Hello friends and family, I think this one will be shorter than the novels I usually write, and I'll try to make it brief.
No pants wheelchair guy (Neil) Is progressing really well! And we love meeting with him every week 2 to 3 times. He also came to our music fireside which was a big success! The arrangements were great and every one who came loved them! But all the refreshments had wheat in them. #thestruggle
We also met a new investigator named Lisa who was a Jehovah's Witness for 39 years, but always felt empty. She tried really hard and followed all the commandments and just felt empty, so she left for 17 years and is now having lots of friends who are being baptized LDS and is loving everything about the lessons so far!
She's super cool, and doesn't look 56. She looks way younger and actually works in hollywood fro Disney Channel. She was a little disturbed at how excited I got about that and how much I knew about said Disney Channell shows, but... I don't feel bad. She's the prop manager for shows like Jessie, Ant Farm, Liv and Maddie and the one she's working on now is a new one. (Bunked?) That hopefully doesn't mean anything to most of you, but I got excited.
I've been thinking a lot about Grace. I got bible bashed for the first time by some member of Calvary Chapel. For those of you who are unfamiliar, Calvary Chapel actually teaches anti-mormon classes! (Yeah Christianity!) And they're not the only one. But they made the claim, that we as Mormons didn't believe in Grace and we were trying to Earn our way to heaven. I got confused and went into a lot of study on the matter. They pointed out how in the bible it says we are saved by Grace, and in the Book of Mormon it says we are saved by Grace, after all we can do.
Elder Russell then showed me an amazing talk by Brad Wilcox called "His Grace is Sufficient" And I encourage you all to listen to it. But he talks about how through Grace ALL of our sins are forgiven. We can't pay him back for what he's done and through the atonement he covers it all, and we will live with him forever. Then why works? Because it's like a young child taking piano. Mom pays the price for the lessons, and asks us to practice. Does practicing pay the piano teacher? No. Does it pay back mom? No. But she doesn't want us to pay her back, she wants us to become pianists. So we're not Earning heaven, we're learning heaven. The lord loves us enough to let us live with him if we choose, but this life is an opportunity to obtain celestial habits that will prepare us for Eternity in Heaven.
If it seems confusing, read the talk. But the point is I am so grateful for our savior Jesus Christ. He's already paid the price and taken everything on himself. And as President Uchtdorf said in this last Conference, we obey his commandments because we love him. Just because we have been saved by Grace does NOT mean that we can now sit back and relax and stay in sin. Then we're missing the point. Born again Christians miss the point because this truly is a learning experience.
So brothers and sister, I plead with you to read your scriptures more fervently and to pray more fervently. Those two habits are so key in "learning" heaven. SO key. I never was good at either one at home but my mission has woke me up to that fact. Because when you're studying 2-4 hours a day and praying 6-8 times on your knees and 40-50 other times throughout the day, you see the increase in blessings. It's overwhelming.
I love you all. Church is true.
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