among those whom they so dearly beloved, and among those who had so dearly beloved them—for they were treated as though they were angels sent from God to save them from everlasting destruction—therefore, when Ammon and his brethren saw this great work of destruction, they were moved with compassion, and theysaid unto the king:

 5 

Let us gather together this people of the Lord, and let us go down to the land of Zarahemla to our brethren the Nephites, and flee out of the hands of our enemies, that we be not destroyed.

I love this story and I've read it many times, but I never really saw it in this light. I love how verse 4 shows the love and appreciation that the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's had for the people who brought them the eternal gospel of Jesus Christ. "for they were treated as though they were angels sent from God to save them from everlasting destruction".  All of us can be an "angel" for someone as we share with them what can save them from everlasting destruction.

Last time I was in the branch when I was serving in Elkhart, I noticed it was a little hard for the Goshen Elders to get a lot of help from the members since there aren't as many members in Goshen. So I was a little worried about that as I came into this area, but we've been having a lot of success using members. I've found that if you really just ask anyone and everyone to come with you to lessons, you'll get the help. So it's been good to have a lot of help from the members in fellow shipping the investigators.

It's getting pretty chilly up here, although we haven't seen snow yet. At the end of this month, Elder Nash from the Seventy is coming to tour our mission and train us in multi-zone zone conferences. It will be cool to have him here and to listen to the counsel he will give us. 

This past week, we were tracting in a trailer park. We found ourselves talking to a white lady named J. At first, she told us she didn't believe in God at all and wasn't religious. We thought we had no hope of teaching anything to her. But I had a feeling to share the Plan of Salvation with her and to explain to her that she was taught all of this already in the Pre-mortal life and I said, "If any of this rings true to you or sounds familiar in any way, that's why." We then taught about God's plan and our part in it and by the end of the lesson she was agreeing with it and finding truth in it. It was a great testimony to me that everybody on Earth really has already learned all of this, it's just a matter of helping them come back to it. 

Yeah there are quite a lot of Amish up here. There always at the stores and stuff. We've talked to one of them one time but never really tried to teach him. And no, I don't believe there are any Mexican Amish haha.

My rash is a lot better, but still itches. It's definitely improving though. The nurse didn't even come to zone conference, so it looks like I'm on my own haha. But it's getting better and should be gone soon. 

Not much else to share this week! I love it in Goshen, but I'm not looking forward to the winter. It should be a good adventure! I love you Mom! Happy Birthday this week! I'll write a letter and send it. We'll see if it's on time... Sorry! Love you, bye!

Elder Thayne

D&C 4:4

I'm taking this whole "thrust in your sickle" thing seriously!