Monday, October 12, 2015

Finding the Lost Sheep

Howdy from Texas! This past week has been really great and I have been strengthening my testimony of the Savior and his work tremendously. I continue to develop a greater desire to help others come unto Christ and to experience the joy that I have in living the gospel. I strive to increase my teaching skills in every visit and to allow the spirit to be the ultimate teacher and to teach in the Lord's way. Even in the simplest conversations with others, I am starting to feel of the great blessing of having the gift of charity which is the pure love of Christ.

My ponderize scripture for this past week was Alma 26:12 "Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever." I really liked this scripture because of the need that we have to fully rely on our Heavenly Father and to trust In his strength, that we can overcome all things through him. I know that because we are weak, we are able to be humbled and brought low so that we can strengthen our faith in the enabling power of the Atonement. My ponderize scripture for this week will be D&C 19:23 "Learn of me, and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my Spirit, and you shall have peace in me". I love this scripture because of our need to increase our love for the Savior so that we are able to more fully follow him and to be true disciples. I know as we follow the Savior in all that we do, we will truly find greater ability to overcome challenges and trials and to have peace in this life and in the world to come.

We have been doing really good in this area! At times we don't have time to go tracting because of the overload of referrals we get! Right after conference we got an assignment called "Finding the lost sheep" where we go to less active members and help and invite them to receive temple recommends so that they can enjoy the blessings of the temple and to be more involved with the ward and the gospel. We have been doing pretty good with this assignment. At times many families are not home for us to see but we get to know a lot of people from the area who share similar beliefs.

This past Tuesday for our service we had the chance to help the workers at the food bank help prepare boxes for shipment to families in need. That was a pretty cool experience and I hope I will be able to go back a few more times in the coming weeks.

Throughout this past week we have been helping Greg Gallardo with preparing for his baptism this coming Saturday! He was a previous investigator that my companion had on his previous transfer in this area. Even though I didn't teach him much about the gospel, I am so excited to be able to be at his baptism and to support him. He has a strong desire to be a member and to join the rest of his immediate family who are members too.

For a few days this past week, we had the chance to teach Juan Alcorta. He is a really skilled painter and makes signs for companies and little businesses in our area. It's pretty interesting being able to see others views on religion and how they strengthen there faith in everyday life. Each visit that we go by him, he always says how much he feels strengthened in his beliefs and in his relationship with our Heavenly Father as we teach the doctrines and principles found in the gospel.

I feel so much joy in being able to preach the gospel and to help others come into the knowledge of the gospel and the joy and safety that it brings. Even in street contacting, I feel a great love for the people and desire them to treasure up the teachings of our Savior and His gospel. As I have been teaching through out this past week, I have gained a greater perspective on the importance of listening to others and listening to the spirit. I have felt of the great importance in bearing testimony of the gospel and for what we know to be true. I am so very thankful for my testimony and for the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost so that i can continue to strengthen my testimony and to ultimately be converted to the Lord.

We also had the opportunity to have a meeting with all the missionary trainers and us trainees. We talked about the importance in learning the fundamentals of the church and that we need to learn how the church works in order to further build up the kingdom of God on the earth. We also talked about how through the enabling power of the atonement, we can overcome our weaknesses as missionaries. Through our faith and humility, weak things will become strong in our lives. Afterwards we talked about how to better set language goals as missionaries in order to be better teachers and to achieve greater success in our missions. At the end of our meetings, we talked about the amazing opportunity to serve a mission and how it will not only bless the lives of those we teach, but that through our desires, we will be able to return home truly converted to the Lord and His gospel. I desire with all my heart to be converted to the Lord and to keep the faith.

I am so very thankful for the opportunity that we had yesterday to attend church and to partake of the sacrament. Though I loved general conference last week, partaking of the sacrament meant so much to me this week because of the renewal of the covenants that I made at baptism. It means so much to me to be able to remember the atoning sacrifice of our Savior and to ponder his tender mercies in our lives. I loved the saying where we go to church not because we are perfect, but because we desire to be healed. I am so very thankful for my Savior and for his tender mercies in my life, he truly is the Savior and redeemer of the world. He is always there and His atonement is available to each of us.

Thank you for all the emails! I love getting them through out the week and hearing back from home! Pictures will be on the way! You all mean so much to me! Love you all!

Love,

Elder Munro

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