Hello People,
So last Sunday I forgot to say, we had a special fast to help weaken and remove the influence of the adversary on the ward members, less active members and investigators, because there are tons of problems in the ward with tons of stuff so the Bishop wanted us all to fast for them so we did and I'll talk more about that later.
So Elder Beck and I had a lot of fun this week, we have to take the car in for service, get an oil change and on like Tuesday we got a crappy flat tire so that was awesome! We were driving on a doughnut tire for like 2 days and we then drove down to Kansas city, went to a firestone to fix the tire and then waited for five hours for the whole thing to get done! We had one flat, then they put 4 new tires on and 're aligned the car so it was crazy boring and we wasted the whole day haha so that was super cool and we still need to go back to KC this week to get the car services and an oil change so that will be fun going back
So the Rose family in our ward had us over for dinner on Wednesday and then invited us for breakfast on Friday with the bonus to go visit some of their neighbors that we haven't been able to meet with yet so we totally said yes, breakfast was awesome and several of the neighbors said they couldn't meet that but one that Brother Ross was super excited to meet with was home and we had a nice chat with him. He is a 84 year old man and he lives on his property alone. Sister Rose gave us a gift bag to give to him so things were looking good.
We pull up and out he comes, he says "Oh I've been waiting for you to come back here cause all you want to do is fix me!"
He then just goes on and on about people trying to convert him his whole life and how he doesn't think that is right.
Brother Rose tryed to explain that wasn't our intention we just wanted to meet him and see if he wanted any help, Brother Rose just wants to be a good neighbor
This grumpy old man kept saying, "Oh I don't believe that at all you just want to chase me around, argue the bible, stir me up to convince me that only you can 'save my soul' because if I don't get baptized in your church I'm going to hell"
This old man was flailing his arms everywhere, pointing fingers and accusing us of disturbing his peace. May I add that we haven't brought up religion, we brought a gift basket, and all we wanted to know is if he wanted help with anything cause here in Missouri that's really the only way for people to even talk to you is with service in my experience.
Elder Beck gets pretty fed up with this guy attacking brother Rose so he very simply says that we aren't here to chase you to getting baptized and we haven't even brought up religion, we don't want to argue about the bible we are here to help and brother Rose is here to be a good neighbor, I can say that quiet him down really fast and he settled down and said if he needs help he will ask and we went back to the Roses house.
Brother Rose was shaken and so was I a bit cause that old guy went crazy but in the end I got a good story out of it and hopefully that old guy will soften up and receive our help one day so it was a good experience
That night we got to finally go meet a less active family, we did some service hauling wood in our white shirts and ties but it was a good experience. They lost their son about four months ago and we are just trying to get them to church and they want to come but it's super hard because last time they were at the church building was their sons funeral, it's just a sad situation so please keep the Thomson family in your prayers so that they will meet with us more and we can do some good for them.
I feel like my emails are long so I'm sorry if they are, but I got some more to say haha
So back to our ward fast, this Sunday at sacrament meeting tons of less active members and members that has not been to church in weeks came and Elder Beck and I set up some meetings with them so that was a super cool miracle that took place yesterday and the testimony meeting this week was super good too.
Second hour we had to teach because the teacher didn't show up, so we taught on the sacrament and the importance of preparing yourself for the sacrament, always being worthy and keeping you covenant that you made at baptism. It went super well, a sister that I had not met prior asked how she could best prepare for the sacrament so that she could feel clean and feel the power of the Holy Ghost because she struggles gravely with depression. As a class we discussed the power of scripture study, prayer, and staying busy. I felt inspired to share Elder Holland's talk from the October 2012 General Conference titled The First Great Commandment, one of the best talks ever btw. I shared that if we love God and keep His commandments we will welcome his help and if we also live the second great commandment, love thy neighbor then we will no longer feel our pain, but the love we feel for those we serve will cast out all our doubts and fears. Moroni 8 16- Wo be unto them that shall pervert the ways of the Lord after this manner, for they shall perish except they repent. Behold, I speak with boldness, having authority from God; and I fear not what man can do; for perfect love casteth out all fear.
And perfect love is charity, serving your neighbor. Hartman Rector Jr said that Charity is love plus sacrifice, sacrificing what we what to help and serve others.
When I was set apart as a missionary my stake President blessed me to obtain the gift of charity, and Moroni says in Moroni 7:48 that we must pray with all the energy of our hearts to be filled with this love and I have been praying since I got here and I will invite all of you to do so also because when I'm serving others, nothing else matters and I'm happier then I could ever be otherwise.
Needless to say at the end of the lesson Elder Beck bore his testimony and most people in the class were in tears and it was awesome.
We also had an amazing lesson on grace third hour with the bishop but I'll save that for later because I have already shared a lot, I love all you guys so much! Every member is a missionary so pray for the gift of charity and get out there and serve, I'll do the same I know that we will bring forth miracles as we grow our faith by loving others and I say that in the name of Jesus Christ amen
Elder Andersen
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