Family!
Our investigator Cesar has progressed all the way to baptism and confirmation this past weekend! That's the biggest news I have. Everything was perfect and Cesar's excitement was a joy to see. He was fully prepared to make the covenant and is now on his way as a faithful disciple of Christ.
Friday night we had a mission fireside about which we were told very little before we arrived. But the guest speaker turned out to be Sheri Dew! It was one of the best firesides so far on my mission. She spoke for at least 45 min and every word was a gem. Hers is the quote in the subject line. She also made the comment that repentance is the process of trying to become increasingly pure. It made me think about purity and its inherent power. Mom, I'm sure you would have loved to be there.
At church yesterday we read a line from The Teachings of George Albert Smith that I just loved. It's referring to the Restoration of the Gospel: "Our Father saw the futility of trying to save his sons and daughters until they could be inspired to come to him with the belief that he would hear and answer their prayers." It is really an interesting thought and a good explanation for why Father saw it fit to visit Joseph with His Son in such a grand way.
Well I love you all. Have a great week and happy Valentine's Day!
Elder Joshua Gathro
Friday, February 17, 2012
As in life, chill for best results.
Well not a whole lot of variance this week as far as our activities and happenings in the work. We had a lot of success in contacting investigators and less-actives that we've been asked to see. One lesson this week that I really enjoyed was with someone we met while walking past his house. He said he's tired of the Catholic church and is only interested in learning about Mormons. The lesson flowed more as a conversation, with us sharing the doctrine, and him asking questions, and then us answering him. When we taught about Joseph Smith, he said, "So then there was a prophet after him, right?" YES! It was wonderful. We're hoping and working to see him progressing.
In the middle of the previous paragraph, a man sitting beside my companion starting chatting with us. He's a really friendly guy, and he said that he has read in the Book of Mormon with his LDS neighbor before, over a period of several months. But "it didn't do anything for [him]." He said, "I have no desire or want to learn. My soul can't accept anything other than the Bible." How sad is that. The Book of Mormon testifies of Christ. The Church and Joseph Smith aside, if you believe in Christ you will believe in His words. And the Book of Mormon contains His words.
This morning in my personal study I read a little bit from Chapter 1 of Preach My Gospel. It made me realize that I need to help others realize that every invitation we extend, to read, to pray, to attend church, is really an invitation to come unto Christ. We cover that up sometimes, or maybe it just seems so obvious to us, but it doesn't always to others. They need to know that Christ is the one inviting them to read, to pray, and to come to church. That's just something on my mind this morning.
Well have a great week, siguen adelante y sean de buen animo!
Elder Joshua Gathro
In the middle of the previous paragraph, a man sitting beside my companion starting chatting with us. He's a really friendly guy, and he said that he has read in the Book of Mormon with his LDS neighbor before, over a period of several months. But "it didn't do anything for [him]." He said, "I have no desire or want to learn. My soul can't accept anything other than the Bible." How sad is that. The Book of Mormon testifies of Christ. The Church and Joseph Smith aside, if you believe in Christ you will believe in His words. And the Book of Mormon contains His words.
This morning in my personal study I read a little bit from Chapter 1 of Preach My Gospel. It made me realize that I need to help others realize that every invitation we extend, to read, to pray, to attend church, is really an invitation to come unto Christ. We cover that up sometimes, or maybe it just seems so obvious to us, but it doesn't always to others. They need to know that Christ is the one inviting them to read, to pray, and to come to church. That's just something on my mind this morning.
Well have a great week, siguen adelante y sean de buen animo!
Elder Joshua Gathro
I saw my first roadrunner!
Hey gang,
Well just as an update, the man who called us last Monday called us again this week and set up 3 appointments with us. We taught him once and he seems very interested and committed to read from the Book of Mormon and pray. He's already been to church several times and came yesterday as well. It's amazing. And along similar lines, a lady and her son came to our English ward yesterday with their member friend and wants to learn from the missionaries. We were at the Spanish ward during the first two hours of English services, but our ward mission leader met the lady and her son and grabbed another set of elders that were at the building and taught her the message of the Restoration. They even set up another appointment (for us). Can presents from the Lord come any more nicely wrapped? The work is moving along with haste in both of our wards. Members are handing us referrals weekly it seems. I don't really understand what qualifies us to have so many rich blessings but we're trying to show our gratitude and lead His sheep to Christ.
In conversation with a member I mentioned that I have a friend serving in Spokane WA Spanish-speaking. Afterward my companion said, "I have a friend in Spokane, Spanish-speaking. He's from Georgia." Turns out that Dominic Clarke was in my companion's district in the MTC. Crazy, huh?
Que mas...Another milagro (miracle). We set the goal of three new investigators for this past week and prayed and worked to get them. Well Wednesday night one of our already investigators called to cancel a lesson because he needed to go see the doctor for chest pain. So with the open time we then had, we visited a referral from Christmas that we've already been by several times and never had a lesson go through. But we knocked on the door and they just welcomed us in. Without having set an appointment, we had a great lesson with them and walked out having 3 new investigators - a family! The father didn't actually speak up much during our time there, which made us reflect on how the Lord had prepared us and the father. We had stopped by several times previously, and even though we didn't have a lesson, we were able to chat with him on those occasions about things going on in his life and just build a friendship. It was how the Lord wanted it to be, so that when they did let us in their home to teach, we could already have a friendship to build on despite his silence in the lesson.
Well it was a pretty rewarding week. But don't think that it wasn't without it's challenges. Those just aren't as exciting to share :)
I love you all,
Elder Joshua Gathro
PS- Was there a presidential debate in Jacksonville this week?
Well just as an update, the man who called us last Monday called us again this week and set up 3 appointments with us. We taught him once and he seems very interested and committed to read from the Book of Mormon and pray. He's already been to church several times and came yesterday as well. It's amazing. And along similar lines, a lady and her son came to our English ward yesterday with their member friend and wants to learn from the missionaries. We were at the Spanish ward during the first two hours of English services, but our ward mission leader met the lady and her son and grabbed another set of elders that were at the building and taught her the message of the Restoration. They even set up another appointment (for us). Can presents from the Lord come any more nicely wrapped? The work is moving along with haste in both of our wards. Members are handing us referrals weekly it seems. I don't really understand what qualifies us to have so many rich blessings but we're trying to show our gratitude and lead His sheep to Christ.
In conversation with a member I mentioned that I have a friend serving in Spokane WA Spanish-speaking. Afterward my companion said, "I have a friend in Spokane, Spanish-speaking. He's from Georgia." Turns out that Dominic Clarke was in my companion's district in the MTC. Crazy, huh?
Que mas...Another milagro (miracle). We set the goal of three new investigators for this past week and prayed and worked to get them. Well Wednesday night one of our already investigators called to cancel a lesson because he needed to go see the doctor for chest pain. So with the open time we then had, we visited a referral from Christmas that we've already been by several times and never had a lesson go through. But we knocked on the door and they just welcomed us in. Without having set an appointment, we had a great lesson with them and walked out having 3 new investigators - a family! The father didn't actually speak up much during our time there, which made us reflect on how the Lord had prepared us and the father. We had stopped by several times previously, and even though we didn't have a lesson, we were able to chat with him on those occasions about things going on in his life and just build a friendship. It was how the Lord wanted it to be, so that when they did let us in their home to teach, we could already have a friendship to build on despite his silence in the lesson.
Well it was a pretty rewarding week. But don't think that it wasn't without it's challenges. Those just aren't as exciting to share :)
I love you all,
Elder Joshua Gathro
PS- Was there a presidential debate in Jacksonville this week?
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