Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Transcription: 6 August 2012

This week was probably my favorite week of up here because we had [Name withheld] get baptized. He is awesome. It was a really neat experience. We had one of the members get up and speak about baptism. After that Elder Conlin and I sang “How Firm a Foundation,” hymn number 85. We had some singing in between and then the baptism. He was baptized by his neighbor (haha), which was really neat to see. That was the highlight of the week. We had a table set out with all those Book of Mormons and some pamphlets and a couple of DVDs. In like five minutes after the baptism was over (haha), they were all gone. Everybody had taken them to go and give to their friends. I'm sure a couple of them were taken by the non-members who where there. That was unexpected, and neat thing; because the Spirit was there, and they felt the Spirit of missionary work and wanted to share that with other people.

We had exchanges this week. Being a district leader, I have to exchange with every missionary in the district, besides the sisters, at least once per transfer. It is fun to help strengthen people and help them to just be their best as missionaries. I'm not going to lie though, I still like being in our area the most (haha); because that's where we get to get a lot of work done and help a lot of people.

We are starting to develop a ward mission plan. I actually train on that in district meetings on how to mobilize the ward and develop a ward mission plan, and who to work through. I use a lot of leadership training videos on LDS.org.

We started doing next level goals in district meeting. We will set a goal; it can be about anything; like pushups, or I want to wake up on time, or any kind of next level goal. You go throughout the week doing your best at that next level goal, then you come the next week and report on how your goal went, and then you set a new goal. I hope that will help everybody have a desire to do their best.

We have been meeting with this awesome family. We helped split wood for them. The dad is now reading the Book of Mormon. He actually has the same name and middle name as you dad (haha). He started reading the Book of Mormon. The whole family is kind of looking into the church a little bit. The daughter probably more so than the rest of them. She is really into reading the Book of Mormon and really curious. We are really excited to see where things go from there. We love being over there (haha), they're really good.

We also met this one guy who in two weeks read half of the Book of Mormon, so we hope to go see him again.

We got to do service at the food bank too. We got to package boxes and help out other people. We worked so quickly and efficiently that finished an hour early. We were only there for like two or three hours.

We had several people at church, which was really good. We are doing a lot better at that; at helping people come to church. It's really good, because that's where a lot of blessings come from.

We had some really neat experiences with some other investigators who are preparing for baptism.

The fair is going on right now in Fairbanks, so we may stop by there today. We'll see. I'll have to take a couple of pictures and send them home. I going to probably send home my SD card.

I just want to bear my testimony that I do know this is the Lord's work, because we're guided every day as to where we need to be. I am thankful for how much I'm growing as a person. It's really, really satisfying to be helping other people progress towards exaltation; towards eternal life with our Heavenly Father, and helping out as many people as we can. It feels really good when you are able to see a lot of people and get a lot done (haha). So I really enjoy it. We've been super busy the time we've been here, and I really like this ward. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I know that what we teach is the way we can gain access to the atonement; and that's through faith, repentance, baptism, and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end, and receiving those other ordinances in the temple. If I didn't know that, I wouldn't be here, because it would be a complete waste of time if it wasn't true. I mean it would be nice and everything, helping people out, and helping them become better people, but I could do that in Utah. I wouldn't be spending $10,000 to be out here just doing good and helping people; I'd do that in Utah. But, I'm out here because I know these ordinances are necessary for their salvation. I'm learning more and more to desire others' salvation. It really is a neat thing we get to do. For anybody who is considering going on a mission, I highly recommend it (haha). It's very fulfilling, and you get a lot done. You learn a lot for life ahead. I say that in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Love, Elder Record


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