This week has been awesome! We've been blessed with some really good people to teach, and have been able to see them progress in such short time. One of these is a man from China named Pei Pei. He is studying here. We had our first lesson with him last Saturday which went so well. We started off by talking about God being our Heavenly Father. This was something new to him. He has gone to a church before, but he understood that God was someone you asked for things when you needed them. The whole concept of God having a loving relationship with us was something he really connected to. Since the park we met at was so close to the chapel, we walked over to the chapel to show him around. There were some members there setting up for the ward Halloween party and we invited him to come to it, but he couldn't make it. However, he really liked the peace he could feel in the chapel and told us he would be there tomorrow. He came to church on Sunday and was able to build friendships with a few of the members, one of whom would like to start fellowshipping our lessons with him. It's been a great miracle to see him start making these connections with people in the ward and most importantly, with his Heavenly Father.
It's been a good week for teaching as well. We met with another investigator of ours in the city on Friday and invited him to come to the Hyde Park chapel for Friday Forum. He came and we were able to teach him a bit more about the church, Jesus Christ, and family history. The speaker for Friday Forum was the stake partriarch, and his presentation was just great. Our investigator has a lot in common with the church, and hopefully, he recognized the spirit telling him that what he had learned was true.
One of the scriptures that stuck out to me this week was 1 Nephi 18:2. It doesn't seem to have much significance on the surface, just that Nephi built his ship in a way that the Lord showed him and not "after the manner of men", but as I was reading it, I realized that most of the Lord's work is like this. The Lord could have told Nephi to build a boat "after the manner of men", but he had something more in mind. To apply that to missionary work, we could just do this work "after the manner of men", learning how to present our message in the same way a salesman presents a product. Preach My Gospel could just be a book of calculated approaches and methods for finding and teaching people that are proven to "convert" people, but the Lord had something else in mind. He wants us to teach by the spirit and be motivated by an actual love for His children and a desire to serve them. We need to build our boats in the way the Lord shows us.
It's been a good week for teaching as well. We met with another investigator of ours in the city on Friday and invited him to come to the Hyde Park chapel for Friday Forum. He came and we were able to teach him a bit more about the church, Jesus Christ, and family history. The speaker for Friday Forum was the stake partriarch, and his presentation was just great. Our investigator has a lot in common with the church, and hopefully, he recognized the spirit telling him that what he had learned was true.
One of the scriptures that stuck out to me this week was 1 Nephi 18:2. It doesn't seem to have much significance on the surface, just that Nephi built his ship in a way that the Lord showed him and not "after the manner of men", but as I was reading it, I realized that most of the Lord's work is like this. The Lord could have told Nephi to build a boat "after the manner of men", but he had something more in mind. To apply that to missionary work, we could just do this work "after the manner of men", learning how to present our message in the same way a salesman presents a product. Preach My Gospel could just be a book of calculated approaches and methods for finding and teaching people that are proven to "convert" people, but the Lord had something else in mind. He wants us to teach by the spirit and be motivated by an actual love for His children and a desire to serve them. We need to build our boats in the way the Lord shows us.
This week, we read Preach My Gospel chapter 4. The spirit is so important to life, and I have learned that like never before while being a missionary. When we sincerely seek the spirit, we will have His guidance.
Now we're going to read chapter 5, which is all about the Book of Mormon. We've just finished reading the Book of Mormon, so hopefully, the things you read this next week will remind you of the study we've just gone through.
Love,
Elder Clark
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| DJ at Ward Halloween party |
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| Ward Trunk-o-Treat |
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