This week has been awesome! Not necessarily crazy, but interesting none the less. So why am I writing on Tuesday, you ask? Well, I am writing because yesterday the government here decided to lengthen a holiday that happened on the weekend into the week. I don't know why, but I am pretty sure it had to do with drinking. ha ha ha. None of the Internet cafes were going to be open or any of the stores for that matter, but hey what are you going to do right? The end of this week, like usual, was pretty crazy. As a missionary you usually sit in church not really expecting much and try to listen and understand to the many different points of view about the gospel and try not to let the feeling of apostasy get too strong in the room. This week was different. We had the surprise opportunity to see President Kretly in our branch. :) At first I was a little worried and then I realized, who better to help us sort out some of the problems in the branch than him? But what was really funny was everyone acted like perfect little angels, which makes me think that some of these people know what they are doing. ha ha ha In any case, it was definitely a blessing to have him and his wife there with the few new investigators that we had. After church he talked to us a little bit about our areas. He really knows what he is talking about when it comes to missionary work and how it should be done. What's really funny is I have heard or had the ideas that he talks about, but sometimes I lack the will to put them into practice either because my companion or someone else doesn't think it will work or I don't follow the prompting to carry out what I feel to be right at the moment. Obviously something I need to get better at doing because I have been taught to do these things before. Sometimes that is a challenge for me. I don't like offending people, but if I know it to be right, I should carry it through like I know that it is right. So I guess I have some home work! ha ha ha. That's what I love about my mission president. He always lifts my eyes to a higher or a better goal. Time to get to work.
Also this weekend we had another encounter with our awesome investigator Sansao and he decided that he wanted to get married on March 2nd. Whooohoooo!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so excited when he said he would do it and his wife agreed, I literally almost jumped up in the middle of the lesson. It was nuts, they both had given it some serious thought and decided that's what they wanted to do. I am getting ahead of myself. First, I was doing some personal study earlier this week to find out why all our investigators seem to slow down and stop after to lessons which usually consist of the restoration and talking about the Book of Mormon in more detail. During my study I was thinking about Ammon and his experience with King Lamoni. I had thought about service and showing our love and I know that wasn't it because we actually cook a lot of food for a lot of people in their houses. I paid attention to the content of Ammon's lesson which mainly consisted of the plan of salvation and that made me stop for a few seconds. He could have taught any message but why that one? I began to search in Preach My Gospel for an answer and I found one. It's the Plan of Salvation, there are certain things that can awaken just about anybody to a guilty conscience in there. The first thing is that Jesus died for you. A man of his own free will chose to suffer incomprehensible pain to free you of your sins and did it completely out of love, not to mention if you don't repent and take upon the name of Christ judgment is not going to be something you will enjoy. Most people in the world believe in a final judgment of some sort at the end of their life and I can't imagine anyone who wants to fail that test. KingLamoni's a text book golden investigator because he feels the guilt and the worry for his soul and at length decides to pray to God, in what is in my opinion, one of the best conversion stories of a people in the entire Book of Mormon all because people were brought to a realization of all their sins and abominations before God. Generally, when any prophet ends a book in the Book of Mormon they talk about that judgment bar of God and how their words will be a testimony against you in the end if you do not heed their words. Abinidi did it Moroni, Jacob, Nephi and many more I am sure you could fine. The point is that the whole reason we teach about the restoration is so we can talk about the Plan of Salvation. The whole reason we talk about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how we become clean has to do with the next life in the Plan of Salvation and this includes all the ordinances that we have to do. It is all based on this one lesson and you can really use it as a tool to help people feel the importance of what you are talking about and that they actually need to do these thing of which we talk about. So, with our friendSansao that's what we did. We basically told him that if he did not fulfill the commandment of the law of chastity, he would almost certainly fail the final test that test being the judgment of God. It's really quite amazing to watch people go from listening to listening intently when you include their lives in the lesson, especially when they have read what you are talking about in the Book of Mormon. Anyway, he decided he better not fail the final test and he talked to his wife. Right now we are trying to get her up to speed on the lessons because he decided that this isdefinitely something he wants. He said something interesting on Saturday though. When we met with him to talk with his wife he said that he had a strong desire to rid himself of this sin which was an abomination in the sight of God (see Jacob 2: 28 I think) and he wanted to be free of it so he could be baptized. His wife said that she would start taking the discussions and get up to speed with him. Sound like a story in the Book of Mormon? or maybe quite a few? To be honest, every major conversion story has something to do with that great eternal plan of happiness. It was really an answer to my prayers and Heavenly Father did not disappoint. I feel he has given me the key to bring many souls unto Christ much like Alma did with the Lamanites. Sometimes I guess you just gotta find out what get's to the center of everyone heart and breaks them down so they can see themselves in their own carnal state (see Mosiah 4).
Anyway, super excited for this week and cant wait to see what happens in the coming ones. I know that my Redeemer lives and that he has paid the price for my sins. All I have to do is accept the fact that I must repent and become more like Him. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that we have a prophet today who receives revelation for all of God's children. I believe in the great plan of redemption and I know that I can live with my family for eternity if we abide by the precepts of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I bear this testimony in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Love,
Elder Proksch
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