May 1, 2017
This week will truly be a blessing to reflect back on for the remainder of my life. It was an awesome experience to be able to see Jaden be baptized this Saturday in my old area. I remember the night that Elder Candland and I found him. It was a Sunday night and we just got done talking to a youth that was going on a mission. We had plans to have him come out with us for an appointment for the next week. When we finished he said," well... 8:50 pm good luck finding anyone to talk to!" We laughed and decided to try and visit a few people that we knew in the neighborhood over before we biked home. No one answered so we decided to bike home.. This was during the fall so it was pitch black at night, and we biked passed someone on the corner of the road. Elder Candland and I were almost out of the neighborhood when we both agreed that we needed to talk to that person. It was Jaden. We invited him to church and two weeks later he showed up to church for the first time all by himself. We are so grateful that we followed the prompting of the spirit to talk to Jaden! God's plan is truly wonderful.
This week we unfortunately found out that one of our investigators passed away from the cancer that he had. We really grew to love that man, but I'm glad he doesn't need to suffer any longer. We were able to attend the funeral and it was just a interesting opportunity to see how others view this step which must happen for all of us. I'm grateful for the knowledge of the plan of salvation and a understanding of how our Saviors suffering and sacrifice plays a role in this great plan. This week I have found my love for the saviors atoning sacrifice grow and deepen as I have been studying about grace from the Book of Mormon. I have grown to understand better just how through the Saviors sacrifice I can improve every single day!
My thoughts from the week come from the opportunity to we had to meet with Elder Bednar as a mission and it was a very insightful experience to be able to learn from the spirit. He showed us that their indeed is a wonderful pattern that exists in the gospel as well as how the Holy Ghost works in teaching us. We were shown that when we come to anything prepared to learn and to share that is when the spirit comes in and helps us learn. One thing that I really enjoyed about what Elder Bednar had us do is first to not write anything that he said down, because it doesn't matter what he says. He wanted us to write down the promptings that we received or thought of by the spirit. I found this interesting concerning when we might try to write down things we like in sacrament talks, or general conference, but when we do this we are so worried about writing it down that we miss the spirit telling us things we need to hear. I also really loved how Elder Bednar explained that we need to stop playing the "guess whats in my head game" When we teach to often we ask questions wanting a specific answer that intimidates people to share what they think the answer is. I was shown the power that comes when we allow others to share what they learn and to let the spirit testify to them the truth. I have felt so much closer to my Heavenly Father as i have allowed the spirit to be the true teacher in our lessons more than me.
My prayer is that we can all allow the spirit to be the true teacher in all settings that we might find ourselves in.
--
Keep smiling!
Love, Elder Gerrard
 |
| Elder Candland, Elder Denney, and I in the car |
 |
| All the companions that taught Jaden with me (Elder Shoemaker & and Elder Candland) |
 |
| Jaden and Elder Gerrard |
No comments:
Post a Comment