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| Temple in Västerhaninge |
This week has been another crazy one for the books!! I cant actually believe that the things we did on Monday were this week it seems like at least a month ago. But we started off the week in Stockholm for MLC (mission leadership council) which is a really exciting one that happens once a transfer with all of the zone leaders and sister training leaders where we receive training and we discuss what the mission needs to move forward. This transfer we talked a lot about the new year and what we need to do to shift our focus to help the missionaries and help people to come unto Christ. They talked a lot about Teaching Repentance and what repentance is and it has been something on the minds of all the missionaries in the world because of the broadcast that was sent out the week before. But we were able to receive a little more insight as to what that means and what it means for us in our own daily lives and I love how repentance is an everyday principle and I think that sometimes we say that and dont really do it. Its been a wake up call for me to understand and use the atonement of Christ in my life more and to help my investigators to do the same thing. After the meeting we had the privilege to go to the temple in Västerhaninge which I have not done for about 17 months... but it was a fantastic experience and we were able to get some needed direction and focus for the training that we were going to give to the missionaries in the zone.
That training happened on Friday but between those two things we had a lot of preparation to do but also some awesome people to teach. Benjamin is one of our most progressing investigators right now and he is understanding more about the restoration and the weight of the message that we are giving. I think that a lot of people like the things that we say and understand on an intellectual level but its when the message sinks in that we understand what that means for us and how we can apply it. We talked with him about the organization of the church and I think its pretty amazing when you think about it how smooth the church works and how it is lead.
We also taught a man named Kawa who, when we came to teach him with one of the members in the ward, was just super excited to see us. He has changed a lot since I have first seen him and he even shared with us that he really hasnt felt joy really in his life for a really long time but that he feels it while we are there. It was an amazing confirmation to me that the joy fo the gospel is something that we cannot find anywhere else, its deeper it means more than any of the things that can make us temporarily happy. i know we say and think that a lot but I hope all of you that feel that joy every day do not take it for granted. The other key to all of this is to ACT on the things that we have felt and to understand that when we have answers given to us by the Holy Ghost it becomes our responsibility to act on them and to begin to understand more. That is the problem with many people. They hear and they kind of understand and they know that it is something that is good but their willingness to act is what can keep them, and me for that matter, from coming closer to God.
The training was about a lot of things but the main points that were covered were language proficiency, and how to teach repentance and recognize the promptings of the Holy Ghost. We ended the training with a little bit about receiving and building personal testimonies of the gospel and we had a couple of missionaries bear their testimonies and the spirit was soo strong. Its amazing because just as prophets have said the spirit is never a degrading spirit it is, however, a spirit of peace and confidence and something that one can understand. As Nephi says, "For my soul delighteth in plainness for after this manner doth the Lord God work among the children of men. FOr the Lord giveth light unto understanding; for He speaketh to man according to their language, and their understanding." When we receive a spiritual prompting we can know that it was something from God because He speaks plainly and in a way that we can understand and I think that is something that is absolutely fantastic that we may not understand the implications of. However, these missionaries testimonies are so individual and so completely different but really strong in their own way and that is something that i have come to understand a little bit more ins that our testimonies are different and based upon different principles and there are always questions that we wonder and things that we can do to strengthen that testimony. So do that this week, work on the things that may be holding you back and more forward.
If you dont have a testimony of something (can be any gospel principle) Get it, Bear it, Build it. If you already have one great, Bear it and Build it. Because we all can, and that is the point.
We also went on splits this week and had some investigators in church which was awesome because this fifth Sunday was all about the restoration so all of our investigators were able to feel the spirit super strong and get a double dose of the restoration this week! Things are going well up here and I hope they are going well for all of you! Love you :)
Äldste Israelsen
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