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| Elder Adams and I |
This week was awesome. Again. Missions are awesome and especially missions in Langen.
This week we were able to meet with Mary again and teach her the message of the Restoration again. She is so sweet. She seriously has a new glow about her and she understands everything so much better. She makes creative connections and comments and she is just doing awesome. We are way sad that she is headed back to Liberia on Sunday. She will be a great strength to the ward there.
We've been bouncing all over the place this last week trying to get a hold of our investigators and other people we are working with and we were finally able to get some appointments coming through. So many have been falling out, but we have started really seeing some really cool things start to happen.
One guy we are excited to work with is named Soroush. He's from Iran and he's way cool. He is already a devout christian, but has had a hard time finding a church that he feels really practices what it teaches. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he's been reading from it. He already has an awesome relationship with God and knows how to receive answers to prayers. He told us he feels good when he reads in the Book of Mormon, and he's accepted a baptismal date for October 7th! He is way cool and very prepared. Even though he literally lives in the furthest possible corner of our area.
William is also someone awesome we started teaching this week. He was actually found by the sisters during a finding activity this last week and we were able to meet with him. He's from Brazil and has lived here for 7 years already. He doesn't really know a whole lot about God and Jesus Christ, aside from the fact that he knows he believes in them. He is super excited to learn more about them from us. As we taught him the message of the Restoration, the spirit was very strong. We pointed it out to him in the middle of the lesson, and he said " yeah, i can feel it. It's subtle but its there". As we finished the lesson and challenged him to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, he said "you know that feeling? I can feel it stronger and stronger". We told him that it is the Holy Ghost and that that is how he will recognize his answers from God. He's way awesome and we are planning on setting a baptismal date with him on Saturday when we meet with him again.
K so long spiritual thought time again haha
While eating breakfast one day this week, the lyrics of this hymn really struck me.
"Come, come, ye Saints, no toil nor labor fear;
But with joy wend your way.
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day.
’Tis better far for us to strive
Our useless cares from us to drive;
Do this, and joy your hearts will swell—
All is well! All is well!"
I think there are a lot of things we fear in life. We fear things, like clowns, spiders, snakes, and disease. We can fear other things like the opinions of others, missing out, public speaking, and the unknown. There are a lot of scary things in the world. A lot of things to be afraid of. But I think this fear that this hymn picks out is even more subtle:
"no toil nor labor fear"
This fear is interesting. We need not be afraid to work. But why would we be afraid to work? I can definitely understand not wanting to work out of laziness or weakness or lack of motivation, but why would we FEAR work?
I think it's not because of the work itself, but what it means to truly do the Lord's work. To truly do the Lord's work, one must entirely give himself up. To really put your whole energy into serving the Lord, we need to give up our will, our desires, and our vices entirely. We cannot truly serve Him if we are holding back. We must serve him with all our "heart, might, mind, and strength". And THAT is scary. It is at least for me. To think about really truly letting go. I'd be worried that it might not work, that I'd lose myself and be unhappy doing the will of someone else. I don't know exactly why it's scary to think about giving up my whole self to the Lord, but it is. It's really hard to truly toil and labor.
Is scary because we don't know what will happen. The Lord has promised us blessings, happiness, and salvation if we give ourselves up to him, but if we have never done it before, how can we know if it works? We can't, and that's scary. We need to have faith.
And when we have faith, "Grace shall be as your day". God WILL reach out in strength and love to comfort and support you. He will lift you so that you can overcome anything that comes your way. He will be your crutch in time of need. It will not be easy, because if it were easy you wouldn't grow. But he will always be there to make sure that you make it out in one piece, no matter how dark it may appear. He will raise you to heights you've never dreamed of. Never even knew were possible. I know this because though I'm not perfect at giving my will to God, I'm trying really hard to get there, and I've found strength and power in myself that I never could have imagined was there. God helps us unlock our own potential. He helps us and supports us like the children we are. We all are learning to walk after Christ, and God holds our hand and helps us back up when we stumble. But we CAN learn to walk. To run and to jump with joy.
"Do this, and joy your hearts will swell
All is well, all is well"
The next verse reads:
"Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard?
’Tis not so; all is right.
Why should we think to earn a great reward
If we now shun the fight?"
How can we expect God to teach us to walk if we won't stand up? How can we finish the race if we aren't willing to take the steps? How can we "think to earn a great reward / If we now shun the fight"? God has promised us strength, grace, love, happiness, eternal Families, and EXALTATION. How can we expect him to give us these wonderful priceless gifts if we won't even try to walk? If we are only going to half heartedly put our effort to this toil and labor, how can we expect a great reward?
President Henry B Eyring said something along the lines of "The Lord doesn't want your time. He doesn't want your service. He doesn't want your energy, your work, your money. He wants you"
Are the promises of the Lord-- Happiness, peace, Humility, love, charity, prosperity, joy, eternal families, salvation, even Eternal Life-- not worth everything we have to offer and more? Is it not worth it? The Lord our God has promised us eternal happiness with him and our families if we will truly follow after his Son. If we truly give ourselves to this labor. I can have that. You can have that. We all can have that. Any person willing to follow Christ and do the will of the Father truly will receive eternal life. It's a reality. But we must work for it. Truly work. Truly toil and labor.
I know it's scary. I'm still working on it. We all are. Sometimes it may seem impossible. But we have a living, loving God on our side. He is our Father and we are his children. He will never leave us alone. He will always prepare a way for us to succeed. And as we stumble, as we get up time and time again, as we lose ourselves, we will find ourselves. All is for our benefit. It is for our experience. We will soon have this tale to tell. We will learn and we will grow and we will enter into Eternal Life. For the Lord has promised it.
"Gird up your loins; fresh courage take.
Our God will never us forsake;
And soon we’ll have this tale to tell—
All is well! All is well!"
"Come, come, ye Saints, no toil nor labor fear;
But with joy wend your way.
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day.
’Tis better far for us to strive
Our useless cares from us to drive;
Do this, and joy your hearts will swell—
All is well! All is well!"
I think there are a lot of things we fear in life. We fear things, like clowns, spiders, snakes, and disease. We can fear other things like the opinions of others, missing out, public speaking, and the unknown. There are a lot of scary things in the world. A lot of things to be afraid of. But I think this fear that this hymn picks out is even more subtle:
"no toil nor labor fear"
This fear is interesting. We need not be afraid to work. But why would we be afraid to work? I can definitely understand not wanting to work out of laziness or weakness or lack of motivation, but why would we FEAR work?
I think it's not because of the work itself, but what it means to truly do the Lord's work. To truly do the Lord's work, one must entirely give himself up. To really put your whole energy into serving the Lord, we need to give up our will, our desires, and our vices entirely. We cannot truly serve Him if we are holding back. We must serve him with all our "heart, might, mind, and strength". And THAT is scary. It is at least for me. To think about really truly letting go. I'd be worried that it might not work, that I'd lose myself and be unhappy doing the will of someone else. I don't know exactly why it's scary to think about giving up my whole self to the Lord, but it is. It's really hard to truly toil and labor.
Is scary because we don't know what will happen. The Lord has promised us blessings, happiness, and salvation if we give ourselves up to him, but if we have never done it before, how can we know if it works? We can't, and that's scary. We need to have faith.
And when we have faith, "Grace shall be as your day". God WILL reach out in strength and love to comfort and support you. He will lift you so that you can overcome anything that comes your way. He will be your crutch in time of need. It will not be easy, because if it were easy you wouldn't grow. But he will always be there to make sure that you make it out in one piece, no matter how dark it may appear. He will raise you to heights you've never dreamed of. Never even knew were possible. I know this because though I'm not perfect at giving my will to God, I'm trying really hard to get there, and I've found strength and power in myself that I never could have imagined was there. God helps us unlock our own potential. He helps us and supports us like the children we are. We all are learning to walk after Christ, and God holds our hand and helps us back up when we stumble. But we CAN learn to walk. To run and to jump with joy.
"Do this, and joy your hearts will swell
All is well, all is well"
The next verse reads:
"Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard?
’Tis not so; all is right.
Why should we think to earn a great reward
If we now shun the fight?"
How can we expect God to teach us to walk if we won't stand up? How can we finish the race if we aren't willing to take the steps? How can we "think to earn a great reward / If we now shun the fight"? God has promised us strength, grace, love, happiness, eternal Families, and EXALTATION. How can we expect him to give us these wonderful priceless gifts if we won't even try to walk? If we are only going to half heartedly put our effort to this toil and labor, how can we expect a great reward?
President Henry B Eyring said something along the lines of "The Lord doesn't want your time. He doesn't want your service. He doesn't want your energy, your work, your money. He wants you"
Are the promises of the Lord-- Happiness, peace, Humility, love, charity, prosperity, joy, eternal families, salvation, even Eternal Life-- not worth everything we have to offer and more? Is it not worth it? The Lord our God has promised us eternal happiness with him and our families if we will truly follow after his Son. If we truly give ourselves to this labor. I can have that. You can have that. We all can have that. Any person willing to follow Christ and do the will of the Father truly will receive eternal life. It's a reality. But we must work for it. Truly work. Truly toil and labor.
I know it's scary. I'm still working on it. We all are. Sometimes it may seem impossible. But we have a living, loving God on our side. He is our Father and we are his children. He will never leave us alone. He will always prepare a way for us to succeed. And as we stumble, as we get up time and time again, as we lose ourselves, we will find ourselves. All is for our benefit. It is for our experience. We will soon have this tale to tell. We will learn and we will grow and we will enter into Eternal Life. For the Lord has promised it.
"Gird up your loins; fresh courage take.
Our God will never us forsake;
And soon we’ll have this tale to tell—
All is well! All is well!"
Sorry again for the long email! God loves you! I love you all! Habt eine schöne Woche!
Elder Harps
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