Last week was great! We had zone conference on Wednesday, it was
awesome! Elder Eduardo Gavarret of the Seventy came to our mission. I learned a
lot and was reminded through personal revelation about some things I can improve
on. I love learning from the Holy Ghost! He is the best teacher! He knows
exactly what we need to learn, all the time!
We picked up a new investigator
named DJ on Monday, he's a young man going to high school. We taught him the
Restoration, and he was listening the whole time, and he explained to us that
it makes total sense! Goad has a specific way of talking to people on earth,
and that is through prophets! And he's right! That's the doctrine of prophets,
in a nutshell! We invited him to be baptized and he said yes! We called him
last night to confirm our appointment for today and followed up with him on
commitments, and he said that he did pray about what we taught him! We are
really excited to meet with him again tonight!
We tried contacting a referral
from the Spanish Elders, who ended up not being home, so we tried working in
the neighborhood and talking to the neighbors. One of the neighbors, a young
man, answered the door ( we recognized each other because we actually walked
past him earlier that day). He let us into his home, and he had a lot of
questions about what we believed. We taught him some of the Restoration and he
liked it!
Another experience we had was when we we stopped by a member's
house because they were providing dinner for us. As we got out of the car, I
saw a man across the street in his driveway working on a bicycle. I pretty much
have it ingrained in my mind now that I'm supposed to talk to everyone haha, so
Elder Brimhall and I walked over and talked to him. Turns out his name is Dave.
He's Baptist, but had a lot of questions about our beliefs. At one point he
said something along the lines of "I respect what you guys do, but I won't
listen to what you guys have to say, especially because you guys don't believe
in blood transfusions." Whoa whoa whoa whoa, hang on a second. So I had to
explain to him that he was mistaking us for Jehovah's Witnesses, and that we
are actually Mormons. "Oooooh, okay!" Then he opened up more and we
were able to teach him the Restoration. I saw him watch and listen intently as
I recited Joseph Smith's own words of his experience seeing Heavenly Father and
His Son, Jesus Christ. It was awesome, probably one of the coolest street
contacts I've experienced on my mission. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet
of God, that Jesus Christ restored His church and His gospel through the
prophet Joseph Smith. I testify that Thomas S. Monson is a modern day prophet
of God. What a blessing that is; just as in ancient times, God once again
speaks to mankind through an authorized servant today who has His authority and
receives revelation from God to direct God's children to paths and choices that
can, and do, bring us lasting joy and make our lives so much better, and, if
continually followed, will bring closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ. As you
make the Savior the focus of your life and the foundation upon which you are
built (see Helaman 5:12), everything else in life will fall into place. Things
will work together for your good.
There's a quote from President Ezra Taft Benson that I want to
share with you. He said:
Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that
He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their
joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift
their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort
their souls, raise up friends, and pour out peace. Whoever will lose his life
in the service of God will find eternal life"
I
know that to be true. I know that as we seek to forget our selfish wants and
desires, and instead seek to carry out the will of God and seek to care for and
serve those around us, that we will find lasting joy that lasts!
I
love you all, have a good week! I'm looking forward to general conference this
weekend!
🎶Come listen to a prophet's voice! 🎶
Elder
Ruiz
No comments:
Post a Comment