Hello Family and Friends!
Its been another fulfilling, spiritual, beautiful week in BC! We have had spiritual lessons, zone conferences, a temple dedication, blessings as we have been out finding, and of course... lots of laughs! :)
Our investigators are doing well. Ory is still progressing and we had a good lesson with him about the Plan of Salvation and the importance of the Gospel in that plan. He came to realize that he was progressing really well in spiritual things but then he distanced himself from us for a week and went back to his old ways a bit, but now is ready to take baby steps back up. He also explained faith, repentance, baptism, holy ghost, and enduring to the end so well. Its amazing when you start to see things click with people. We are just helping him build up his faith more and more. :)
Jasper is also doing SUPER well! We met up with us Tuesday night and we taught Follow the Prophet and the Law of Chastity. We introduced the Law of Chastity and were going into it and then he stops and was like "Oh! I just realized we are having "The Talk!" It was pretty funny. He really likes it because he sees the need of it in todays world and he committed to live it! We also gave him President Monson's talk from last conference to watch. Then Saturday night we were able to see him again. He loved the talk and said that he understood a bit more about the spirit from it. We talked a bit about baptism with him... But he still is trying to understand the spirit and receiving answers to prayers and just knowing if God is aware of him. It was a powerful lesson and the spirit was there. He even got emotional because he has been going through some hard times, his mom passed away about a month ago so he is still trying to understand things. We were able to testify and share experinces where we have felt of God's love and his awareness for us. We pushed his date for baptism back to December because he is still working on the basics (belief of God and Jesus Christ) At the end of the lesson we really wanted him to pray because he still hasn't prayed in front of us. We asked him if we could kneel and if we would say a prayer. So we all get down on our knees and bow our heads and wait for him to begin... Well, we wait and wait... I wasn't sure if he was getting emotional again so I just keep waiting in silence and praying like crazy in my head for God to help him find the confidence to pray out loud. I was also waiting for one of my companions to say something... But we were there for about 5 minutes before someone said something. Jasper just thought we said in his head... So he said one in his head and said that it felt really good. Well, as long as he felt the spirit, who cares about the awkward moments. haha :)
Jasper also came to a little Devotional we had on Sunday. We had a meeting for all the less actives and investigators to come too for the missionaries in the area. We didnt have regular church meetings becasue of a temple dedication. The Elders showed The Restoration and me and Sister Schroeder did a little lesson on faith. So we were up in front of everyone and I'm talking and I go to say "Just as Sister Schroder said...." and I look at her name tag and it was up side down! I almost burst out laughing just becasue she always makes me laugh anyway and becasue I have a laughing problem. But I was able to make it through with only stummbling over my words a bit. :) But I still laugh at it now :) Me and Sister Mumford keep her around just for laughs.:)
In the Brookswood ward we are teaching this couple Kathy and Barry. They are super prepared and are working towards baptism in December. One night this week we went over with the Bishop to teach them. Kathy has health problems and has been going trough some hard trials. We read Mosiah 24 with them and Bishop gave Kathy a blessing of healing. As that was going, the spirit prompted me that Barry needed a blessing too to help him live the word of wisdom. I asked him if he wanted one and he said yes and he also got one and it said that his adddiction would go away and that he would have the strenghth to overcome temptation for his baptism. The spirit was super strong and we were able to leave the lesson with singing a hymn. :)
We also had Zone Conference with all the missionaries in the Lower Main Land. It was amazing to see a whole chapel filled with missionares. :) Elder Teh of the Seventy toured the mission. He started his training talk about the spirit and how the spirit will teach us things that are not actually spoken as we keep our hearts open and ask questions in prayer. Somethings that I learn from the sprit that were not spoken were "The Key to have the desire to do the Lord's work is conversion." and "Discouragement weakens faith." Also something that I really liked that he said was that everyone we meet needs to understand the Plan of Salvation in its simplest form: A Loving Father in Heaven wants us to come home to Him." That's what its all about!
At the Montreal Temple dedication one of the speakers spoke about happiness. What causes happiness? Happiness comes from feeling the spirit. How do we feel the spirit? Feeling the spirit comes by making and keeping sacred covenants. So, happiness comes by making and keeping coventants with the Lord. I had such a good study this week on God's mercy. "If the Lord in his condescension unto the children of men hath visited men in so much mercy, why should I linger in sorrow?" (2 Ne 4:26) The Lord has been so mericful to us as the children of men. He has given us the Gospel of Jesus Christ so that we wouldn't be lost and fallen forever. He made a way possible for us to return to living with our Loving Heavenly Father. The Lord has been so mericful to me in my life and I feel so blessed. I have been born is such a good family where I was able to grow up with the Gospel. I have been given experieces where I have been able to build my faith and testimony. I have been able to serve a mission and God has been helping me overcome my weaknesses. I have been led by the Spirit to not only help me, but to experiece the joy of helping others. And I have been able to make sacred convenants with him and by doing so have felt His power. I have been able to feel his happiness and rest from striving to be faithful to those covenants. My heart is filled with thanksgiving. I hope we can all truly see how the Lord has been merciful to us. I love you all. Thank you so much for your love and support. It means so much to me. Hope you all have a great week!
Love,
Sister Lofthouse
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