Running Out of Time

Hey friends and fam!

It's been a good week! Had 7 people at church. We are getting there! Baptismal investigators are doing well but we are postponing two of the dates because it'll  be pretty tight.

I'm working on the church's My Plan program right now for the final six weeks of my mission. It's nice to think about my goals. It feels good to have an idea about what I want to accomplish in the summer, year, next 5 years, and decade. I'm writing as much down as possible to keep it accessible. I don't really feel nervous about the prospect of moving forward, which is a blessing.

I know some funny things happened this week because it's freaking Germany, but I can't put my finger on what actually happened. It's been a good week though.

It's a good life.

I would write more but I'm currently typing from a phone which makes it horrendous to try and communicate anything longer than a few paragraphs.

I love you all!

Elder Wallentine 

PERFECTION AND ALSO I HAVE SEVEN WEEKS LEFT

Hey everyone!

The work here continues to move faster than I can go! It's awesome. We just set a baptismal date with another person, whose name is Jose. His date is also on the 19th of May. All four of our baptismal investigators are currently scheduled for the 19th, and are keeping all four of the commitments to read and pray, come to church, keep the commandments, and be involved with members. I don't currently see a reason why any of them should not be baptized on that day. We are giving them all we have and are seeing miracles come because of it.

We came here in February and have been blessed tremendously for our efforts since. The work is paying off and I've never had so many baptismal investigators that have all been so promising.

We also hit our goal for last week to get seven investigators at church! This week, eight!

In other news, I am beginning my final transfer. Seven weeks, guys. Seven. Freaking. Weeks. Let's make it FLIPPING count.

I said goodbye to the fantastic and easygoing Elder Winsborrow this week, concluding one of the best chapters of my mission. I am now companions with Elder Blackner, and we seem to have had a great time so far. I am excited to open up the FINAL CHAPTER.

To build off of my thought from last week, I have been asked multiple times from people on the street: "Why do I need religion? I understand that some people need a God to tell them that killing is wrong, or that they need to serve others, but I can be a good person regardless of whether or not I believe in such a thing." I've been confidently told many a time on my mission that religion is a crutch for us to learn to be good people, as though we otherwise wouldn't be, and that it is in some way weak to believe in a God that would help us become good.

The problem, however, is that being 'good' is not our goal. I believe most people are good. At least, most of the people I have known in life. Perhaps there are people who need Christianity or, generally, religion to be good. But that is not the goal of religion.

The goal of religion is not to prevent us from being bad, and it is also not to make us merely good. It is to prepare us to be perfect.

Anyone can help anyone. Anyone can avoid robbing a bank. Anyone can be honest. Anyone can donate to charities. Anyone can serve their siblings and parents. And we aren't audacious enough to claim that anyone who doesn't believe is automatically bad, or cannot do these things, because that simply is wrong. But no person, without the help of a divine entity, and according to my belief without the help of a divine Savior, can possibly expect to reach perfection. That would be simply impossible, and preposterous to assume, if we were all alone. 

The glorious message of repentance is that this has been made possible. This may lead others to ask: "Why, though, would perfection be so important for me?" It's difficult to comprehend in an imperfect world, I must say, because I can't really understand fully what that would be like, either. However, the scriptures are clear on the matter. Here are a few examples:

1. Doctrine and Covenants 50:24-25: 

That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day. And again, verily I say unto you, and I say it that you may know the truth, that you may chase darkness from among you.

2. Moroni 10:32-33: Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God. And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye 

sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot.

3. Mosiah 4:3:

And it came to pass that after they had spoken these words the Spirit of the Lord came upon them, and they were filled with joy, having received a remission of their sins, and having peace of conscience, because of the exceeding faith which they had in Jesus Christ who should come, according to the words which king Benjamin had spoken unto them.

4. Doctrine and Covenants 76:50, 69-70

And again we bear record—for we saw and heard, and this is the testimony of the gospel of Christ concerning them who shall come forth in the resurrection of the just—...These are they who are just men made perfect through Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, who wrought out this perfect atonement through the shedding of his own blood. These are they whose bodies are celestial, whose glory is that of the sun, even the glory of God, the highest of all, whose glory the sun of the firmament is written of as being typical.

To learn more, one must study deeper in the scriptures. However, the promises are exceedingly great and precious. It is possible that some still do not want them, and if they do not, that is okay, as all men are free. But I am grateful for this prospect. I am grateful to know that, if I am faithful, and if we are faithful, we may all progress into perfection, and we may receive the fulness of joy, peace, and glory that awaits us, if we are but faithful!

That is the promise!

I love you all!

Love,

Elder Wallentine

Investigators

Hey everyone!

Great things continue to happen! Our three baptismal investigators are progressing marvelously and are so good! May will be a good time for baptisms at this rate! I don’t have anything else. Here’s the thought! 

We are eternal beings, destined to achieve supreme levels of glory and righteousness if we do what is right. We are subject to constant change, and obliged to it as well, if we seek righteousness. Even the Savior himself had to undergo certain levels of physical as well as spiritual progression while in the flesh: „And he received not of the fulness at first, but continued from grace to grace, until he received a fulness; And thus he was called the Son of God, because he received not of the fulness at the first.“ (D&C 93). As we as well progress from grace to grace, we must advance from lower standards of life and spirituality to higher planes. It is no surprise, then, that the need for repentance becomes increasingly more apparent as we rise in our levels of spirituality. 

One of the beautiful ironies of the Gospel, frustrating as it may be, is that the further we come along the path to perfection, the more we realize how absolute our need for repentance is. C.S. Lewis wrote the following pertaining to this:

„No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. There is a silly idea, that good people don’t know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist know how strong it is. … You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply doesn’t know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They’ve lived a sheltered life by always giving in."

I personally feel that I am living with a greater emphasis on being good now than ever before. Yet, I’ve also been brought to my knees more times that I can count on my mission because of the resulting knowledge of my faults and failures that come as a result of a greater effort to live righteously. The need for repentance has never appeared with such frequency and power to me. I don’t know if this is right, but having a knowledge of this makes it a bit more difficult to say with comfort „I am a good man!“ because one comes in the same moment to realize how much progress must come to become the better and, ultimately, perfect man. 

So, if you are finding it difficult to do good, the need to do it is higher than ever. It’s purifying to know you’re imperfect. The pain we recognize from mistakes and repentance is equivalent to that of antibiotics on a wound, or of fire to unrefined metals—all serve the purpose of restoring or bringing things to, ultimately, an immaculate and healed state. Find the need at some point each day to repent, and if you have something to change, big or small, do so thoroughly and directly. If you don’t, search a little harder. The gospel is all about consistent growth and we can all reap the benefits of joy that come from it!

I love you all!

Elder Wallentine 

Update

This week's been great! We had 9 people visit general conference! It was sweet! The zone improved its progress towards the goal of having 30 people at church--we had 19 last week. But we need to lengthen our strides still if we are to reach 30 anytime soon.

Unfortunately, none of the 3 of our baptismal dates have made it to church yet. However, I'm optimistic they will be able to come this week! We will see. 

General conference was intense. Also, general conference used to be in tents, you know? When the saints had arrived in the Salt Lake Valley? And also don't forget the King Benjamin Conference. That was also in tents. We don't have in-tents conferences anymore, but they are intense. 

I have to be honest, I was pretty disappointed that the Independence Temple wasn't announced. I thought that was what all the fuss beforehand was about. But there is always next conference!

I don't feel like writing much today, and that which I do desire to write is, as the Germans say, Quatsch. I lost my iPad and I've spent the morning retracing my steps. We will see if I find it. I think it's most likely in the church.

I think, though, that some of my favourite talks were Elder Holland's about Ministering, Elder Bednar's in meekness, and President Nelson's about revelation. I find it interesting how President Nelson has said that the guidance of the Holy Ghost is essential to our spiritual survival. Puts some fire under your feet to be able to receive revelation, eh? I've been drawn to seek it out greater since, and have since had a great day of success because of following a prompting. Here's what happened:

We were running to catch a bus when I saw a man poke his head out of a Döner shop. Trying to follow a tendency and goal that I have sought to develop on my mission of saying "hello!" and/or smiling to as many people as possible, I shouted an exasperated "HALLO!" to him as I ran by. I kept running but had a sinking feeling in my stomach, asking me why I had let the chance to by to talk to him. I shouted ahead to my companion:

"Oh shoo-hoot! I'm getting a prompting!" 

We stopped in our tracks, turned around, and spoke to the man. He barely spoke German and called over his "German-speaking" co-worker, who, after listening for a solid five seconds, called his other co-worker who spoke German, who then called another one over. So we have four guys, and thank goodness, the last one can speak English. We tell them what is up, meanwhile two homeless people with dogs walk up, start talking to my companion, order a Döner, and then leave as I receive the number of the Döner dude. We get on the next bus, and an African man shouts at me about how the Book of Mormon is in no way in line with the teachings of the Bible. We talk, his points are gradually answered, and he says he has interest. Then, we arrive to our finding destination. We had planned to go knock some doors, but we never reached them before it was time to go because every person I talked to had interest for a conversation and wanted to talk later. 

All perhaps because of that initial prompting! Otherwise each person would have perhaps been away from the paths we had in mind if we had been there any earlier. 

Thanks for the love and support! 

Love,

Elder Wallentine