WEEK 9 OKEMOS (WEEK 69 OF MISSION)

Parker and his comp, Elder Elwood at lunch at "Tacos E' Mas"

"Why so serious?"

Parker, Sister Pawson, Elder Elwood

hey everybody! 

another great week in meridian! we are working hard and talking to loads of people trying to find those who are prepared to receive the fulness of the gospel! we have had miracles and seen miracles in teaching and finding. now we just need a few more to get these people to church and to baptism! here is one of them: two weeks back we went to go try and find a Less active member who was on the roster. it was probably about 130 in the afternoon or so. as we were approaching the apartment complex, a lady was walking by. she stopped and asked if we were Jehovah's Witnesses. we said no. she told us she had some questions for us. so she started asking us about the movie Noah and how biblical it was (hard to say because i have never seen the movie and rarely study the biblical account of noah so i hope i didnt give her false information by saying everything in the movie is 100% true? just kidding). we scheduled a day to meet with her. we showed up, she was gone. rescheduled. we showed up again, she was gone again. darn. 

then on thursday, elder elwood and i were in the neighborhood and decided to pop in. she was in the backyard cutting up some trees and we started to help her. she began asking questions, we sat down and taught her the restoration. she LOVED it. she was so excited! we scheduled to come back the next day and teach her the plan of salvation. we did. she read the bom chapter we left her and understood it so well. we taught her the plan of salvation and she loved that too. she was wondering why no other church has ever taught her this stuff. we asked her to be baptized on the 18th of october and she said cant we do it sooner? haha we explained we had lots to teach her and things, but she is awesome! she had to work and couldnt make church this week, so we have some more things we have to take care of to get her to baptism but she is a miracle! 

remember, repentance IS the plan of salvation for every person. it is not the back-up plan. never be afraid to repent. it is an incredible opportunity to repent. when you repent, BE SPECIFIC. don't just say, "please forgive me for my mistakes." say, "i really am sorry for being short and rude to my friend. please help me to do better next time i am in that situation. forgive me. help my friend to forgive me." i promise that as you do this, you will feel the Spirit testifying to you that what you are doing is good and is cleansing. of course, we cannot do that for all of our sins, otherwise we would spend the rest of our lives praying for forgiveness. but pray to have your most critical offenses brought to your attention, and then repent of them specifically! do this throughout the week, especially before you attend church to partake of the sacrament. go in repentant, and leave knowing that last week is behind you. ask that through the Atonement of Christ your weaknesses of this past week may "become strong unto you.” (ether 12:27) 

We all need to repent. we all need to be more Christlike! be patient with everybody else's mistakes because you make them too. the perfectionist is far from perfect because not only is he or she not perfect, but they hold everybody else to their standard, so in their eyes, nobody is good enough, including themselves! 

love you all! have a great week! 
ps we are getting to watch meet the mormons thursday morning before zone training! awesome huh?? listen to prophets and apostles this week!! prayerfully and repentantly!