Weekly Update 10/26/15

The week was extremely uneventful.  We are working really hard to find new investigators to teach, but it seems like no one at all wants to learn about the gospel.

Friday/Saturday was kind of crazy though.  We had a lesson with our investigator Bill, who is awesome.  He was taught by missionaries in the past but they had to drop him because they couldn’t get a hold of him.  So Sis Bird and I went to see him and ever since then, he has really been on fire.  He is truly converted to the gospel and it is so cool to see him learn and grow.  His whole countenance has changed even just in the few months that I’ve known him.  And he was already to go to be baptized Oct 24^th.  So we get to his house, and our member who’d beat us to his house by a couple of minutes, talked him into waiting to be baptized on November 7^th, so his fiancé could be there.  Keep in mind this is all happening at 8pm the night before his scheduled day.  It was so intense in there and we were all going back and forth between what day it should happen.  And I have a huge testimony of “do not procrastinate the day of you repentance”, so I was really trying to not be frustrated with our member.  He hadn’t decided for sure what he was going to do but said he’d let us know for sure by 7:00 Saturday morning.  All night long we felt uneasy and discouraged.   And in the morning, he told us he’s waiting till the 7^th.  and we just couldn’t focus or function, and there were some tears.  We felt unsettled about the 7^th and giving Satan 2 more weeks to mess things up.  We met up with our Sister Training leaders and they are just wonderful.  They lifted our spirits and talked us through everything.  It was way good getting to see them and them helping us relax and calm down.  Then we went to see Bill, just us, without our member.  He’s still doing good, way solid testimony, determined to be baptized.   We warned him about how Satan will try to lead him astray, and committed him to read the Book of Mormon every day to help fortify his testimony.  We love Bill and all will be well!

Sunday was a way good day at Church!  Our recent convert Greg got a calling!  And we taught the Beehives and it was so good.  All about how to become more Christ like in our service.  We shared the “lift” Mormon message.

I’ve been reading The Infinite Atonement and I came across this part that is absolutely beautiful.

“Elder Melvin J. Ballard, with a tender insight that seemed to penetrate the veil, commented on the Father’s choice not to rescue his Son.

“God heard the cry of His Son I that moment of great grief and agony, in the garden when, it is said , the pores of his body opened and drops of blood stood upon Him, and He cried out: ‘Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me.

I ask you, what father and mother could stand by and listen to the cry of their children in distress, in this world, and not render aid and assistance?......”

“We cannot stand by and listen to those cries without its touching our hearts.  The Lord has not given us the power to save our own…He has given us faith, and we submit to the inevitable, but He had the power to save, and He loved His Son , and He could have saved Him…..He saw that Son finally upon Calvary, He saw his body stretched out upon the wooden cross; He saw the cruel nails driven through hands and feet, and the blows that broke the skin, tore the flesh, and let out the life’s blood of His Son.  He looked upon that.”

“In the case of Our Father, the knife was not stayed, but it fell, and the life’s blood of His Beloved Son went out.  His Father looked on with great grief and agony over His Beloved Son, until there seems to have come a moment when even our Savior cried out in despair.  ‘My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me” ?

“In that hour I think I can see our dear Father behind the veil looking upon these dying struggles until even He could not endure it any longer;  and, like the mother who bids farewell to her dying child, has to be taken out of the room, so as not to look upon the last struggles, so He bowed his head, and hid in some part of His universe, His great heart almost breaking for the love that He had for His Son.  Oh, in that moment when He might have saved His Son, I thank Him and praise Him that he did not fail us, for He had not only the love of His Son in mind, but He also had love for us.”

I am so thankful for my Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ who each sacrificed more than we can comprehend so that we can return to live with them again someday.  They love each one of so much!

Love,

Sister Tennant