So good talking to you guys yesterday!!
This week I finished the Book of Mormon again. Some of the happiest
moments of my life have come as I read that book, especially when I
get to the end. I have felt closer to Christ than I have in a while. Last
time through I would just highlight any cool scripture yellow. I'm now
re-reading it, but this time I'm wanting to highlight, as I've seen
some other people do, by marking specific areas of the gospel in
different colors, like scriptures about faith yellow, fulfilled
prophesy green, Character of Christ Red etc... I can't quite decide
what categories to break it up into. Dad, (or anyone) how do you
effectively highlight The Book of Mormon? Email me if you have any
ideas people! :)
Book of Mormon, to immediately losing and forgetting those feelings, which then brings stress and anxiety. This is the biggest struggle of my life, and I'm sure, a lot of people's lives. That's why Jeffrey R. Holland's talk hit me so hard this past conference. He described the feeling as 'Post-Illumination affliction.' The purpose of this existence is to first, be converted unto Him, and feel that sweet perfect love that Christ has for us personally, and then second, endure to the end. That enduring means to continually strive, seek, and pray for those feelings again. That enduring means that we will recognize the absence of that spirit in our lives, and truly turn to God to partake of it again and again. I know in those tough times, by praying to Heavenly Father, the spirit will come once again into our lives, and our character will begin to strengthen and gifts of the spirit will flow more abundantly.
We met with Christian and Madison. It went awesome! We taught the
gospel of Jesus Christ lesson 3 with 3rd Nephi 11. We read through the
chapter with them, and he began to look at the scriptures like he hadn't
before. He was impacted by the BOM! We taught about baptism, and asked
if he would be baptized. He said yes, but that he wants to learn more
first! :) He's great. He even wants us to send some missionaries to
teach his Mom in California. They've been to church for the last month
and even brought his Mom yesterday!
Shawn's out of town still. We meet with him on May 10th. He is trying
to gain a testimony with his intellect. With proof. Pray his heart
will be softened a bit! We met with the Clardy family Saturday. We
taught The Plan of Salvation.
We had a cool zone training on Friday! My companion is a district
leader so we have to do exchanges with the whole district by the end
of this transfer. We've done a couple of those. They are fun! A big
thing we've been doing lately is working with the members. We extend
them the invitation from Elder Ballard's "Write Down A Date" talk,
where they pick a date, in which they will have someone ready to hear
the gospel discussions from us. It's been great. Hopefully we get some
solid people to teach from it.
After we finish doing BINGO with our oldie friends a couple times a
week, we push the ones in wheelchairs back to their rooms. Last week
I pushed a lady to her room . . this lady was new and I hadn't seen her before.
As I was pushin, she said very very quietly, "Are you from the Church of
Jesus Christ?" I stopped and knelt down and put my ear like 6 inches
away from her mouth to hear what she was saying. I told her who we
were and what we do as missionaries. She told me as she got
emotional, the tenderness in her heart she has for Jesus Christ. She
said that she can't wait for the day where the Lord wraps her up in
his arms and takes her out of this place to be with him. She said she
toured Temple Square once and knew without a doubt the temple was the
Lord's house. It was a super touching moment to see this lady bear her
testimony of the Savior. I assured her that she will indeed have that
moment one day, and that all the physical and mental pains and worries
will cease as he holds us. She smiled and held my hand. Couldn't help
but get emotional, as I saw how much The Lord loves her.
I love this gospel. Love all my friends. Love my family. :)
- Elder Townsend
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| Tanner on p-day at the church, May 9, 2016 |
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| Claire chattin' with her Uncle Tan! :) |
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| He looks happy! |
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| So fun talking to Elder T! |
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