Hey all!
Status report - we're hanging in there. Life ain't always pretty but miracles are everywhere. Once again, the Gospel of Jesus Christ works.
~
Stuff from this week:
- After a Spirit-filled Book of Mormon read of Mosiah 2, our friend Juan decided he wanted to be baptized on May the 4th!
- Chris and Josh, two teenagers we just started teaching, are totally awesome. They're super cheerful and friendly and loved church, and we even got to play dodgeball with them at a youth activity at the church last night. I should probably mention they're also both powerlifters. Chris is fifteen and benches 350.
- The same guy works at the self-checkout at Walmart almost every time we go shopping on P-day, so he's our buddy now. Keith's a nice dude. Be like Keith.
- Our friend Michelle was going to come to family history class again but she got attacked by a cat so our ward members who picked her up just drove her to the hospital for rabies shots instead. Good call.
- Chase's baptism and confirmation were a success! Thirteen other med students (nine of them already in our ward) came to his baptism, so we had a whole hospital there.
- STAR WARS PINBALL at the bowling alley last P-day. I LOVE pinball. I think I might have spent more time playing it than I did bowling.
- a few areas in our zone are going to be in the totality zone of next Monday's solar eclipse, so President and Sister Collins made the entire mission solar-eclipse-themed pass-along cards. They're pretty legendary.
- My sister Hazel turned seventeen! You're awesome, Hazel.
~
Thought: “The Book of Mormon is like a vast mansion with gardens, towers, courtyards, and wings. All the rooms in this mansion need to be explored, whether by valued traditional scholars or by those at the cutting edge." - Neal A. Maxwell
I absolutely love the imagery of Elder Maxwell's metaphor. The word of God, especially the Book of Mormon, contains such a breadth and depth of spiritual insight into our relationship with our Father in Heaven, His Son Jesus Christ, the children of God around us, and ourselves that, when we truly "lay hold upon the word," the sense of wonder that comes from roaming its endless halls will never go away. This book is Hogwarts, dude. It's so twisting and complicated and bold and real that it all just works. It just works perfectly.
Alma 12:9-10 :
"...It is given unto many to know the mysteries of God; nevertheless they are laid under a strict command that they shall not impart only according to the portion of his word which he doth grant unto the children of men, according to the heed and diligence which they give unto him.
"And therefore, he that will harden his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word; and he that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full."
~
The great mysteries the mansion will be revealed to those who explore it diligently. If you're already a member of the Church of Jesus Christ, my invitation is to spend time in the Book of Mormon's halls every single day. If you're not and you've read this far, give it a try. It'll brighten your day if you let it.
~
GENERAL CONFERENCE. Listen to a living prophet speak this weekend. It's an awesome opportunity to "come and see," so invite your friends to this!: https://www.
"The Children of Christ" by Neal A. Maxwell
"'Lay Hold upon the Word': The Power of Wholehearted Living" by McKay Christensen. What exactly "the word" is beyond just the scriptures is kind of a complex idea, but this devotional explains it and its practical application really well.
~
Song of the week: "Blitzkrieg Bop" by the Ramones
~
Love,
Elder Rigby
No comments:
Post a Comment