I have officially been out for 2 months tomorrow! How crazy is that? The time just flies by!! This week has been way good! I had a district meeting about studying and learning from my patriarchal blessing: it was so good! We talked about looking for the blessings and the challenges your blessing gives you, and trying to work towards those blessings and challenges, and then praying about it and looking for the fulfillment of the blessing. I know that's pretty not specific, but it was seriously awesome!
I went on splits with an Elder Schaefer, and we taught 3 lessons to members about sabbath day observance. The spirit was SO strong while we taught the lessons, and I absolutely know what we taught is true! In essence, we talked about how we can make the sabbath day more holy for us, and making plans to treat the sabbath day the best we can according to our needs and desires to be close to God. So powerful! Elder Schaefer and I also found, through tracting, a lady named Rebecca whose husband passed away on 9/11, who was very receptive to our message about eternal families. How cool is that? The Lord led us, through the spirit, to a lady who needed EXACTLY what we had to share with her! I love that we receive promptings of the spirit to be able to do the Lord's work here on Earth. It was an amazing experience! Unfortunately, because it was an exchange, I won't be able to follow up on lessons, but I am sure that she will be blessed by the elders who teach her!
So in my personal studies, I have been reading in Alma, chapters like 15-30ish, about the sons of Mosiah, Alma, and Amulek. These men are amazing! They are probably my favorite examples of missionaries, besides Jesus Christ. Many times, these men were rejected, like Alma being cast out of Ammonihah, to be told by an Angel to return, where he found Amulek, and they were like THE power companionship! Or when they were in prison, and withstood the harshness of the Lamanites, eventually throwing down the prison walls and preaching repentance to the people. Or Ammon being a servant to King Lamoni, converting the entire household! Or when Ammon went to save Aaron, Muloki and Ammah from prison, leading to Aaron teaching Lamoni's father, converting HIS household, which led to the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's, who were one of the most righteous people ever, or... there are seriously so many amazing stories in Alma. These men were able to do this work because they had unending faith in Christ, and understood that they had power through Him to do an amazing work. In the face of imprisonment, rejection, and even death, these men stood firm in their knowledge of the goodness of our Savior, and their greatest desire was to share that knowledge with others. In Alma 26, Ammon is literally overcome by his joy in the successes he and his brethren had in serving God's children. He boasts of God, exclaiming that God loves His children and sent those missionaries to help Him bring those children to the truth. They are so inspiring! In our lives, it might be hard to do the right thing sometimes. It can be intimidating, or scary, or seemingly inconvenient in the moment. But it is in those moments that, if we have faith and live our lives according to the principles of the gospel, the Lord will strengthen us and bring us out of our bondages, exactly as he did to Alma the olders people in Mosiah 24. Sorry that this is all kind of jumbled up, but the point is, when we are strong and withstand our trials in faith, we WILL be strengthened and blessed from God. He loves us, and wants us to succeed! He WILL help us if we ask in faith and endure our trials with that faith. I testify that He lives, and loves us, and wants nothing more than to see us happy. We can be eternally happy, and all we have to do is listen to the teachings of our Savior, whose teachings make us happy anyway! It's like, a totally win-win situation! Anyways, I love you guys, and I pray for you all. You are all inspirations to me out here! Have a good week, and stay strong, don't give up, love the Lord, and you will be blessed! Peace out until next week!
-Elder Valentine!
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