How wonderful and blessed are we to have had the opportunity to hear from our beloved Prophet, Thomas S. Monson, and his Councilors! They are truly inspired men called of God. Just listening to their words you can walk away from any session of confrence and feel the fruits of the spirit manifest its self unto us! (Galations 5:22) before I start talking about how great General Confrence I'll give a quick update on how my week was before that!
Last Sunday we were working with one of our investigators Oredi.. He is very sincere and his family got baptized at the beginning of the year; however, he wasn't buying into it so he wasn't involved in the lessons and therfore wasn't baptized. This was how it was until he became very very ill after his familly got baptized! so sick he had to go to the ER, but after recieving a priesthood blessing for him to get better he first got even sicker, but then all of a sudden he was well enough to go to school when it started this year! Kinda crazy how Gods timing is huh? After this experience he took this as a sign that maybe he should reconcider not joining the church. Because of this, he began meeting with the missionaries for himself. Its hard being 16 and changing your life to all of the things that the church encourages its youth to follow within the "For the Strength of Youth" pamphlet, but I know as he follows those guidlines he will see an incredible change in his life! He will be happier, healthier, and feel closer to Heavenly Father and His Son. Its soo important to not look at the commandments of God as restrictions or DOs and DONTs! When we do this we miss the very point of being a follower of Christ! The Savior came on this earth to show us the way! He wrote the best "HOW TO _____ BOOK" the world will ever see! And our Heavenly Father speaks to us through his Prophets who are his servants! So we do them because we LOVE Heavenly Father. Because we LOVE His Son! Surely enough Oredi will get there!
We had a very sincere discussion on how he can gain an answer to the Book of Mormon and of the Prophet of the Restoration of Jesus Christs church, Joseph Smith. We promised him that if he follows the commandments of God by reading the scriptures each day and praying sincerly pondering whether these things are true that he would indeed gain that answer and build his testimony for himself. Elder Candland and I quickly recognized that he simply needs to learn how the spirit truly talks to him, because whenever we asked him how he felt he simply didn't understand. Thats when our member that we had with us really helped out! His friend Jackson was able to bare his testimony how he has been guided by the spirit and gained his own testimony of the Book of Mormon! And slowly but surely you could see that Oredi was understanding! At the end of the lesson he stated," that was the best lesson yet!" and the reason why that is? We taught Oredi. Not a lesson that we have to teach him so he can be baptized. But a lesson thats tailored to him and only him. Later that week Oredi was able to share an experience when he was late for school and was running and a member of the church he didn't even know pulled over and asked him if he needed a ride.. this was the morning after he just started reading and praying with more intent and then that happens!? And im sure you all know what we were thinking haha.. so did Oredi! He knew that was a sign from God helping him out, and blessing him for reading and praying! The best part is we were able to watch General Confrence with his family Sunday Afternoon, and by the end of it he simply told me," I know the Book of Mormon is true." After listening to the stories of the General Authorities of the church he couldn't deny the feelings he felt inside he said! Oh how great it is to so that click occur in peoples minds!!
I should explain my Subject. So last Wednesday we were ridding our bikes to our dinner appointment and there has been construction all the way down this road so we have been forced to bike down this sketchy road among all these cars till Wednesday I saw that they were taking all the cars down to one lane and altering which side of the road could go through soo i road up onto the side walk which we have done before until my back tire slide out and I crashed! However it wasn't a bad one i quickly got up and continued on since it was just a simple fall my hand kinda got scratched no problem! So I continued on 30 yards down the sidewalk just after I got back up to speed I realize that the construction workers took out a whole square of the sidewalk to work on a pipe that was a foot below the street but the side walk is a foot above the street so lo and behold a 5'x5'x2' gaping hole and I couldn't stop in time so my bike went in I flew off and did a front flip according to my companion and I crashed. (keep in mind everyone that saw the first one saw the second since traffic doesn't move right there) The construction worker supervisor quickly ran over mad that there wasnt any signs, cones, or warnings from other workers, but by the way he was reacting my crash must have been pretty crazy because they assumed i had broken a leg or something! But it was a testimony that the Lord protected me! I walked away with only two wounds. One on each index finger just below the nail. But everything else was fine! My shirt and pants didnt rip. My bike didn't get messed up. I was able to bike to dinner no problem and then get some help to clean my hands, but it amazes me that I walked out of it as okay as i am! I can assure all those who are wondering.. NOW there are 5 cones around this whole and its been filled in about 1 foot haha! It was bound to happen eventually riding a bike but im still going! I have pictures attached to show my hands, and clothes!
So General Confrence all I would simply like to say is to ask God. Inquire of him in the questions you have. Prayer is an amazing gift that we have. use it. I know that we all can make our prayers better and in return. Our relationship with the Savior will grow, We will have more joy, we will align our will with the will of our Father in Heaven, and we will be given the blessings that our Heavenly Father wants to bless us with if we would merley ask for them! I would just encourage everyone to start now taking the advice of our Prophet who said that now is the time for members and full time missionaries to work togeather! You members make a diffrence I have such a testimony on that getting to see it before I left my mission.. All our Prophet is asking us to do is partake of the joy that comes from seeing a fellow child of God realize the plan that He has for them!
I love you all so very much remember to be happy and keep smiling!
Love, Elder Gerrard
You can email Elder Gerrard at: nathan.gerrard@myldsmail.net
or If you want to write or send a pkg to Elder Gerrard
Idaho Nampa Mission
Elder Nathan Gerrard
1370 Caldwell Blvd. Suite#300
Nampa Idaho 83651-1724
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