We decided this week to go and stop by and see Patience. She was home, not drunk, and actually talked to us. It was awesome! She basically has no filter and so she just says whatever comes to her mind, no matter what it is, profanity and all. She's a hoot to talk to. Anyway, we talked to her a little bit about how her church was with her aunt, and we talked a little about why there are so many churches out there. That is something that a lot of people wonder, and something that we have the answer to. It's because of the apostasy, the reformers, and all that jazz! Well, that opened the door for us to share with her a brief explanation of the Restoration lesson, and we also showed her a video from mormon.org about the Savior's church and where it is today. It was a pretty good visit, and though it was filled with lots of sarcastic outbursts from Patience, she said something at the end of our visit that was something I was so excited to hear. She said, "Alright, well I'm gonna grab my cousin next week and we're gonna go to y'all's church. I can't promise I'll like it, I can't promise I'm gonna come again, but we'll be there once." We just told her that that is all we can ask of anybody. However, we did let her know that she will enjoy it, because we know that she will. We are going to be in touch with her again soon, but we look forward to seeing her at church. Prayers up for Patience!
This week we also were able to go to lunch with Daniel and one of the members of our branch. It went really well, and the members here are doing an awesome job of being his friend when he comes to church, as well as during the week. There are like 5 members who live on the same street as he does, and a couple of them have invited him and us over for dinner together. Daniel did come to church on Sunday again, and it went pretty well. We didn't even sit by him in Elders Quorum, he sat by a couple members instead. Gospel principles was a little wacky again, but we did our best to salvage it. Haha at the very beginning of the lesson, the teacher says, "Alright today we will be on the very last chapter." I said, "No, you mean the first chapter, right?" (Not sure if I mentioned this last week, but last Sunday we had discussed the last chapter, which is exaltation, and the lesson was all over the place, and filled with much deeper doctrine than needed to be brought up.) "No," he says, "I mean the last chapter, exaltation." For whatever reason, he wanted to do it again! Haha, I just said to him, "Yeah, let's just go and do the first chapter, that will be better." So that's what we did. The first chapter is called, "Our Heavenly Father." We basically spent the whole lesson trying to prove to each other that God exists. It was a little weird, but I guess it's better than talking about exaltation again. Near the end of the lesson, I just said something like, "I'm pretty sure everyone here knows that God exists. There is no arguing that. I think our job at this point is less of proving to ourselves that He is there, and more of trying to understand who He is. Trying to understand His nature and His character, and then emulating it as best we can." Based on the many people I have talked to, the many things I have learned, and the many things I have read and experienced, it is pretty clear to me that most of the world has no idea who or what God really is. If we read any of the creeds that many people follow, (namely the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed) we can basically conclude one thing that the people who believe them believe: that God is incomprehensible, and that it is impossible to really know who or what He is. We were visiting with a guy just this week whom we asked, "Is God to you a being, or more of just a thing?" He didn't know how to respond. He talked about a couple of things, and then just said, "Well, I guess he's more of a thing than a being." John 17:3 states, "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent." Eternal life is in the balance here! If we are to have eternal life, we must know God. We must know that He lives, and we must understand His nature and His character. Obviously we aren't going to understand it perfectly, but I know that the best place to find that information is in the Restored Gospel. Because of the Restoration, we know that God has a perfected body of flesh and bone. We know that He loves us as much now as he did in Old/New Testament times. We know that He has not ceased to be a God of miracles. We know that the Heavens are not closed, and that God speaks to us today. We know that He wants us to become like Him, and we know that that is actually possible! We know that God is not just an immaterial nothing, but that He is literally our Father in Heaven. These are all revealed truths that so much of the world either does not believe, or has never heard of before. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'm so glad to be a part of the true church. In it is found the complete Gospel of Jesus Christ, and everything we need to know to receive the eternal life that has been promised to all who will obey. You cannot go anywhere else in the world and find that.
Alright, sorry if that sounded like a rant. I just want y'all to know that I'm grateful for the truth in a world that is so confused about what the truth is. We don't have to debate about doctrine. It has been revealed to us. I love that.
We also were able to see Sonya this week. Haha I'm not sure what goes through her mind. Last time we saw her it was blood atonement and false doctrine about how the earth was created. This week she was talking about how Cain and Abel took to wife some of the spirits that were cast out with Lucifer who had then possessed bodies of their own (not sure where those bodies came from) and that's how their family had started. She kept telling us that the only other way for Cain and Abel to have children was to take their own mother, Eve, to wife and that's just not true. It was an interesting visit, and we did our best to just kind of tell her that that stuff (like who Cain and Abel married) was not really that important, but that what was important was reading the Book of Mormon and praying to ask God if it is His word. She's a funny lady, and her mind is all over the place. However, she enjoys meeting with us, and she said that she would read the Book of Mormon, so that's good.
A little while ago we met a lady named Cathy while tracting. She is an older lady, and we were able to see her this week and teach her the Restoration. It was a great lesson, and I feel confident that she will read the Book of Mormon. I'm so glad when people do. For an infinite amount of reasons, most people choose not to read the Book of Mormon. However, it is truly the word of God. It truly contains the fullness of the everlasting Gospel. It is truly the Book that will prepare the world for the Second Coming of the Savior. I love that Book, and I love helping people to come to love it as well.
Well, this was a good week. I'm excited for the people we are teaching, and though it is difficult, we are doing our best to find more of them. One side note for today that I thought was cool - this morning we went golfing. We played 9 holes and I shot a 44. Yeah, I took a couple mulligans, but I thought that was pretty good considering I haven't played in years. I still slice my drives pretty bad though haha. Alrighty, well, I love y'all. Have a good week and don't forget to read the Book of Mormon!
Love,
Elder Beach
#RollTide
#19Days (til Alabama's season starts yeehaw)
My companion celebrated his 20th birthday this week! We made a cake to celebrate and wished for baptisms!
Official schedule hanging on our wall.
Crazy rainstorm we got caught in. We thought we could out bike it, but we didn't make it, so we had to wait it out under the eaves of a middle school. When it didn't stop, we eventually biked home in it. It took my shoes 2 days to dry out! In the words of Bear Grylls, "We were sopping moist!"
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