I am so grateful for the spirit in my life. Without it I would be lost completely!

Righteous is the new word. It replaces sick and sweet and cool and awesome. I'm starting this new trend. You may tag along if you want to. It's gonna be righteous! Well this week was a bust. Not really I guess. Denise didn't get baptized. She isn't quite ready yet but we are still working with her. We'll see what happens. However we did have a cool lesson with Janet. She has had a problem with feeling the spirit. She told us that she has never felt the spirit before. That's kind of a tough concern but we tried to work with it. We had a couple lessons about what the spirit feels like and how we can recognize it but it didn't seem to click. Well we decided that she had to have felt it before, but she must not have recognized that it was the spirit. So we went into the lesson with that in mind. We asked her if she knew God existed. She said yes. Perfect. We shared Jacob 4:8 with her.  

 

8 Behold, great and marvelous are the works‍ of the Lord. How unsearchable‍ are the depths of the mysteries‍ of him; and it isimpossible that man should find out all his ways. And no man knoweth‍ of his ways‍ save it be revealed unto him; wherefore, brethren,despise not the revelations‍ of God.

 

We explained that the phrase "no man knoweth of his ways save it be revealed unto him" meant that we cannot know God exists unless it is told to us by revelation. Which would come through the spirit. So if she knew that God existed, then she has felt the spirit testify to her that truth. Then we asked her how her praying was going. She said she prays every night. Perfect. We shared 2 Nephi 32:8.

 

 8 And now, my beloved brethren, I perceive that ye ponder still in your hearts; and it grieveth me that I must speak concerning thisthing. For if ye would hearken unto the Spirit‍ which teacheth a man to pray, ye would know that ye must pray; for the evil spirit‍ teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not pray.

 

The spirit teaches us that we must pray. If she has felt like she needs to pray to receive answers, then she has felt the spirit prompt her to pray. The whole lesson was about showing her that she really has felt the spirit, she just hasn't recognized it. It was a great lesson and completely guided by the spirit. She said after that it was very enlightening to her and she was a lot more hopeful that she would start to recognize the spirit in her life more. I think that sometimes this is a problem we all struggle with. I think sometimes we don't realize truly how guided we are in life. We need to step back every now and then and think back to all the times we did something that led to something good. A blessing for example. I would bet that those decisions we made came with a little help from the spirit. We should start to recognize this more and thank our Heavenly Father more because of His help. Regardless of who we are, we all need help sometimes. And the spirit can be our greatest ally in making those choices. I learned a great deal while preparing for the lesson we had and I am grateful for all that I was able to discover. I am so grateful for the spirit in my life. Without it I would be lost completely! I hope you all can start to recognize it more.

 

Well hope all is well back home with you! Hopefully the weather is nice and warm. It's been a great winter here! Can't complain. I love you all!

 

Elder Anderson

No time to email this week

Well I don't have time to send an email this week. We are emailing late due to the holiday on Monday. There is a lady from the Evergreen ward who just left for home on Monday. Home being Temecula! Hahaha She took a box for me and is going to give it to you. I forgot her number so I will email it to you tomorrow so you have it. She should be getting in around Friday. She has your number and our address. It's not much stuff but it's all I had. Love you!!!

God's love is infinate...

This week I am just going to give a spiritual thought. It was a pretty routine week so there's not much to update on anyway. So this week I want to talk about God's love, as you can tell from the subject. I want to start with a scripture that Paul of the New Testament says. It's Romans Chapter 8 verses 38 and 39:

38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I love these scriptures. These are two very powerful verses that can brighten anyone's day. However, I want to expand on these scriptures and talk about an example of God's love.

In Chapter 17 of 3 Nephi, Jesus comes and visits the people living in the Americas soon after his crucifixion and resurrection. After teaching the people for a while, he sees that they are tired and struggling to understand him. 3 Nephi 17:2

2 I perceive‍ that ye are weak, that ye cannot understand‍ all my words which I am commanded of the Father to speak unto you at this time.

So he says he will leave and come back tomorrow and continue to teach. In the mean time, he wants all the people to go back to their homes and rest and ponder on what he taught them, and even pray about it so that they might understand all that he taught. 3 Nephi 17:3

3 Therefore, go ye unto your homes, and ponder‍ upon the things which I have said, and ask of the Father, in my name, that ye may understand, and prepare‍ your minds for the morrow, and I comeunto you again.

Then Jesus gives them one last look over before he leaves, and he stops because of what he sees. 3 Nephi 17:5

5 And it came to pass that when Jesus had thus spoken, he cast his eyes round about again on the multitude, and beheld they were in tears, and did look steadfastly upon him as if they would askhim to tarry a little longer with them.

Jesus sees the people and realizes how much they love him. He sees how much they want him there. They don't want him to leave. The next verse

6 And he said unto them: Behold, my bowels are filled with compassion‍ towards you.

When Jesus saw them, he had compassion on them. He couldn't help but feel love for them and want to bless them. So that's exactly what he does. The next verses

7 Have ye any that are sick‍ among you? Bring them hither. Have ye any that are lame, or blind, or halt, or maimed, or leprous, or that are withered, or that are deaf, or that are afflicted in anymanner? Bring them hither and I will heal‍ them, for I have compassion upon you; my bowels are filled with mercy.

8 For I perceive that ye desire that I should show unto you what I have done unto your brethren at Jerusalem, for I see that your faith‍ is sufficient‍ that I should heal you.

9 And it came to pass that when he had thus spoken, all the multitude, with one accord, did go forth with their sick and their afflicted, and their lame, and with their blind, and with their dumb, andwith all them that were afflicted in any manner; and he did heal them every one as they were brought forth unto him.

10 And they did all, both they who had been healed and they who were whole, bow down at his feet, and did worship him; and as many as could come for the multitude did kiss‍ his feet, insomuchthat they did bathe his feet with their tears.

11 And it came to pass that he commanded that their little children‍ should be brought.

12 So they brought their little children and set them down upon the ground round about him, and Jesus stood in the midst; and the multitude gave way till they had all been brought unto him.

13 And it came to pass that when they had all been brought, and Jesus stood in the midst, he commanded the multitude that they should kneel‍ down upon the ground.

14 And it came to pass that when they had knelt upon the ground, Jesus groaned within himself, and said: Father, I am troubled‍ because of the wickedness of the people of the house of Israel.

15 And when he had said these words, he himself also knelt‍ upon the earth; and behold he prayed‍ unto the Father, and the things which he prayed cannot be written, and the multitude did bearrecord who heard him.

16 And after this manner do they bear record: The eye‍ hath never seen, neither hath the ear heard, before, so great and marvelous things as we saw and heard Jesus speak unto the Father;

17 And no tongue‍ can speak, neither can there be written by any man, neither can the hearts of men conceive so great and marvelous things as we both saw and heard Jesus speak; and no one canconceive of the joy which filled our souls at the time we heard him pray for us unto the Father.

Jesus blessed them. He took the time to bless each individual who was in need of blessings. He gathered the children together to bless and pray for them. His love for them was beyond comprehension. His love and care for the children is so tender. He takes the time to bless the children, each one, as well and then calls on angels to minister to them and be with them in the next few verses.

21 And when he had said these words, he wept, and the multitude bare record of it, and he took their little children, one by one, and blessed‍ them, and prayed unto the Father for them.

22 And when he had done this he wept again;

23 And he spake unto the multitude, and said unto them: Behold your little ones.

24 And as they looked to behold they cast their eyes towards heaven, and they saw the heavens open, and they saw angels descending out of heaven as it were in the midst of fire; and they came down and encircled‍ those little ones about, and they were encircled about with fire; and the angels did minister unto them.

This Chapter of the Book of Mormon is the most powerful example we have of God's love for us. There is absolutely nothing on this earth that is greater than His love. And there is absolutely nothing on this earth that can separate us from that love. No height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. You are entitled to feel His love each and every day. Every breath you take is an example of how much He loves you. He gave you this life so you can become better and stronger than you currently are. 

I hope that you will always remember this one thing. This one lesson. It has the power to change our lives. I am convinced just as Paul is convinced. Our Savior is waiting to bless us. He is filled with compassion when he sees us. But we must come to him to be blessed. We must turn to him in order to feel the love he has for us. It is my plea that you will come to him and find rest for your soul. That your burden may be lightened. That your soul may be filled with joy.

This is my testimony that I leave with you in the name of our perfect, loving savior, even Jesus Christ, Amen.

 

Well it's definitely winter.

It's been freezing the past couple days! Oh man I thought we were going to get away with a mild winter. Maybe not. It snowed a couple days ago and now everything is icy and slippery again. But that's ok. Summer should come again eventually. Maybe we'll be lucky enough to see spring. We'll see. Anyway, this week has been a typical again. Unfortunately our lesson with Denise canceled. We were able to have a good lesson over the phone with her however. So that was good. We also were able to meet with Janet. She is an investigator in the Evergreen ward. We found out some good things about her that hopefully will give us a good direction to take with teaching. We'll see what happens there.

 

Well this week we have a decent story from the Pollards. Always fun and exciting. We were over there celebrating Geeta's birthday, when we hear a thump up stairs and Mathew starts screaming. At first Geeta and Crystal thought he had just lost in his game but then they got worried so they ran up to check on him. Well after a few tense minutes they come back down and Mathew comes over to us to explain. He looks at us and says, "I'm ok. It's just that I hit my..." Then he raises his eyebrows and widens his eyes. O.O Oh... I see... Yeah that would a guy quite a lot of pain. Agony really. Then the party just continued with ice cream cake and present opening! Hahaha tons of fun. Unfortunately Mathew wasn't feeling like praying at the end even though he told his mom that he would. But she didn't make him. Hahaha we let him just take it easy!

 

Oh man good times. Well that's about it for the week. Hope all is well back home. It's probably warm and sunny there. I think when I get home I am going to get a box of avocados and make about 50 kilograms of guacamole and eat it all in one sitting. Then I will move on to Super Taco. Oh man do I miss that place! haha well take care of yourselves and be safe. Try not to freeze to death. Unless I'm the only one with that possibility. Then try not to get heat stroke. 

Love you all!

 

Elder Anderson

 

P.S. Oh yeah. Almost forgot. We got trained on Facebook but we are not yet authorized to use it. We'll have to see. We should get it soon though. But things change. I'll keep you updated.