Week 67 - Obedience and Grace

This week, we got a call from a man who wanted us to visit him. It turns out that he is a less-active member who used to serve in the army. He called us to ask us to bless his house because of the having strange things that have been happening to him. We had actually just read about dedicating homes that morning in companionship study, so we were amazed by how quickly the Lord gave us a chance to apply what we had read! When we went there, we got to know him and learned that he's developed PTSD as a result of his service. As we blessed his home, we could feel the spirit come into the room and after we had said the prayer, he began to be a bit more relaxed than he had been when we had first arrived at his home. We are continuing to work with him and with the Lord's help, we'll be able to see him come back to church and get the help he needs. There is great power in prayer. I know it is how we can experience divine communication from our Father in Heaven.

One of the great teaching experiences we had this week was the chance that I had to introduce "the survey" to Elder Jordan. We had talked about it before, but this week he had a chance to put it into practice. As we were waiting for a dinner appointment, we went to a park down the street to do some finding. The park was pretty empty because it had been raining all day, but there was one woman there. Elder Jordan asked for my survey notebook and went to talk to her. They actually had a good conversation about her beliefs and what we teach. She was going to return to her home country a few days later, but I'm thankful that an inspired finding method that was introduced a year ago can still bring joy and excitement into what may be considered a mundane, repetitive part of missionary work. I'll have to say it again, Elder Jordan is a great missionary, and I'm glad to be able to work with him.

If I could tell someone who is preparing for a mission anything, it would be to realize that there is so much more to the gospel than the way you live. The gospel is who you become. Obedience to the commandments is important, but that obedience shouldn't be the final goal. Just like baptism is essential to the gospel of Jesus Christ, obedience is essential to becoming like Jesus Christ. But that doesn't mean that once you've been baptized, you've completed everything you need to do. There's still the temple and "enduring to the end" before you can receive eternal life. It's the same way with obedience. Obedience is essential and there's no way of going over it, around it, or under it, but if we don't set our sites on the true goal (a change of character) we're only going to make it as far as obedience can take us. We know that it is after all we can do that we are saved by grace. Before my mission, I didn't really understand that grace saved us. I thought that I had some imaginary quota of obedience that I had to meet, and then I would be worthy of the grace I needed. What I've learned now is that I needed that grace from the beginning because I can't live up to the perfect standard of obedience that "The Law" expects. I realize that all of the obedience in the world won't be enough without the grace of Jesus Christ. So, obedience is a goal, but it is not the final goal. Obedience is the way we access the thing that actually saves us, the grace of Jesus Christ.

Last week, We read Ether 6-10. When the Jaredites were righteous, they became the happiest people on the earth, but when they became prideful and rejected the prophets, they lost that happiness.

This week, we'll finish Ether and read chapters 11-15. This is the fall of the Jaredites and the story of Ether.

Love,

Elder Clark

Proof to Mom that I received her package with a cake mix

Cake and Austin's flash drive!

Sister Manu - who finished her mission this week.