This week we were able to go to another one of our Book of Mormon classes on Wednesday. This week was focused on 1 Nephi 6-11, so most of what we talked about was Lehi's dream, and then Nephi's dream (which was the same one, just in more detail). They were each about the Tree of Life. I learned lots of stuff and gained a lot of cool insights into things that I hadn't thought of before. For instance: Nephi tells us that the Tree is a representation of the love of God (1 Nephi 11:25), but he never tells us specifically what the fruit itself represents. Well, we learn in John 3:16 that God so loved the world, that he gave his Only Begotten Son. Therefore, the tree, or "the love of God," is a representation of the Savior Jesus Christ. Well, if the Tree of Life represents Jesus, then the fruit of the tree represents his fruit. And what was Jesus' most important "fruit?" The Atonement. I know that the blessings of the Atonement are "the most desirable above all things," and "the most joyous to the soul." There were a lot of cool things I learned on Wednesday, but I think that was the best one, so I thought I'd share it with y'all.
Unfortunately Roger didn't make it to that week's Book of Mormon class, and so we called him after and asked him what was going on. He told us he was just feeling depressed a little bit, so we asked him if we could come over and he said we could. We were a little nervous about what the situation might be when we got there. Was he just sick? Did he run into some anti? Was it just problems at work? We hoped that it wasn't too major, but we were a little bit worried. We got to his house and asked him what was up, and he just told us that a couple of his kids had birthdays right around this time. Roger is divorced, and his kids don't live with him. I don't know a whole lot about it, but I don't think that he gets to see them very much. Anyway, he was just missing them, and was feeling pretty sad. We got to share with him a Mormon Message which was based on a talk from Elder Holland that we had just listened to in the car that day. It's called, "Like a Broken Vessel," and it just talks about dealing with feelings of depression, and how we can find light/hope in the Gospel and through Jesus Christ. He really liked it, and after we watched it we were just talking for a little bit. At one point I got his attention and eye contact and I just said, "I want you to know that we love you, Roger. And as much as we love you, you have a Father in Heaven and you have a Savior who love you even more." I said a couple of other things, but I just wanted him to know that we cared for him and that we would do our best to help him if he needed it.
The highlight of the week of course, was General Conference. There wasn't a single talk that wasn't just incredible. It was the best General Conference that I have ever listened to. I don't think that I could pick a favorite talk because they were all so good, but here were some of my favorites: The one from President Russel M. Nelson in the Saturday afternoon session about the Book of Mormon. He said in that talk, "The Book of Mormon contains the full power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ." I'm going to try and do better at helping people to know that, because it is absolutely true. I also loved the talk by Tad R. Callister in the Sunday afternoon session about the Book of Mormon. He basically just showed how there is absolutely no way that that Book is not the word of God. It is literally impossible for Joseph Smith to have written it. There are a lot of people who say a lot of things about the Book of Mormon. If they read that talk, they might just understand how ridiculous all of the stuff they say is. I loved the talk by President Uchtdorf in the Priesthood session about "light." I'm going to start doing some topical guide study on that subject, and see what else I can come up with. It was a great talk. Another great talk from the Priesthood session was from Elder Renlund. In it, he talked about how the Priesthood is like the delivery system for all of the benefits and blessings of the Atonement. Without the Priesthood on the earth, we couldn't access those blessings. There were so many great talks. It was sad news to hear of the passing of Elder Hales. I wonder if they will call a new Apostle soon, or if it won't be until next Conference. It's hard to think that President Monson will be here by next Conference, too. There will probably be a couple of new faces in Church leadership. It was awesome though, to finish Conference with Elder Anderson's talk. He said a lot of good things, and I thought it was awesome that he got to quote Elder Hales' final address that he never got to give. His talk was one of my favorites as well. I also very much enjoyed Elder Holland's talk about being perfect. We don't have to be 10,000 talents worth of perfect right now. But we can always be 100 pence worth. Elder Holland is always such a good speaker. I loved Elder Oaks' talk about the Family Proclamation. I know that that document is not just Church policy, it's doctrine. Nothing will ever change that. He was very blunt, straightforward, and I enjoyed it.
I feel like there were several themes that went on during Conference. One of them was that we have a home in Heaven, and our Savior will not give up on us until we are there. Another was that the Book of Mormon is true, and we must study it every day. Another was that we need to sustain our church leaders. Each and every one of them is called of God. There were a few other themes that ran throughout Conference, but those were the major ones that I saw.
On Saturday night for the Priesthood session, all of the guys from the branch had a BBQ dinner right before the session. We had invited a lot of people, and were looking forward to a couple of them actually showing up, especially Roger. We called him like an hour before and he said that he would be there. However, we got a call right before dinner from him and he told us that his tire went flat literally while he was driving to the church. That was a little bit discouraging. However, there was a talk just that day in an earlier session about "divine design," and that there are no accidents/coincidences. Sometimes it's hard to believe that, but we took the fact that Roger couldn't make it to the session as "divine design." We decided to go see Roger last night to show him how to watch Conference since he missed it. Well guess what? He had been watching General Conference ALL DAY. He got on YouTube and had started the Saturday sessions. He had watched Saturday morning, afternoon, and the Priesthood session. He had also watched the 2 hours of intermission videos in between each session because he didn't know that those weren't actually part of Conference. We told him that he didn't have to watch that part, and we got him started on one of the Sunday Sessions. He had been watching for over 7 hours that day! He's so solid. We're going to teach him the Word of Wisdom this week, and I'm sure that will either make or break him. He has a testimony, and he knows that this is right. Dad, I appreciate the stuff you sent me about the man who had Word of Wisdom issues as well. I think that insight will help us as we help Roger to get past this obstacle.
One experience (which is actually a bunch of little experiences) that I thought about a bit this week. When we knock doors, occasionally people will open the door and say, "I'm not interested," before a single word comes out of our mouths. That happened to us several times one night this week. I understand that people have their agency, but I find it hard, nearly impossible, to believe that someone can 100%, honestly, truthfully tell us that they are not interested in something before they even know what that something is. A couple of times before the door was slammed in front of us, I would ask people, "Not interested in what?" Elder Hastings says that I shouldn't say that, and he's probably right. But I do have a legitimate question. What is it that they are "not interested" in? We literally haven't told them a single thing to be uninterested in. Sometimes agency is frustrating, but I'll just keep sorting out the wheat and the tares. I guess that's just one of the tough things about missionary work that I'm going to have to deal with for the next 22 months, and I guess when people say that right off the bat then we don't waste time with people who are uninterested. It helps us find the ones who are interested that much faster.
We met a lady last week who we went to go see again last night. Her name is Dee and she has a pretty tough life right now. Her husband has Alzheimer's really bad, and she is getting worn out from taking care of him. We talked to her about how Christ suffered EVERYTHING that we have. She understands that he died on the cross, but she doesn't understand what we do about the Atonement. Because of the Restoration, we know that not only did He die for us, and not only did he suffer for our sins, but he literally took upon Himself every single pain, affliction, bad feeling, temptation, and heartache that we would ever feel. I'm so thankful for that knowledge that we have as members of His true Restored Church. We tried to help Dee understand that, with the help of the Book of Mormon, but she just kept insisting that "Jesus never had Alzheimer's. He never had to deal with it." Well, no, He didn't have Alzheimer's. And no, he didn't have to spend every waking minute caring for someone who does. But He knows what it feels like to do that. He knows EXACTLY how Dee feels, and He alone knows how to help her. We left her with some stuff in the Book of Mormon to read, and I hope that she finds comfort in it.
All in all, this has been a good week. General Conference was incredible, and I can't wait until we get the Ensign so that I can read those talks again. So many of them were just so good. Anyway, I love you all, and I hope that you take the time to study the Book of Mormon every day, and reread the words of the Prophets. They truly are inspired from God. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I know that Jesus is the Christ. I know that He restored his true church to the earth this day, and that He is at the helm of it. He leads it through revelation to prophets, and He will continue to do so until He returns.
Love,
Elder Beach
#RollTide
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