So what were your guys favorite talks during general conferance this weekend?
I myself absolutely loved the talks of Uchdorf and Eyring and Jorg during saturday. Very powerful and full of the spirit! One of my favorite things I pulled from conferance was how sometimes we have the tendancy to rationalize or justify ourselves for breaking the commandments.
"I can´t attend church because...." "He´s probably already mormon so I don´t need to talk to him.." "I´m sure someone else will step up and help him, I don´t have time.." and many many more. Whether from the simple excuses or from the most ellaborate ideas we have we try to justify our wrongs. I having fallen to this many times. But the commandments are in black and white. God is a god of mercy, but he is also a just god who does not accept excuses. Nothing impure can enter into his kingdom and so we must follow 100/100 of all he has commanded. Although that seems possible or that it would make our lives only harder and more stressful, its just the opposite. The lord gives us these commandments to set us free. If we follow to the best of our abilities giving the best we can, the lord will help us with the rest. However, if we find ourselves in these situations of justification and rationalization we should stop. just stop and look to our lord for forgiveness. Who if we come with that sincere heart we will find this forgiveness. We will feel his loving embrace as we little by little overcome our faults. Then as we feel this we will turn out to others to share with them this great redemptive feeling.
So We´ve been having a whole lot of success with one of our investigators Ofelia. Her kids were baptised about 5 years ago and then went inactive and she never really followed. We´ve been having pretty good lessons but she is incredibly hard to find at her house. Not having a lesson in more than a week we were worried about how she was doing and if she would remember conferance. Well our prayers being answered she came to the saturday morning session! Saying that she would assist the others as well!
But as the second session came she was nowhere to be found.. the sessions came and gone without any sign of her or her family. Without a phone it was impossible for us to get a hold of her. So after conferance we stopped by her house to see what happened. Turns out that her giant several thousand pound tree was starting to collapse towards there house. We arrived with much of it cut down but still the main part and the larger branches attached and held up by support beams. I have to say that that was a pretty fun experience to cut down a giant tree haha. So thats why she wasn´t there for the other sessions.
Anyways we then went over to her house to see how she had been doing this past week. In this past week she had reached Ether in the Book of Mormon, sometimes staying up til 5 am just to read. She has been feeling the spirit very strong and looks forward to her baptism of Nov 1. I´m grateful the lord has been answering our prayers on her behalf by touching her with his spirit and love. Her and her family have been finding that peace that had long since left.
The lord lives and works many mighty miracles! I´m so grateful I get to be apart of it!
Love you all!
Elder Thompson IV
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