Monday, February 6, 2017

Week 64: I Come Home in 9 Months





Thought for the Week :

Matthew 7:21-23 states

21 ¶Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

23 And then will I profess unto them, I NEVER KNEW YOU: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Note how the Joseph Smith Translation replaces the words "I never knew you" with "YE NEVER KNEW ME". This changes the responsibility to us. The Savior knows each of us personally and is in the details of our life. Therefore, the words "I never knew you" are inaccurate and places no responsibility on us. We are personally responsible to come to know the Savior.

This week was a struggle honestly. Both me and my companion are sick. I am having sinus problems and also a cold and that makes the work difficult and even slows it down small. But we still were able to get 4 of our investigators to church. We also have a very serious investigator named Daniel who has come to church 3 times. He has a baptismal date for the 18th. We are doing all that we can to prepare him for that date. Honestly I have been told by many missionaries, members and even our bishop that this area is a hard area. I was thinking a lot about it this week and honestly no area is too hard unless you don't work. I know that as my companion and i continue to work we will be blessed with success. I read something this week from some of the writings of James E. Talmage that I never have really thought about before and it is just a simple quote "We all talk of independence. We are not independent, we are all interdependent". I took this in a more spiritual aspect and thought to myself that as missionaries we are never independent. We really are interdependent, we have our companion, and more importantly we have the Spirit.

I know that there are still more things I can do to be a better missionary. I can't lie to you and tell you I'm perfect. But I am trying to be and I know I will be blessed if I put off the desires of men and be exactly obedient.

"We played 9 games together. I don't know what you think is adequate time to learn what a man is made of, but for me, 9 games was enough time to see the kind of medal that Allen Macdaddy McFarland is made of. He wasn't a prolific scorer. Yes he contributed on the score board but that wasn't the aspect of his game that shocked the world. He was everywhere on the floor. One moment he was boarding my missed shot and the next he was putting some wannabe Ghanaian on his back. That's what happens when you try to go up against the Macdaddy. Also the dimes this man drops are sweet. I didn't even have to try to create my own shots, the ball would just appear in my hands and everyone would be on the floor and I'd just bust a 3 and feel all big and stuff. Never has there been a player like this before. His legend will be told throughout Ghana forever. I will never forget." - Elder Goodrich

I didn't choose the basketball life. The basketball life chose me. Yeah so our team was me, Goodrich, Hunt and Reeves and we totally destroyed haha. I'm not gunna lie, I'm kinda dead.

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