August 12, 2013 Jacob

Family, this week has been one of great learning and great thought. If you remember in my last letter, I was talking about how the spirit comes to us but sometimes we dont recognize it or dont know how to liste. Well I received a great blessing this week. President Millar called me after my exchange on thursdasy about my letter that I sent him. I sent him kind of the same thing I sent you, and asked him that next time we meet if he could give me some pointers on how to recognize the spirit. Well we had a great conversation and he pointed me in the direction of D&C sections 9. The section where God tells Oliver Cowdrey why he couldnt translate the book of mormon. When he told me to read that, It felt like I got hit. I realized that, Just like Oliver, I was just expecting to get an answer. That I thought, that just because I was a missionary, that I would receive amazing revelation with out doing anything. But I was sooooo wrong. In D&C 9 the lord gives a lot of council to Oliver Cowdrey(and to me) and I was able to make a list or a flow chart on how to get receive personal revelation.

 

1. Study the question, problem, or destination in your mind. Try with all your might to think of a proper solution to this problem.

2. Pray and ask heavinly father if the course of action that you have chosen is the right choice.

   2a. If it Is the RIGHT choice, then you will feel a burning in your heart. A positive feeling of comfort about the choice.

   2b. If is is the WRONG choice, then you will probably not feel anything, or a feeling of dicsomfort. You may even have a stupor of thought, making that decition confusing. If you get this answer, then go back to step 1. Try again and try to think of what Jesus would do.

3. Follow the commandments. The spirit of God cannot dwell in any unclean thing. Do everything possible to make yourself super sensitive to the spirit. Read, pray, fast, church, obedience. All of these things only put you in a state of mind where you can perceve what God wants you to do.

4. ACT!!!!! If you receive an answer ACT upon it. Do not let the lord think that he is just wasting his time giving you this revelation. Once you get it act. And do not doubt. One of my favorite lines from a talk is "On the journey that is life, let questions arise, but never doubt."

 

Family I had the most amazing experience of getting to put this into action on Saturday. We are really trying to get up our investigator pool, but this poor area has been knocked to death. We are still doing it, but there is a better way. Member missionary work. We fasted on friday for which families or people in our ward, have people in their lives that are ready to receive the gospel. On saturday morning, we got out the ward list and selected around 10 names as individuals that we thought would have people. We then cross checked our list and wrote down the names that we both had in common. We then had a list of about 6 to 7. We then split up and  picked 2 names individually and then prayed about it. I had to put different names together before I felt like I had the right people. When I went back out to my companion, we had one name in common, but the second name was not. So we went back and did it again. But with the same results. One name, being different. So we sat down this time, and talked it out. We were able to slowly eliminate certain names. The whole time I felt as if the spirit was guiding us. Finally we had 2 names we agreed on. When we prayed to know if it was true. WOW!!!!! Family, I felt like I got kicked in the chest by a horse. Talk about a buring in your bosom!!!

 

That was the best miricle this week. Pray that we will be able to find more people to teach. We are loosing investigators one by one and we need to get more we can teach. Pray that we will be able to find those prepared to hear this amazing message.

 

This past week had been fun! I was able to go on an exchange to eden bridge, and there I did more knocking for a single amount of time then I ever have before. And I realized something. I am afraid of hard work. Still afraid. Stupid!! So Im going to be trying to work on that more this week. I want to be able to love this so much, that no amount of hard work will scare me away from doing what needs to be done to bring people closer to christ.

 

I love you family so much. I dont really know what else to write. I guess I'm bad at that. But wait.. I just thought of something. On our wall in the flat, every missionary that has ever come to haywards heath has written down a DOCTRINE. A saying of there that gave them incouragement. I just decided mine.

 

CHOOSE YOU THIS DAY WHOM YOU WILL SERVE! (JOSHUA 24:15)

AND THEN SERVE HIM WITH ALL YOUR HEART, MIND, MIGHT, AND STRENGTH! (D&C 4:2)

AS FOR ME AND MY COMPANION WE WILL SERVE THE LORD! (JOSHUA 24:15 altered)

 

Love you family. I'll write you guys more next week. Its been really cool to be able to hear about all the meterior showers.

 

Til Next Week - Elder Hale