Finding the Lost Sheep

Hey everyone!

We have been seeing so many miracles lately when it comes to relocating lost members.  I don't know how, but we keep having experiences similar to the one we had with Gizi a while back (the member lady we found on the street who didn't know where the church was).  She has been coming regularly, and seems to honestly enjoy coming to church, even though it is not in her native language (hey, wait, same for me, too!).

Recently, we met a Columbian member on the street, who said that she would love to come in contact with us!  We haven't been able to meet yet, but we are trying to. We also had a really good  conversation with a less active member we found while going through the lists a while back.  We had tried calling him for the longest time, but it was difficult to reach him. After we got Facebook, though, things simplified and we were able to quickly come in contact with him!  The lesson we subsequently had was great, and we focused on setting goals to progress him to the temple.

Lastly, this past Sunday, a man from Iran walked into the church, and sat down during Sacrament Meeting.  Tears rolled down his face as he listened to talks given and embraced the atmosphere of the church.  We spoke with him after, and he said that he was a member, was baptized as a student in the Philippines into the church, and was again living In Iran prior to coming here. He has only been able to come to church once per year, approximately, and has sacrificed a great deal to make it to Germany, where he intends to stay.  I hope he will find a way to be able to do so. From this man's story, about which there are many unshared details I will not include, I have come to realize just slightly more what it means to have religious freedom.  The amount of tragedies in individual lives that have happened in some of these countries makes me sick to my stomach and can cause my blood to occasionally start to boil.  I don't care if you are religious or not--the right for all men to worship (or not worship) according to their desires is divinely-endorsed and an essential part to our agency and progress as human beings.  Perhaps we can all take some time this week to consider why this is such a crucial right.

But yeah, really cool miracles are taking place.  We have had a lot of cool lessons with investigators and members alike.  I feel like my work is paying off as we continue finding these people--totally
unintentionally on our part lots of times, too--God has truly been placing people in our path.  I feel the parables of Christ apply to many these people, namely the parable of the lost sheep.  These people
never rebelled against the church or willingly and knowingly apostatized from what we have heard and seen, but they simply and slowly lost contact with the church due to circumstance.  Glad to be
on the Lord's errand as we find so many opportunities to locate such people.

I've got nothing else to report!  See you guys later!  Love you all!

Elder Wallentine

Greetings!

Hello fellow human beings!  

It has been a pretty good week, and a very busy one, too!  We have been running all over the place.  It all started with an announcement that we would be heading on Sunday evening to Frankfurt for a conference with the entire mission.  We had the great opportunity to hear from an apostle of the Lord, Elder Ballard.  He came and spoke to us about finding people to teach, improving our ability to teach, and overall being better missionaries who will be more able to hear the voice of the spirit.  It was a great conference and I felt I was able to pull some important things out of it for my own life and performance out here in the field!

Afterwards, we went from the conference to a split with the assistants, for which we actually just remained in Frankfurt.  Actually, I got two splits, because the assistants didn't have time until the evening, so I also got to work with an Elder with whom I normally would have never had the opportunity to work, Elder Robinson, so that was neat-o!  I split with Elder Chamberlain afterwards, one of the assistants, which was a lot of fun.  However, I was exhausted about the entire time after the conference, and so it was a little difficult to stay on top of everything that day, but I survived, right?

We worked our best to invite people to church last week, and ended up with a few solid commitments and accepting of them.  However, no one came!  Shucks.  We will try giving it another swing.  I don't even play baseball though.  Where is my younger brother Caleb?  I can run a mean mile though.  Well, I could.  Now that it's harder to run I feel slower than molasses in January.

I have been writing all day and life no longer feels real anymore.  However, you better buckle your seatbelts because I am going to have a spiritual thought now.   

Can I just say how much I love the Book of Mormon?  I am started to get confused as to how many times I have actually read it on my mission, but I find it really great how I have been able to study it every single day and continue to be strengthened and nourished by it.  Sometimes I ask myself if I fully comprehend the importance of reading within those pages daily.  Elder Holland has counselled us, in the event that an investigator of the church has not read between appointments, to ''be devastated!''  Do we feel devastated for ourselves if we forget to read in it for a day or two, or a week, or a month, or ever in our lives?  God has truly provided us with this book as a physical means and support through which we can strengthen our own testimony and faith in Christ and His Gospel.  We were sitting in a lesson the other day when it was brought up that it is 'questionable' for many concerning the origin of the New Testament and existence of Christ.  I don't know if any of you have ever thought about that in your lives.  My response for that is a question: Isn't it just wonderful to know, at least of the possibility, that God has revealed multiple witnesses to the divine authenticity and son-ship of Jesus Christ?  The Book of Mormon testifies of Christ and restores truths lost over time from the Bible.  When we read in the Book of Mormon, we see connections made with the Bible and our testimonies become strengthened of both simultaneously.  If you feel yourselves doubting about anything, whether it be the existence of God, the reality of Christ being the Son of God, the story of Joseph Smith seeing God the Father and Jesus Christ, the acquisition and translation of the Book of Mormon, modern leadership in the Church, or the truthfulness of anything taught as part of the restored gospel, examine the evidence that God has given us!  You don't even have to believe or know that the Book of Mormon is true before you do it, although that is great and something we should strive for.  Simply have the desire to find the truth.  If you read the Book of Mormon to prove it wrong or with a deceiving heart, you will find it much harder to find an answer.  However, God has promised that he will give us truth if we seek it with ''real intent'', as stated in Moroni 10:3-5.  I love the prophecies of Nephi concerning the Book of Mormon, as we read them in 2 Nephi 26:

16 For those who shall be destroyed shall speak unto them out of the ground, and their speech shall be low out of the dust, and their voice shall be as one that hath a familiar spirit; for the Lord God will give unto him power, that he may whisper concerning them, even as it were out of the ground; and their speech shall whisper out of the dust.
17 For thus saith the Lord God: They shall write the things which shall be done among them, and they shall be written and sealed up in a book, and those who have dwindled in unbelief shall not have them, for they seek to destroy the things of God. 

(...)
23 For behold, my beloved brethren, I say unto you that the Lord God worketh not in darkness.
24 He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation.
25 Behold, doth he cry unto any, saying: Depart from me? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; but he saith: Come unto me all ye ends of the earth, buy milk and honey, without money and without price.
26 Behold, hath he commanded any that they shoulddepart out of the synagogues, or out of the houses of worship? Behold, I say unto you, Nay.
27 Hath he commanded any that they should not partake of his salvation? Behold I say unto you, Nay; but he hathgiven it free for all men; and he hath commanded his people that they should persuade all men to repentance.
28 Behold, hath the Lord commanded any that they should not partake of his goodness? Behold I say unto you, Nay; but all men are privileged the one like unto the other, and none are forbidden.

I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God.  I continually strive for a renewed answer to this question, because I want it to become ever more clear to me, and the rest of the world, that God truly does dwell in light, and work through it, and create it.  I know it to be true, and I know the sweetness that such an answer brings to the soul!  

Thanks for reading, folks!  Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Wallentine

Hey from Elder Wallentine!

Hey folks!

I don't have much time anymore today, but I just wanted to let you all know what is going in my life here!  We have been working well with our investigators and they have been doing pretty well in progressing!  One of them read in 2 Nephi chapter 2 after we invited him to it, and he said that it made total sense to him and that he believed it was true.  After having shared the message of the Plan of Salvation with him, he said the same thing about that as well!  We invited him to church, but he was too busy last week.  He said he will come this week though!

In addition, we found nine new investigators last week, which was pretty sweet!  We have been keeping very busy!

Lastly, as you know, we got Facebook yesterday!  Honestly, it is really weird to be back one. I will have to sort things out and so forth with that.  It is going to take a lot of getting used to.  What used to be a time-waster and tool for communication must be reduced to merely the latter if I it is to be used properly.  It will certainly be good training for life after the mission, as it will help us to develop better habits of technology usage that went previously undeveloped on missions.

Anyways, the work goes on, and the work remains the same.  However, the tools to do it are just slightly altered!

Love you all!

Be safe!

Remember who you are!

Love,
Elder Wallentine

My Purpose

Hey folks!

It has been a pretty good week!  We talked with Gizi, the member we encountered whom I mentioned last letter, and got her records transferred!  Nuremberg just got a new member, and she seems excited to be connected with the church again!  In other news, we have been finding a lot of cool students, but each has only foundational knowledge and interest for now.  Hoping things turn out with them.

General conference was great, right?  My favorite talks were:

"Lord, Wilt Thou Cause That My Eyes May Be Opened" from Elder Craig W. Zwick

"Earning the Trust of the Lord and Your Family" from Elder Richard J. Maynes

"The Lord Leads His Church" by President Henry B. Eyring

"Bearers of Heavenly Light" by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

"The Book of Mormon: What Would Your Life Be Like Without It?" by President Russel M. Nelson 

and "A Yearning for Home" by President Uchtdorf again. 

In the past days my mind has been brought up to reflection on the principles surrounding the calling which I as well as others have.  To be called as a missionary of God and to take part in His holy work is a unique commission that has been given to people, especially in the times of Jesus, the Dispensation of the Meridian of Time, along with The Dispensation of the Fulness of Times--or, that is, now.  

What, or who is a missionary?  As missionaries, we are ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ, the immortal Son of God.  We are designated servants sent from Him to go and share His Gospel throughout the world. We are the carriers of His great Gospel of good will.  We know why we are called and what we are to do, for the Savior in His Biblical commission to His servants is clear and unambiguous: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." (Matthew 28:19-20).  

The unique message we carry to the world is that this very same organization which Christ established as He sojourned here has been restored by him once more.  This is the organization through which His apostles and other servants were called, and through which the essential ordinances of baptism and confirmation are to still take place.  As we preach these things, we do not come alone, for the Lord has promised us that He "will be on [our] right hand and on [our] left, and [His] Spirit shall be in [our] hearts, and [His] angels round about [us], to bear [us] up." (D&C 84:88).  

If the message we carry is true, it follows that the authority to do and teach these things will not and cannot be found, except through the authorized power and organization of Jesus Christ.  By saying this, we do not say that any other religion or line of faith is utterly wrong nor evil, but rather that over time all men have lost at least a part of the full truth and power that existed in the time of Christ.  By the ingenuity, sacrifice, and goodness of people throughout the Dark Ages, many truths luckily were preserved, but likewise, a great amount were collectively lost or obscured.  The message is of mercy.  It is an invitation.  We ask all people everywhere to add to the truths they already know and hold tight, because God has given us these truths once more, not only fractionally but as a whole, and all needed things that have been lost are again on the earth.

My goal is not to convince people that the message is true.  In fact, I don't considered myself authorized to do that.  I do not seek to, exactly as Joseph Smith saw in his troubled time, "[use] all the powers of both reason and sophistry to prove [people their] errors, or, at least, to make the people think they [are] in error".  It would be a long two years perhaps if that was the case, and in that case, we would also be fully authorized to use Google to find all the evidences to show people!  No, no, though, that is not how we do things.  Though our goal is faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end, our entire purpose as missionaries starts with one word: "Invite."  Not to coerce, lure, trick, convince, persuade, force, prove, or argue, but "invite".  That is because we cannot force anyone to be baptized, to repent, or to have faith.  Christ never did that, and it would never work even if we tried.  He invited people and He did His best, actually, the best, to do so.  Though I have mentally placed different emphases on this throughout my mission, I intend on making that my main emphasis for the remainder of it.  This is no concession to make as a result of any perceived lack of success.  I feel as though I have actually been successful so far and have seen fruits to bear witness to that.  To focus on inviting is no "lower-level" than any original purpose, but it truly is the core in finding those who are ready for further steps in the gospel.  

I am sure that there are few if any assurances that make one feel better than the knowledge that he has done his best in the Lord's work.  One day I will end my time here, and I continue to work for that conviction, in order to, when I am no longer assigned to labor in this particular cause, feel the sweet knowledge that I will have used my time here to the best of my ability.  It is not to say that I will have not made mistakes, and luckily that is why we have repentance, but it does tell me that I need to be sincere and I need to have faith.  Baptism is still my goal and I am still determined to find those who are ready as has been done in the past.  However, my measurement of effort to baptize will be my exertion to invite all I can.

The scripture from D&C 123 is currently on my mind--17: "Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed."

I am very excited to be starting yet another transfer!  We're starting number eleven, chaps!  We have set a goal to help two people come into the waters by mid-November.  Please pray for us that we will find and teach with the spirit in a manner that will help.  I give you my promise, and hope to make myself accountable to it, that I will do all I can, and will daily improve if I fail, to find these people.  

I LOVE YOU ALL.  WISH US LUCK.  I WISH YOU ALL LUCK TOO IN ALL YOUR ENDEAVORS.

Elder Wallentine