his past week has been awesome. God has been blessing us with people to teach and it has been amazing. The spirit is my favorite companion. It is good to know that I will never be released from that. I love the idea of the spirit being our 'earnest' which the bible dictionary tells us is "a pledge or security. The word thus translated is a commercial term denoting the deposit paid by a buyer on entering into an agreement for the purchase of anything. As used by Paul (2 Cor 1:22; 5:5; Eph 1:14) it means that the Lord gives us His Holy Spirit in this life as a fortaste of the joy of eternal life. The spirit is also the Lord's surety that He will fulfill His promise to give eternal life to the faithful." The fact that it is a foretaste is absolutely incredible. There was a young man in one of my areas and his girlfriend advised him to listen or read the Book of Mormon all the time. He had it going in his car and on his ipod and he just immersed himself in the Book of Mormon. After a week or so of doing this he was talking to his mom and he said "I am just so happy all the time. No wonder the missionaries are always so happy. Because they do this all the time. They have the spirit all the time." Another time on my mission a young man gave a talk at a baptism and he quoted the Gen. Releif Society president who said something to the effect that the Holy Ghost filled up all of our empty spaces so that when we felt the spirit we were completely full. I love that. That also goes along with something the Mission Presidents wife taught, that as we pray and pour our hearts out to God it's like emptying a dirty cup of water, and when we do that there is room for God to pour in his spirit, or a cup of clean water. All the time in teaching situations I tell people that I crave the spirit because of the way it makes me feel. It is peaceful and calming. It is enlightening and exhilarating. It is joyful and energetic. It is light. It is the ultimate gift, next to the Atonement. Speaking of the Atonement. Cool verse I found this morning about it in Leviticus 17:11. 'For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.' There is something very beautiful and poetic that the very thing which makes us mortal and imperfect, blood, is the very thing that was given to cause us to be whole and bring about our eventual perfected state. Christ, who was the only perfect being, was able to shed what made him mortal, and gave the perfect sacrifice. Elder Nelson refers to it as the 'immortal creation'. (For those who want some awesome reading, check out Elder Nelson's talk 'The Atonement' given in the 1996 October General Conference.) In short. I am grateful for the gospel. I am grateful for knowledge and learning. (Sis. Nealy is pretty clever and shared this clever bit of info with me that helps to distinguish knowledge (information we attain) from intelligence (what we do with the information we have gained). 'Knowledge is knowing that tomatoes are a fruit. Wisdom is not putting them in a fruit salad.' Yep. Brilliant.) I am grateful for the Atonement. I am grateful for Families and the plan that God has set for us. I am grateful for the Holy Ghost. This is all truth.
So experience of the week:
In a Zone Training Meeting (a meeting where the zone is trained. ;D) we were taught about the importance of teaching about families. We were urged to bring up and teach the eternal nature that is part of God's plan. We all nodded our heads and agreed. Then later that day, we were out with a member and we went to go follow up with a guy that the Elders had talked to before we were there. This man had lots of questions but not really interested in hearing the complete answer to any of them. We were busy seeking to explain his answers when our member comes in with teaching him about how families can be sealed and how this is something that sets us apart. His attention = grabbed. We listened as she shared this eternal truth with him. We walked away from that with a return appointment. I sat in the car feeling sheepish. The very thing we had learned that day was what allows doors to be opened. I am grateful for our member who was in tune with the spirit. I am grateful for this incredible promise from God. I am grateful for his plan for us.
I love you all!
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