Hey yall.
So first off, great to hear about Emma. Really happy to hear that she is doing well. I was praying for her a lot and I'm glad to hear that things are really progressing well. Grandma sent me a pic of her sitting up in the bed just smiling away. haha. That was way cute. Glad to hear it. I'll keep praying.
We just had our zone conference yesterday and it was a really great day. We had great workshops by President and Sister Hansen and the APs as well. The food wasn't so great this time. It was chicken curry, sprouts and rice. I hope the cook guy steps it up next time. I've tasted his potential. He has it in him... But we had a great Book of Mormon workshop by the APs. I cannot explain how important the Book of Mormon is to me. It is my most valuable possession I would say. I wouldn't trade it for the world. My own personal copy has so much written in it. Its like the Half-Blood Missionary's copy of the Book of Mormon. That thing is there to comfort those who stand in need of comfort. But also destroy those who want war. hahahaha. The choice is theirs...I am just the messenger.
We had an AMAZING lesson on Friday. We postponed our weekly planning session so that we could teach the wife of this American guy. We got there and the lady, Lore spoke perfect English. So I got to teach her in English. It was awesome. I taught in English and my comp taught in Visayan. haha. But we understood each other so it was all good. It took us forever to get from the BRT (Building Relationship of Trust) to talking about the church. Usually things turn to the church pretty quickly since its so obvious why we are there. But she was able to keep us talking about other stuff for a while. So finally her husband brings up families and how the church focuses on families so much. Then he tells us that his wife has no plans of ever getting baptized. So I'm like, "wow dude. That's a lot of hope there." So I ask her why and she says that she has some issues about the doctrine, mainly living prophets. So I ask her what she thinks a prophet is. She says that he is someone who guides people for God. Then I asked how long prophets have been around. She didn't know. So I pulled out my scriptures and showed her Luke 1:70 that says that prophets have been around since the world began. Then just by asking simple questions, I got her to prove to herself that we need prophets in our time. Questions like, why does God give prophets before? Does God change? Does God still love us? Do we need direction now? Is the direction we need now different from the direction needed 50, 100, 2000 years ago? Through these (what we like to call) inspired questions and a few scriptures we were able to help her realize for herself that we need prophets now. Then she asked us for some copies of Thomas S. Monson's writings so that she could get familiarized with him.
Then we taught her about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. What we did was we had her read the first and last two paragraphs of the Introduction and then we showed her my favorite example of the need for the Book of Mormon. In the Book of Ephesians, Paul tells us that we are saved by grace NOT by works. That way, no one can boast that they got to heaven thru their own merits and things that they did. But on the other hand, James (in my favorite chapter in the Bible) in James chapter 2 teaches us that we NEED works to get to heaven. These two ideas almost conflict with one another. One says we need works while the other says that grace is all that is needed. Good thing we have the Book of Mormon. Nephi teaches us in 2 Nephi 25:26 that by grace we are saved, AFTER ALL WE CAN DO. This does not go against the Bible. What it does is takes these two ideas that seem so far apart and conflicting and helps us understand what they mean---in one verse. After we have done our best (as James teaches) it is still not enough. But the grace of God by means of the Atonement of Jesus Christ makes up for what we yet lack and saves us (like Paul taught). This is what I used to teach Lore the importance of the Book of Mormon after which she said, "This is the missing link!" Yes. This is the missing link. The fulness of the Lord's Gospel. And its available to all who will just pick it up and read it.
Love you guys. Thanks for all the prayers and help!
Brandon
Brandon
