Good morning America!
Another good week flying by in the grand city of Barstow.
New Years was quiet, although I will say we tried wine for the first time!
It was non-alcoholic, but wine nonetheless! It was disgusting. Absolutely vile. Martinelli's wins again. I'll send the video of us trying it, it's pretty funny.
I made the wise decision of not wearing a coat one evening. #ShortSleeves4Days We dropped by this less active who was not willing to let us into his house, so we stood outside in the FREEZING cold wind while he imitated instrument sounds for us. It was pretty funny. He was good though! 4 1/2 stars for sure!
Played a classic round of Bean Boozled which is a game that Satan invented. There's a little spinner that lands on an assortment of beans. Each bean can have one of two flavors. One flavor is gross, (Barf, Dog food, Grass clippings, Baby Wipes, etc.) and the other potential flavor is good (Peach, chocolate, etc.)
If you spit it out or choose not to eat the bean the spinner lands on, you lose.
I won.
Of course.
I got really sick.
Of course.
I have no regrets.
Teaching wise, this week was pretty rough. We had quite a few lessons, but a lot of our investigators either moved, dropped us, died (Rest in Peace Granny Barbara) or stopped progressing. So now we're pounding hard to find. The goal is to find 20 new investigators this week. #Faith #BaptizeBarstow #GetSwole
Now on a spiritual note, this week I've been really studying the core doctrines as they're taught in the scripture. It's something I did a lot when I first came out, but I guess I thought I 'grew out of it' or some prideful garbage. Anyway, the point is that I'll pick a topic from the Preach My Gospel Lessons and just study every scripture I can find on the matter. Highly productive.
The scripture that really hit me hard this week was this scripture from Ezekiel 36: 26-27
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
I was really struck by the simplicity of it. As we turn to God he truly helps us become new creatures. Our disposition to do evil diminishes and our natural man slowly dissapears. Doesn't mean we have no disposition to do evil... At least not yet. But we have a new heart.
This takes place at our baptism. We turn our old heart in and receive a new one. He pours his spirit on us when we receive the Holy Ghost, and each weekwe receive that new heart again.
But we must come to Sacrament Meeting, willing to lay that Natural Man, and that stony heart on the Altar. As our good buddy Elder Maxwell put it: "So it is that real, personal sacrifice never was placing an animal on the altar. Instead, it is a willingness to put the animal in us upon the altar and letting it be consumed! Such is the “sacrifice unto the Lord … of a broken heart and a contrite spirit,” (D&C 59:8), a prerequisite to taking up the cross, while giving “away all [our] sins” in order to “know God” (Alma 22:18) for the denial of self precedes the full acceptance of Him."
So let's all work on accepting that new heart into our lives!
I love you all! Church is true!
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