It is so great to hear from you both! I love all the updates so much and it looks like everyone had a lot of fun at Uncle Rob's! That party was always so much fun haha. I remember last year like it was a few days ago. It's so crazy that it has been an entire year! So weird. Oh I got to have steak for the first time since I have been in England! Haha it was pretty good but it doesn't compare really to what we have at home. The meadowcroft's were trying to tell us how much better English beef is then American haha. Rubbish!
Yeah dad I have read that book Believing Christ!! It is so good. I love that light that he sheds on the atonement. In all reality it is the complete grace of Christ that we are saved. Yes we need to do good works continually throughout our lives but if it wasn't for God and Jesus Christ we wouldn't be able to do those works anyways. In a gospel sense we can't be self-reliant. The Savior is everything to us. Absolutely everything. And I am so grateful to know that He is my Savior. I have felt the effects of the Atonement in my life very personally and I will be forever grateful for that.
I really can't believe that it is 2015! It is really weird for me to write that when I write in my journal at night haha. It has been a brilliant year I must say. The New Year has caused me to do quite a bit of reflecting. It is a bit weird to think about what I was doing a year ago and what I am doing now haha. I just hope and pray that I am changing. I desire so badly to change and develop into the type of missionary, priesthood older, and disciple of Christ that my Father and Heaven would want me to be. I want to become more converted. I realize that the conversion will take place as I forget about myself and strive to serve others in every possible way that I can. It always starts with the small things so I have come up with 3 goals on how I can measure myself and what my desires truly are. I want to keep my mind completely focused on my mission. One thing I think I can do to stay focused is to really work hard on memorizing scriptures and quotes diligently. When there is no one to speak to I can focus my mind on the words of the scriptures and of the apostles so that I might have my mind continually engrossed in the gospel. I also really want to work on choosing my attitude. Elder Uchtdorf speaks of having an attitude of gratitude IN our circumstances and not just based upon the blessings we receive. I want to do better at always having a positive attitude and my companion can give me feedback haha. And most of all I want to KNOW my Heavenly Father. I want to truly know His will and gain a personal relationship. I know as I do so that my relationship with Christ will strengthen as well. I want to do this by going to Him in Mighty prayer and really striving to have the Spirit guide my prayers that I might more fully know what the Lord would have me do.
The great test of life is our obedience to God. The great task of life is to learn what the will of the Lord is. The great commandment is to love God with all that we have.
The Holidays were a lot of fun! But it is nice to be back into the normal routine of things. The Holidays threw things off a bit haha so now most of our investigators are back in town. We actually had an amazing experience with Courtney. We were talking about living the standards of the church and she told us that over Christmas her mother kept trying to offer her alcohol and she refused it every time. That can be a very hard thing, to not break down under peer pressure from your own mother. She expressed how great that she felt being able to stand up for what she believes in.
We have Bryan Bibby's baptismal interview scheduled for this wednesday. He has cut back to an E cig which just contains nicotine instead of tobacco and is a lot less potent. He seems certain that he will be able to quit but I am honestly pretty nervous about it. He has slowly been cutting down for a while. He is very excited to be baptised. I just hope that he will be able to draw from the Atonement throughout this because it is going to be hard! He has such a strong testimony.
Our investigator from Iran has continued to attend church. He says that it is all making sense in his head but I think that he is still lacking that spiritual witness that everyone needs. They need to taste of the fruit and then I think that real desire will come. He is such a kind man and he even had us over for tea last Saturday!
There is a talk be Elder Cook that I read last week titled 'Hope Ya Know, I had a hard time.' I know we all hit those points when we pray to God and say that. We are having a hard time. One of the very best remedies to heal that is to serve someone else. We all have our hard times but if we just sit around and complain about it then nothing is going to happen. We are here to be tried and tested to see if we will all be obedient to ALL the things the Lord has commanded us. Courage is the form of every virtue at it's testing point.
I am so grateful for you both and I hope you know how much I really love you! I am so grateful for my family. I hope that you have an amazing week filled with spiritual experiences!!
Love your son,
Elder Wilcox
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