11 January 2016
This week was such an amazing experience! First off, Elder Cornia and I are having a fantastic time together! We are very similar in a lot of ways and we probably have too much fun to be legal! haha We are doing well, but there is always room for improvement. I am used to Elder Andrus always pushing pushing pushing to work super hard, and Elder Cornia is very laid back like me so we have had to adjust and make ourselves motivated to work hard every day. We saw a lot of good this week though. I have found a lot of comfort in the D&C verse about not "running faster than I have strength". I have to push myself, but I also need to enjoy my service. I have learn to have a spirit of urgency, but not become overwhelmed with not being perfect or being stressed about my humanity. I have been a lot more comfortable since accepting that, and we had one of the best weeks on my mission last week so it works!
We had an awesome visit by Elder Hamula of the Seventy on Friday. It was such a spiritual meeting and I learned so much about such a simple doctrine. As missionaries, we are constantly told that "our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ". That seems simple enough, but until this meeting, I guess I never really understood why that was our purpose. Elder Hamula explained that the reason we do this great work comes down to one simple piece of doctrine: No unclean thing can dwell with God. We read in the scriptures that we will all--every man, woman, and child that ever lived-- will stand before God in their resurrected, immortal body (made possible by the power of Jesus Christ's Atonement) and be judged by Him for our actions and the desires of our hearts--if we utilized Christ's Atonement and repented of those things that we all do, big and small. None of us are perfect, yet if we want to live forever with God, we have to be. We will all stand in God's presence, but only the repentant will be allowed to remain. That's where our purpose comes in. We are like the Apostles of old who preached repentance unto all that they may know how to return to that loving God who created them. That's why we do this. I can't stand to think of what life would be like without my family and loved ones, in this life or the next. We all need saving, and once we've been helped, we need to pay it forward. I hope you can look for opportunities to share the gospel with those our brothers and sisters who are wandering and thirsting for truth, but don't know where it is to be found. Be that light!
An extended ward council eh? I would hate that. Before I went on my mission, I had heard of WC but had no idea what it was. I am blown away by how much I have learned about just the structure of the Church and how complicated it really is! Weekly ward council for two years will be enough for me though! Especially now that it is at 7:30! It is amazing to see how inspired Bishops really are no matter where you are and how the Spirit really does direct the bishop in the ways that he should lead the ward with the input from the auxiliaries and quorums. The more I learn, the more I know that this is the true Church. It has to be! All the pieces just fit together perfectly!.............Elder Jackson
It rained a lot!
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