Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Kent--June 8, 2015

Dear family,

I'm glad that my experiences are helping others. This is a really trying time in my mission. Sometimes I wish that the ward members would do more and investigators would progress, but at least I'm doing the best I can. I know that success as a missionary is determined by how committed you are to find, teach, and baptize people. The “H” family is sadly not returning any of our calls. I think we might have offended them. They are no longer meeting with us. It's disappointing, but sometimes, you just need to move on to more prepared people. So currently we have no progressing investigators, but we found a couple of potential investigators this week. My street contacting is getting a lot better. (For those of you who don't know, street contacting is when you go up to random people on the street and talk about the gospel and invite them to meet with missionaries). In Preach My Gospel, it says we need to talk with everyone to find people to teach. Elder Hamula, of the Seventy, said that contacting earnestly and prayerfully everywhere you go is the price you pay to be trusted with the kind of people who will be baptized. And it might not even be the people you talk to on the street. God could reward your faith by sending a member referral. 

This week, I'm going to focus on teaching and testifying about the importance of baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. I know that it's super important because of the experience I shared with you last week. I want others to have the same blessings. If we receive and remain worthy of this gift, it can guide, protect, and comfort us. I'm going to study scriptures about conversion and being "born again." The Savior said in John 3, verse 3 that unless we are born again, we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Later, in verse 5, He clarifies that to be born again we must be born of water and of the spirit. That is the ONLY way we can receive a change of heart. I'm going to share scriptures with people about baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Sometimes as missionaries, we are tempted to water things down and tell people about how "nice" our church is. That's not what this is about. This is about salvation. The sooner you understand it, the better you'll be able to help others understand it as well. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the only church with Christ at the head. It is His church and we must be baptized into His church to receive salvation.

Have you ever heard of the new church website, beta.mormon.org? It's a new site that the church is using to update the old mormon.org. It's pretty cool. We have been introducing it to members as a way for them to share the gospel. It has 12 beliefs of the Mormon Church and short videos, with questions and answers at the bottom of the page. You should check it out and share it on Facebook! Anyways, I hope everything is going well. I'm glad that you are preparing for the vacation to Maryland. That sounds exciting! I hope you have a great time while you're there. 

Love,


Elder Herbert