Week 19 - Many are Called but few are Frozen "(D&C 121:40)

Happy New Year Everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful celebration of the joy that comes from self reflecting and wanting to become better! Its a comfort to know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is there for that very specific thing! This week will be a week that I will always remember! The Lord has truly blessed us as we have had a goal as a companionship to find new investigators as we baptized all of our serious investigators weeks prior! My testimony has truly grown once again in faith and what it means to find those in whom the Lord has prepared! We tracted into a new family (the Smiths) that welcomed us in and wanted to hear our message and we will be teaching about the restoration this next week! We also finally got to teach two other families that I have known since I got here 4 1/2 months ago! So im excited to see that it is in the Lords timing that they are ready to be taught by the missionaries! In total we have 6 new investigators this week and potentially 4 more on the way! Im so grateful that Heavenly Father has trusted Elder Shoemaker and I to bare testimony of this wonderful message of the restoration to these children of His! There is truly no better feeling that you can get than when you are teaching and testifying of this message! Its a gospel of Happiness! So we should look back on all the blessings and thank God for the things he gives us that we take for granted every day!

We gave talks this Sunday on how members can help and assist in the missionary work! I gave a talk on faith to find.

 My thoughts stemmed from Ether 12:4 " wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God." 

 We read from the scripture that those that believe in God hope for a better world and to have the chance to be on his right hand one day. I found this scripture particularly interesting about the use of talking about and anchor. It states that if we don't have faith and hope we wont have an anchor, and if you have seen a boat trying to weather the storm without an anchor it becomes quite difficult! But we are promised if we have that faith and hope, we will abound in good works and to glorify God! Now if we pair this scripture with missionary work if we dont have the faith that our neighbors or friends wont be interested in the gospel you already lost the battle! Your ship has sunk. May I suggest each of us to think and come up with a list of people that could use the gospel! If you simply write down peoples names as they come regardless of how ready we believe they are, we will come up with a great list in which we can then pray and ask God who is ready? who shall I focus on? And our small efforts for that family or individual won't go wasted.. I promise it won't.

The next scripture I came across was:

Moroni 7:42-43 "Wherefore, if a man have faith he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope." "and again, behold i say unto you that he cannot have faith and hope, save he shall be meek, and lowly of heart."

This scripture reminds me of the Atonement. We need to approach the Savior with a meek and lowly heart to truly be sincerely repentant; However, The atonement isn't for those that make mistakes. The atonement is the ONLY way in which we could ever develop any Christlike attribute. The lesson to be learned is true faith and hope come from those that use the Atonement to gain that true undivided faith and hope. The kind of faith that brings forth miracles small and big! Its this type of faith that members of the church should have with anyone they talk about the gospel is to see them as God sees them with the hope and faith that we will make the right decision with our agency! 

This leads me to my final scripture found in 1 Nephi 17:8-9 " And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto me, saying: Thou shalt construct a ship, after the manner which I shall show thee, that I may carry thy people across these waters." " And I said: Lord, whither shall I go that I may find ore to molten , that I may make tools to construct the ship after the manner which thou hast shown unto me?"

President Thomas S. Monson said, “Now is the time for members and missionaries to come together … [and] labor in the Lord’s vineyard to bring souls unto Him. He has prepared the means for us to share the gospel in a multitude of ways, and He will assist us in our labors if we will act in faith to fulfill His work” (“Faith in the Work of Salvation” 

The boat in which the lord is asking to be built right now is now boat it is to hasten the work! "...We as members fit into the larger picture of hastening the work of salvation. We are not being asked to engage in a new program. We are simply being encouraged to be true disciples of Jesus Christ. Our role is to immerse ourselves in loving and serving those around us—comforting a co-worker in need, inviting our friends to a baptism, helping an elderly neighbor with his yard work, inviting a less-active member over for a meal, or helping a neighbor with her family history. These are all natural, joyful ways to invite less-active members and those not of our faith into our lives and consequently into the light of the gospel. Sharing with them the fun times and the sacred times of our lives may actually be the most effective way any of us can “labor in [Jesus Christ’s] vineyard for the salvation of the souls of men [and women]” (D&C 138:56)." 

I know that as we do these things we will hasten the work!

 https://www.lds.org/training/wwlt/2013/hastening/members-and-missionaries?lang=eng&_r=1

Fun fact! We broke a record in Boise! Most snow in 30 years!