Alright, I had Panda Express this week, so I'm feeling pretty wise and ancient wisdom-y. Let's
try a haiku.
missionary life:
I have never worked
so hard
watching miracles
This week was
fuuuuuuuuuuuuull (and I'm talking super-size-buffet, no-charge-for-seconds
full) of Miracles.
First of all: a
less-active member that hasn't been to church in 3 years came all by herself!
Secondly: So we
were sitting in a less active's house (politely forgetting we were supposed to be eating the syrupy
jello and cream cake in front of us) waiting for everyone to gather so that we
could have a lesson. The mom and two of the sons are members while the other
son (who is 16) and the dad are not. The mom came in very excited saying she
had convinced her 16-year-old son to at least come say "hi" to
us. Let's call him Ryan. So Ryan
comes in all teenager style with the headphones in the ears, and the phone in
the hand, and the hands in the pockets and the pockets in the low riding jeans.
(Kids these days.) We said hello and invited him to come to our lesson,
which he declined.
Five minutes later:
We were still
inviting him to come to the lesson, and he finally agreed to attend on the
condition that it would take 10 minutes. (Pressure!) --So we open with
"What do you think about God?" to which he responded "based on
the world right now? "Pretty horrible."
That is.......not
usually the answer we get. So we started talking to him and asking him
questions, and in turn he started talking openly and asking questions
to US. We talked about how God has to let people make their own choices,
and people are the ones that bring so many bad things into the world, we talked
about how God loves all of us, and we talked about why it's important to get
baptized, and why it's a necessary step in God's plan for us. By the end of a
half an hour, WE were the ones who had to stop the lesson (to be on time for
curfew), and he said that we could come back in two days and teach him more and
answer more of his questions.
The spirit in the
room was as strong as I've ever felt it. His mom shared her testimony of the
importance of our message, and the change in both him and us from when the
lesson started was unbelievable. God really does work miracles.
Lesson 1 part 3:
BECAUSE God loves
us, He blesses our families by giving us certain tools to help navigate through
life successfully and happily. One of these tools is a prophet.
What is a prophet?
A prophet is
someone who is called by God and
given the permission or "authority" and the power to do and say certain
things to bless and guide the world as God directs him. This authority also gives the prophet permission to:
1. Receive
revelation for the world (Learn the will of God for the living people
at that time)
2. Teach eternal
truths (the plan God has for us)
3. Guide us through the challenges unique to our time.
A few examples of
ancient prophets are: Adam, Abraham, Noah, Moses, and Jacob. God has called prophets in our day too. We have a prophet on the earth today, (President
Thomas S. Monson) and he and other leaders of the church are conducting a semi-annual
worldwide broadcast this Saturday and Sunday called "General Conference."
You can watch it live on www.lds.org. Check for you local times.
Invitation:
Watch at least ONE
session during those two days. I know God inspires the things these speakers
will say. Come listen to a prophet of God; listen with a question in your
heart.
-Hermana Thomas
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