Shepherding

Wyatt and Elder Christensen

This was a good week. We were able to shepherd a lot of our investigators to church. Hopefully some of them will not need as much prompting in the future. Two of them also received a witness of the Book of Mormon through the Holy Ghost. Some of them are pretty new, and a couple are having a hard time dealing with having to be in a world full of temptations, so we are working on equipping all of them with the tools they need to be able to withstand. 3 Ne 18:18 is a frequently shared scripture.

Yesterday was great, because we had 8 of our investigators show up to church. One of them (who has pretty much told us before that church was not a possibility) came to ALL 3 WARDS yesterday because he loved the first one so much. We had committed him to just take a little time in the morning to go to the first ward, but then he stayed for all three. He actually called me while I was eating lunch and asked, "Is it ok if I go to church again?" Haha. That's the easiest question an investigator has ever asked me. Among the others were two that we met during the week. It was a good day. Most of them have baptismal dates. 

I read the story of Samson a couple days ago. In Judges14-16. It especially touched me because of how even after he had revealed his secret to an enemy and broke his mother's vow that he would be a Nazarite his whole life and that a razor would never touch his head, he still was heard when he pulled down the two pillars of the building. This sort of repentance can come to all of us, as long as we are willing to offer up a "broken heart and a contrite spirit." (Ps. 51) God's love for us is incredibly strong--stronger than we can imagine. All we need to do is accept that love. 

I have found that the more I pretend that I have 7 months left, the more I am able to work hard, and the less the members bring it up. Man, they are SO excited to meet me at the airport on my last day in country. I can't tell if that's a good or bad thing.Hahaha.

 

Elder Hall