Oh thanks- yeah this week I was
thinking about how I was going to organize the way I record the things I
learn, and I made a binder that I´m going to organize by topic, like
the topical guide, and keep adding paper when I need to add to a topic.
Wait that´s so sad about Hermana Seivert, the last time I talked to her
was new years and she was on crutches, but she said she was fine and
that she didn´t need to go home.
I got a letter from the Kurihara family
this week and it said that Brother West has memorized Maka´s full name
and he recites it when people ask him. I don´t know why but that made me
laugh and I really miss Buffalo Grove first ward. That´s really awesome
about your kickboxing class! Have fun!
So things are going really well with my new year's resolutions ( that
I`m not going to enter into a mototaxi, taxi, bus, or train without
talking to someone about the gospel, that I`m going to meet at least one
new person every day, that if I know I`m not going to have time to
study one day because we have a
meeting or service project or anything, I`m going to wake up early to
study with my companion, and to always have eye contact with someone
when I´m teaching) This morning when
we were going to the training for my companion we were talking with our
taxi driver, and we answered a lot of his questions about the gospel
and he was really interested. When we arrived he told us that he´s
having some problems with his wife and family and that we really helped
him and that he knew that we were sent from God. We stayed in the taxi
for about 20 minutes and we taught him the first lesson and we passed
the reference to the missionaries from where he lives. I also had many
meaningful conversations with other people in the train and bus. I
realized that I´m a lot happier on my mission now that I talk to so many
more people every day.
This week something that I think would be worth
sharing from my personal study is from Alma 45:1. It talks about the
Nephites that prayed and fasted AFTER the Lord had delivered them from
their enemies. And I thought that was something really interesting
because normally the examples I find in the Book of Mormon are of people
that are asking for something. But you can and should do fasts of
gratitude, just like prayers of gratitude are as important as prayers of
petition, especially after miracles. I´ve seen many miracles in my
mission so far and this is something that I want to try someday after I
witness a miracle in my mission, a fast of gratitude.
In
our ward and with the ward we share a building with there is a lot of
problems with people going to whichever ward they have more friends in,
and also families not doing family home evening or doing it on Sunday instead of Monday
because it´s more convenient for them. And I was thinking and I really
wanted to know if these people needed to follow the standards of the
church or if it was better that they were at least going to church and
doing their family home evening. And I realized that people can´t put
conditions on God. There shouldn´t ever be the option between attending
the other ward or not attending, or doing family home evening on Sunday
or not doing it. I was reminded of the quote "Obedience brings
blessings, obedience with exactness brings miracles" and of course God
will bless his children for going to church, but we can´t promise
miracles in their lives if they aren´t attending the church they belong
to. And of course God will bless his children for doing family home
evening, but we can´t promise miracles in their lives if they aren´t
making an effort to do it on the day that the prophet set apart for the
family. I realized that as a missionary I can only promise miracles in
the lives of the people I teach if I teach them what qualifies as
obedience with exactness. (I realize that there are exceptions and that
God will understand people that really can´t, but this isn´t the case
here)
So yea I hope you all have a great week and I´ll let you guys know next week where my new home is!
Elder Jones
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