So, Elder Oaks came and spoke with the Missionaries on Tuesday. It was awesome; we all got to shake his, Sis. Oaks, and Elder and Sis. Cardon's (I think that's his name; haha) hands. It was pretty cool. We then sat down and listened to him; I got to sit right near the pulpit, on the second row, which was also very awesome. He opened by asking us "Who are you?" and then telling us that citizenship, nationality, race, which sports team we like, what college we went to, etc - all those things that we use to define who we are, are not appropriate for missionaries. We are not to segregate ourselves into BYU and UofU students, Americans and Africans, Chelsea and Man-U fans (major rival soccer clubs in the Barclays Premier and Champion's League), nor even Texas, Utah, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, or Ghana residents. We are servants of the Lord - nothing else. What was funny was that the first thing he mentioned was Texas, and as he did so he looked at me and smiled. It was then weird because every single missionary in the chapel turned and looked at me; haha. Must be the belt buckle; hahaha.
He then went on to tell us we need to study Ch 8 of PMG (Preach My Gospel), and be sure to know how to use our time wisely, as it's the only thing we have very little of in this mission. Investigators, baptismal candidates, all these things are plentiful - our time we have to work with them is not. He discussed our necessity to remember our duty and to be obedient, as well as many other things, but the one I want to truly focus on is at the end. He mentioned something that Pres. Faust use to say in the Quorum meetings when something in the world was hindering the Lord's Work, and needed to be resolved, and just about every possible solution mortals can do had been tried, but to no avail. Pres. Faust would be the first to say "Well brethren, let's get some Spirit Power to take care of this problem." They would then pray and turn it over to the Lord. The example Elder Oaks gave was when Norway rejected missionary visas; it was soon afterward taken care of and missionaries let back in.
For Ghana, we have a problem in that two missionaries have been imprisoned. Every possible thing we (the church) can do has been done, and they have postponed the hearing for their release for over 5 months now, constantly refusing to listen to it and keeping them in prison with no chance of being set free. Elder Oaks invited us to bow our heads with him and help ask for the Lord to take care of the problem, by our faith. He then prayed for us. It was utterly amazing; never before have I heard such an unbelievably powerful prayer. I don't think it fully appropriate to share it in such a public venue, but it truly was the most powerful thing I have ever heard, given in such a way.
As for the week... It's probably been one of the hardest on my mission so far. We worked terribly hard, we were exhausted every day, we did what we needed to do - and just about every one of our investigators failed us. They failed appointments, they failed coming to Church, they failed reading, they failed praying; in short, just about every single of of them failed everything they could fail. It was utterly depressing, and only made worse by the fact that we missed our weekly lessons requirement (aka goal; we aren't allowed to make our own weekly goal for that one) by two, which caused the leaders to get upset and start interrogating why and who and what and blah blah blah. Luckily, they're in the end nice leaders, so they understood, and we had to just drop a lot of people and will rebuild our pool this week with people who actually want to know more about Christ.
YET! As a bright shining light in the midst of complete darkness, we were blessed to have Aku's children come to Church - by themselves, unfortunately, but that's because Aku had to take care of her father's 84th birthday, which was yesterday, so it's somehow understandable. But yea! The kids came, which shows they actually like it and want to come, which makes me really really happy!
He then went on to tell us we need to study Ch 8 of PMG (Preach My Gospel), and be sure to know how to use our time wisely, as it's the only thing we have very little of in this mission. Investigators, baptismal candidates, all these things are plentiful - our time we have to work with them is not. He discussed our necessity to remember our duty and to be obedient, as well as many other things, but the one I want to truly focus on is at the end. He mentioned something that Pres. Faust use to say in the Quorum meetings when something in the world was hindering the Lord's Work, and needed to be resolved, and just about every possible solution mortals can do had been tried, but to no avail. Pres. Faust would be the first to say "Well brethren, let's get some Spirit Power to take care of this problem." They would then pray and turn it over to the Lord. The example Elder Oaks gave was when Norway rejected missionary visas; it was soon afterward taken care of and missionaries let back in.
For Ghana, we have a problem in that two missionaries have been imprisoned. Every possible thing we (the church) can do has been done, and they have postponed the hearing for their release for over 5 months now, constantly refusing to listen to it and keeping them in prison with no chance of being set free. Elder Oaks invited us to bow our heads with him and help ask for the Lord to take care of the problem, by our faith. He then prayed for us. It was utterly amazing; never before have I heard such an unbelievably powerful prayer. I don't think it fully appropriate to share it in such a public venue, but it truly was the most powerful thing I have ever heard, given in such a way.
As for the week... It's probably been one of the hardest on my mission so far. We worked terribly hard, we were exhausted every day, we did what we needed to do - and just about every one of our investigators failed us. They failed appointments, they failed coming to Church, they failed reading, they failed praying; in short, just about every single of of them failed everything they could fail. It was utterly depressing, and only made worse by the fact that we missed our weekly lessons requirement (aka goal; we aren't allowed to make our own weekly goal for that one) by two, which caused the leaders to get upset and start interrogating why and who and what and blah blah blah. Luckily, they're in the end nice leaders, so they understood, and we had to just drop a lot of people and will rebuild our pool this week with people who actually want to know more about Christ.
YET! As a bright shining light in the midst of complete darkness, we were blessed to have Aku's children come to Church - by themselves, unfortunately, but that's because Aku had to take care of her father's 84th birthday, which was yesterday, so it's somehow understandable. But yea! The kids came, which shows they actually like it and want to come, which makes me really really happy!
In final note, Elder Nembaware keeps improving very rapidly day by day, which is a wonderful blessing in and of itself.
Welp, time is running short, so I'll end it here. I know these things are true - Read the Book of Mormon! It's not that hard, people! Just a few verses! Read it! Try Alma 7; it's a nice one. Short, but very powerful. Read it, please?
K, that's all for this week. Till next time!
I know this Gospel is True! I love this Work! I love you all!
--Elder Collings
texas is great..... specially the belt buckles.
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