Hey folks!
This week has been AWESOME! We have been seeing so many more cool
things happening, and it is making me lose my marbles! The first of which was
that one of our investigators, Johannes, has told us that he is focusing on
being baptized on the 18th of November. There is nothing right now that will be
holding him back from being baptized on that date. He is repentant, coming to
church, and becoming increasingly converted. We are focusing right now on
helping the members bring him in with love and open arms. If he can feel
welcome, I think he will make it for sure. He is an awesome man. However, as
we may have seen in the past, things can happen before people are baptized that
will try to drive them away. If you can keep him in your prayers, please do so,
because we need, and he needs, all the help possible!
We also met with an investigator around the same area, who has said that
she has received a spiritual confirmation through a movie that the Book of
Mormon is true, which I find really awesome. She said she received the answer
while watching ''God Is Not Dead'', which I actually haven't seen. But yeah,
she said that she felt that she needed to read in the Book of Mormon while
watching the movie, and when she began to read she said she felt ''mega good''!
Although it is subtle, I can't help but know that that was the same feeling I
felt as I got my own answer. We have told her and testified that it truly was
an answer, and plan to emphasize that fully this coming Saturday. Stay
tuned!
I feel like writing about something about which there seems to be a lot of
disagreement. In fact, Elder D. Todd Christofferson gave a talk about this
particular topic in General Conference in October 2016, titled : ''Abide in My
Love'' I would recommend this talk for any person who has confusion on the
following matter because he clarifies it really well.
The confusion to which I refer is concerning the meaning the word ''love''
when we speak about God's form of it. I believe it is first important to say
emphatically YES: God loves us! In fact, His love is truly perfect and
immaculate. He is perfectly fair and knows each of us perfectly as our Eternal
Father. He has observed us through the ions of time and has rejoiced in seeing
us grow. He does not stop to rejoice as we continue our sojourning on the earth
in this time in righteous ways. Because God loves us perfectly, He has provided
us with His Son Jesus Christ, that we may have joy and peace, as well as freedom
and salvation from our own spiritually-fatal flaws and sins which we all make.
Through His Son, whom the Father has provided, we are given the incomprehensibly
powerful gift of redemption, both from the heavy chains of spiritual death, or
sin, and the weight of physical death. Again, we all must face these two things
throughout our life as a result of being here as mortals. However, we are able
to find redemption from them.
God's love makes Him desire the best for us. What is the best? Eternal
life. Eternal life is the life that our Father now possesses, and it is the
opportunity to eternally progress and receive a fullness of joy and godly
perfection. God's plan, and God's love are those things which allow us to return
to him.
So, let me emphasize again that it cannot be emphasized enough how much God
loves us. His love will always be there for the most righteous and the most
wicked of people. Nobody sins so much that they are beyond His reach.
Here is the problem though: Many people associate this love with ignoring
of flaws, unwarranted forgiveness of sin and rebellion, or allowance of
violations against both God's commandments and the laws of the universe. Some
reason: If God loves me, then he will accept me for who I am, and
will understand that a sinner is who I am and who I will be. Though this
isn't always said out-loud, there is a whiff of ''I can do whatever I want,
because God loves me and will forgive me.''
This, however, is not accurate when we understand the difference between
God's love and God's ability to bless us, including with the gift of eternal
life. God's love is there, and will always be there, for those who sin. This
means that those who repent and come unto Him through the mercy of His son,
Jesus Christ, will be forgiven and redeemed, because that is the glory of His
love. However, His ability to bless us is conditional based upon our own
righteousness. When we sin, we forfeit blessings, and often times a number of
them. We lose the companionship of the Holy Ghost, and our ability to feel
God's love is diminished. If we continue in sin, we lose the ability to feel
God's love, and His blessings are lost.
If we continue through life, dwelling in sin, refusing to change or repent,
and rebelling against God in this sense, we may find out that we lose His
greatest blessing: Eternal life. However, that is not to judge any particular
person, because in the end, God is the judge. If someone is prohibited from
receiving such a gift, I can only assume that it breaks God's heart, and that He
has true sorrow over it. But His love is there. One is only prohibited from the
blessings of it because of his own rebellion.
I hope that this makes sense. I do not have much time today. It is also a
better use of time for you to read Elder Christofferson's talk over this because
he took more time to explain and is an educated prophet and a great man much
smarter than I am. But I bear testimony that God's love is there for us, and if
we do not feel it, it is not because He has lost it, but because we have driven
it out of ourselves. In this case, we must ask ourselves: What have I done to
drive it out of my heart, and what must I now do to receive it and its contained
blessings? If we answer these correctly and follow them, I know that we will
receive all the blessings He has for us as we strive forward
continually.
Also, Elder Sabin came to the mission this week, and talked to us. It was
AWESOME. I will share more experiences about it next time around.
Love you guys!
Elder Wallentine
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