HELLO everyone! I hope that you all have had a blessed week! Well, Elder Berry and I escaped another transfer! We will have been companions one year when next month rolls around! I am so blessed to be here another transfer. This is the most wonderful place on earth!
This week I have learned so much, and felt so much from the spirit. The gift of the Holy Ghost is the richest blessing and gift that God has granted us. It's amazing the significant role the Holy Ghost plays in our lives! I feel that often we don’t rely on that precious gift, and all that it can do for us. We live in a world where we are bombarded with distractions and unvirtuous things, and I am convinced nearly all of them are there to dull that sweet guidance of the Spirit. The Holy Ghost can “…teach us all things, and bring all things to our remembrance…” and can help us in our everyday lives. In a matter of seconds that spirit can leave us if we don’t follow the guidelines that God has given us. God, knowing that much calamity would fall upon this world, has given us many tools that can renew that spirit and bring us back into harmony with Him. They are simple. They are repeated often. And we must remember that when things are repeated often, they are to be followed. Daily, God has given us the chance to read “the words of Christ..” which will tell us all things that we should do. When we mess up, or fall short we can repent! Oh how sweet the gift of repentance is! We can move past the past and regain that wonderful guidance of the spirit! And weekly we can attend church, and renew God's spirit to be with us! I am convinced there is nothing more important than to live each day to allow that spirit to be with us! That must be the spirit that strives with us daily, and the spirit we are prepared to meet our Savior with when He comes again.
Friday morning I was with a missionary on exchanges. As we finished visting a potential investigator, a prompting came into my soul to tract a place that had just recently been tracted. This was counter to my instincts but I decided to press on. A few doors in a man answered, John is his name! He moved to Issaquah a few years back! I have knocked that place about a dozen times over the past year and had never met him. He said, “I was a minister for over 20 years. I know about you Mormons. I already know everything, but I will give you a few minutes.” Previously that week we had studied and focused on trying to teach with the power and authority of God. As you read the Book of Mormon you will understand quickly that all of the Prophets, and great men of the Book of Mormon taught with that same power. Not with knowledge or skill, but God's power was with them. As we sat down to teach John, he began to clean the kitchen as we talked. He was very attentive but soon he asked us what we felt the sign of the second coming would be. A chapter came to mind. Mormon chapter 8 in the Book of Mormon (please look it up!) Soon he sat down and looked intently. The spirit flooded the room. The fear and doubt in teaching a man much more learned than I left my heart. Words and thoughts not of our own were soon spoken. A man that was first standoffish and knowledgeable was soon humble and asked, “If I get baptized I have to give up coffee right??” I testify that God is with us! This man will be coming to church on Sunday! God will always be with us as we live as we should. We need never fear!
Sunday we had another amazing miracle with the Spirit. We had gone to visit a potential investigator, but to no avail. Usually we turn around in a neighborhood much further down Front Street but had a prompting to turn around on a neighboring street. Low and behold the heavens opened and there was a neighborhood we had NEVER seen before. This may not seem like a big deal, but we can pretty much freehand all of Issaquah, and we had never seen this place before! The strongest feeling of a miracle overwhelmed us! We sprinted from house to house. A woman answered and asked us to come in! It was a woman we met two months prior atop a bar in downtown Issaquah. She had just recently moved in to this little home. Tears water my eyes as I recount this wonderful meeting. Sharon began to cry as soon as we sat down. She said, “seven years ago I was introduced to alchohol and have been and alcoholic ever since. I lost my husband and kids, and a beautiful home.” She cried as she dreamed of being free from her addictions! I could barely hold back tears as I pondered this sad occasion. A woman once as happy as could be, now living with gross men, and addicted beyond belief. My Brothers and Sisters we can all turn back! We can be free from sin and from shame! We are going back to teach this wonderful woman and help her change here life.
This Saturday Gerald and Lucy went through the temple. It was a day I will never forget. To see them all dressed in white was a sight I won't soon forget. This is what the gospel is about! It's about our families being together forever! God wants to bless us! We just have to live as we are asked and God will bless us. They looked happier than ever as we walked out of the temple. What a great day that was.
Jordan will be baptized this Saturday. He is like a brother to us! It's amazing to feel of his strong conversion! He is so ready to make that wonderful covenant with God! I LOVE YOU ALL! God lives! This is His work. I feel His love surround me everyday. Fight to be free from the world, and its troubling effects on the spirit. God be with you. God bless you!
Love,
Elder Aiken
No comments:
Post a Comment