Week 59 Why Do You Come To Church Each Week?

Hello dear family and friends! This has truly been an uplifting week, but a long week as well. I hope your week has been better then mine, and that all is well, I also hope that the women's conference was great, and we are all getting ready for general conference. I know I will be preparing for it as I have a question for the Lord to answer for me, that has come across my mind recently. I will tell you about it either next week or around Christmas time, not sure when, but I'll let you know. Well, let's get to it.

Monday

We were all over the place. We went shopping in the morning, and then we went to try to get hair cuts somewhere but couldn't find a place nearby so we went and emailed. Then we went to the church and had a BBQ with President Wilding, his wife, and the whole zone. It was a lot of fun. We played ultimate frisbee and had a really good lunch. After, we went back and finished emailing. Then we went up to Snohomish to take the other elders to the soccer dome. After dropping them off, Elder Powers and I went and got our hair cut at Great Clips in Snohomish. After, we went back to the soccer dome and played for a little bit before we went home, got changed, and went over to good will to have Elder Davis buy a waffle iron. Then we went and dropped them off at their apartment and went to ours to plan the rest of the night. Then we went and saw some families, and we ended the night with street contacting. 

Tuesday

We went and did service at the senior center. Then we had mormon.org time, and I was able to print off a stop smoking program for a lesson we had later in the day with Revim. After, we had lunch with all the other elders. Then we went to the store and bought some things for Revim's lesson. Then after, the Monroe elders took us home, and we had comp study. Then we went looking for the dollar store in Monroe, but we couldn't find it until a member called to cancel a dinner with us, and she told us where it was. That was pretty funny. After finding it and getting what we needed for the lesson, we drove over to the church and made some copies of the program before Garrett Davis picked us up for our lesson. Then we went to our lesson with Revim and introduced the stop smoking program to him. It was a lot to take in for him, but he said he will try to do it. I can understand what he's going through. It's hard to get over an addiction, but we keep praying for him, and I know he'll get baptized. After our lesson, we had Garret drive us over to dinner with the Kittlers and had dinner with them. After dinner, we had Brother Kittler drive us back to the church, and from there we went and visited people for the rest of the night.

Wednesday

We had district meeting, and Elder Brown discussed what Preach My Gospel's purpose is. Then we had lunch at McDonalds. After, we came home and had comp study. Then we went looking for a less active member at a business address in our area. We found out he doesn't live there but lives in Arizona, which is funny because he's a member and to make sure missionaries and the church doesn't come find him, he put that address down. After, we went and saw some other people. We also tried to check in with Revim, but he was at church. His mom, Luda, says he was not doing too well, but he's working on it. He went from 1 and a half packs to 3 to 4 cigarettes a day, so it's progress, but not enough. After, we went and helped Danielle with a hay load, and that took the rest of the day including dinner.

Thursday

We went and saw the Currnuts in the morning and got them set up for dinner for the third time. After, we went home and had lunch with the other elders to celebrate Elder Peterson's year mark. That was lots of fun.

    

Elder Peterson's year mark celebration

Then we went back home and had comp. study, and then went off to go see people. Around 4 pm we went and tried to see Revim, but he was at work, so then we went to Sam's house and had a discussion with him about family history and the road to conversion. After, we quickly had dinner with the Anderson, and then had a lesson with Ryan. We gave him a church tour and then at the end asked him what his purpose was with meeting with us. He said it was to learn more about the church, and it may help him to learn more about Christ, but he doesn't want to convert. Huh, that's not cool. We'll keep teaching him so maybe the Lord can soften his heart, but we don't know how long we'll have him. He says he is moving back to Florida. So we'll see. After, we went and did some street contacting and then came home and ended the night.

Friday

We went to the food bank and helped there. Then after, we came home and had lunch with the other elders again. After they left, we had personal and comp study. Then my councilor called, and we had our last counseling appointment. After, we looked up some places in the area book to see where they were, and then we went and saw a guy named Anthony. He is a referral given to us by Spanish, but he wasn't home. So we went to the library and printed off a progress record and did some weekly planning as well. Then we had dinner with the Framptons at a Mexican place in Monroe. After, we went home and finished weekly planning. We weren't able to check up on Revim because he was at work again. 

Saturday

We started the day by tracting a small street in Monroe, but had no luck. Then we went and tried to see a potential investigator, but she wasn't home. So we went to the store to pick up a new light bulb for our room because the one we had went out. Then we came home and had lunch, did comp study, and then went over to dirt road wonderland and did some exploring in our Rav 4. Which reminds me...Elder Powers doesn't have his license, so I'm driving all the time!! So that was fun driving in the dirt roads with our new car. I can go pretty fast, and it does a really good job on the roads. This part of our area is a little far out there, and we haven't explored it too much. So we had a good amount of time to go exploring and see what was down in that area. We went to go see a solid potential, but he was busy at the time. So we drove down the street more and looked for houses to knock on. There wasn't a lot to do so then we went and saw Brother Orberg and had a good long chat with him. After, we got out of dirt road wonderland and went to have a lesson with Revim to see how he's doing. He seemed to be doing well, and he was a lot more aware this time. His mom told us, he gets really angry sometimes and so she will give up and give him his cigarettes, and tell him, "It's your life. If you want to smoke, go head," which is not good. We talked about what could happen if he stopped smoking and how it would make him a lot more happier in life. He's trying his best. Then we came home and had dinner on our own and went and saw people for the rest of the night. 

Sunday

We had our meetings. Then we went to church. Revim came to church which was great! After, we made sure he was in a good spot, and then we ran over to have our lesson with the Branstetters. We went over to teach the plan of salvation, but after talking with them a little more, we felt impressed to talk about the reasons for coming to church. After talking about that, we saw the reason why we felt to talk about that is because the parents have been avoiding coming to church because the "little things" the ward does that they take offense to. Being filled with the spirit, I boldly testified the reason to come to church. It wasn't to just come and feel the spirit. It was because we all need forgiveness, and if people in this church do things you don't like, then who cares? You don't leave the church just because people are not doing things you want them to do, or even just because they said something that they didn't mean to. You come to church because salvation is needed for everyone. You come to church because that's where you can feel the love of God. You go to church to be forgiven. Once you go for those reasons, we all soon realize that that is what everyone is there for, and nobody is perfect. After we had a message with the Zittings, and then we went and had dinner with bishop. To end the night, we street contacted for the rest of the night. 

Well that's my week, brothers and sisters. I hope as you are getting ready for general conference you all have at least some questions prepared. I pray that the lord will answer it. Remember what I said about church, and if you stand in that same place as the Branstetter family, maybe you need to ask yourself, What do I believe in? Do I believe in a church where we all say "wow, I'm glad I'm not that guy." or do we believe in a church of saving. I can testify if any man in this church is looking for the light to come back in their life, remember what Jesus has done for you. Remember what He said to the Pharisees and Scribes, and remember what He says to us all. No one is better then you, and you are never better then anyone else. We are all equal. We all have one purpose in mind, to come unto Christ and be perfected in Him. I boldly testify that He lives, He loves us all, and He only wants us to love one another as He has. Remember He is the only way to our father. Don't let anything get in the way of that. Because you matter. My prayer is we all can come unto Him, as children of our Heavenly Father, and say "Lord, I am not worthy, Have mercy on my soul. I so testify as a witness of Him who is greater then man and I echo his words, "be still and KNOW I AM GOD." I truly love you all, and I pray for you all, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.