First off, Addison was
baptized! The whole program went great, and three of her
great-grandparents came up for it! It was really great, and we're really
excited for her. We're hoping to help the Quallie's get more active in
the ward, so that's what we're working on now!
A lot of other fun things happened this week!
I went on exchanges with Elder Wahlquist from Florida on Wednesday,
which was fun! We went tracting, and saw an old lady bringing in
groceries from her car. We walked over to her and offered to help, and
started talking to her. We told her about what we do, and even though
she wasn't interested in learning more at the moment, she asked where
she would be able to get a copy of the Book of Mormon.She said she had
always wanted to read it! Of course, I got super excited about that, and
we gave her one with a pass-a-long card with our phone number on it.
After we had talked for a bit, she said, "So why do they send you out so
young? And so handsome?!" She gave us both hugs after we were done
talking, which was really nice, since most people think that
missionaries can't give hugs. (That's right returned missionaries!
Nowhere in the white handbook does it say we aren't allowed to give
hugs!)
Here in Cochrane, there are a lot of
trees that release cotton-like seed things into the air. It's that time
of year when the air is thick with it, and as we were walking, I
accidentally breathed in a piece of it. I couldn't get it back out, so I
was coughing for a good 20 minutes afterwards. Luckily (sort of),
nobody opened the doors we knocked on, so I couldn't embarrass myself
with my uncontrollable coughing.
We had a big chunk of time Sunday
afternoon after church, so we decided to tract a side road out in the
country. It was a super great idea, because no missionaries have ever
tracted there before, so it would be the first time that missionaries
have knocked on those doors! At the first house we walked up to, an
older couple was sitting on a bench outside. The husband was from
Croatia, and he said he was Catholic. He's not Catholic. He doesn't even
believe in God. He proceeded to totally confuse me, and brought up some
really good points that I wasn't able to answer. I didn't really know
what to say, but I think I played it off pretty well. They were nice,
but not very nice at the same time. After that, everybody was really
nice, but not particularly interested. We gave out a lot of pass-a-long
cards, and a Book of Mormon though! I count that as a success!
We
had our district meeting yesterday, and one elder quoted his mom as
saying, "Don't pray for cream, and live like skim milk." So much of the
time, we pray for so many things, but we don't live and work like we
want those prayers to be answered. We pray for the things we need, and
then do our best to achieve them. The Lord then strengthens us and
performs miracles in our lives.
We had our last zone conference with President Miles on Thursday.
We had some training on obedience, which really changed a lot of the
way I understand things. President Miles said, "Obedience does not equal
salvation." When he said that, I was really confused. He continued to
explain that the purpose of us being obedient is to show our love for
the Lord. Our obedience makes us happy and blesses us. Our obedience
prepares us to live with God again. But our obedience does not save us.
We are saved by grace. Because of Christ's Atonement, we are all saved,
and are all able to live with Heavenly Father again. That doesn't mean
we can be disobedient! We won't even want to live with God again
if we don't obey Him! Our obedience to God's commandments is the best
preparation for eternal exaltation.
Here is a great talk that really explains what I'm trying to say, a lot better than I can.
I love you all! Have a great week!
Elder DeWitt
 |
| Me, Addison, and Elder Allan |
 |
| Me and some random graffiti |
 |
| Hiding from a massive rainstorm that hit while we were street contacting |
 |
| Elder Allan reacts to the rainstorm |
 |
| Zone Conference |
No comments:
Post a Comment