This was a good week for me spiritually and for the missionary work!
It started off normal. We went over to China town to look around and couple other Elders got fabric for a suit. I just got some fabric to cut a pair of pants.
This week we saw a lot of miracles from working with families and friends. Tuesday we had a referral brought to us and she's really energetic and was interested in how members say they "Know" or "Got an answer". We had a really good lesson about the Restoration and she committed to pray and ask! We won't be able to meet with her very soon though because it's testing time for the college kids here. They have an absurd amount of tests in Thailand. Later in the week we also taught other families and friends of the members here! In our focus to work with the members we went and visited the 1st counselor in the Branch Presidency and got to sit down and talk to him and his 13 year old son. They're both doing great and are strong members, but it was still great to bring the Spirit into their home and share with them. We read 1 Peter 3:15, But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
That's what we're trying to do, help the members be ready to share the Gospel and be involved in bringing people to the church. It takes confidence though. This week I got to go on a switch-off to the office!!!! It was way fun to be in my old area and see the old sights. Elder Osborn and I actually rode our bikes around to get to a member's house! What would've been a 40 minute traffic jam in the van turned into a fun 10 minutes of weaving through cars clear up to the front! One thing that I admire about Elder Osborn is how independent he is. Not that he works without a companion or anything like that, but he has self-contained motivation and diligence. It gave me more fire to be the best I can be no matter what is going on around me! We saw the results of miracles and diligence around the mission this week, especially in our zone! We had a mission goal to help all the companionship achieve the standard of excellence that President Senior established. Here in Bangkok West everyone worked hard up until the last minute to reach the goal and find the miracles Heavenly Father prepared for us, and in the end we had 10/12 companionship balanced!! Elder Tanner and I saw first hand the tender mercies of the Lord as we sat down at 7:00 at night to teach an investigator and her son the restoration. This is definitely Heavenly Father's work!
I did a really cool study the other day from he bible dictionary! Repentance is really the same process as it was when they sacrificed animals, you just see the symbology differently. Go to Sacrifice in the Bible dictionary and then you can put all the pieces of repentance into the steps! I won't tell you what I learned because it was fun to figure it out but Either 12:27 and Mosiah 3:19 helped a lot.
In all the animal sacrifices of the Mosaic law there were six important acts: (1) The presentation of the sacrifice at the sanctuary door by the sacrificer himself, as his personal act. (2) The laying on of hands (Lev. 16:21) dedicated the animal to God and made it the sacrificer’s representative and substitute (Lev. 1:4; Num. 8:10). (3) The slaughtering of the animal. The sacrificer himself slew his sacrifice (at the north side of the altar), and thus carried out actually the dedication to God that he had ceremonially expressed by the laying on of hands. A later custom was for the Levites or priests to slaughter the victims. (4) The pouring out or sprinkling of the blood. The priest collected the blood of the animal in a vessel and applied it in various ways and places to make an atonement (Ex. 30:10; Lev. 8:15; 16:18; 17:11). (5) Burning the sacrifice on the altar. After the priest had properly prepared the sacrificial victim he offered it (the whole or the fat only) upon the altar of burnt offering. This act symbolized the consecration of the worshipper to Jehovah. (6) The sacrificial meal (in the case of the peace offering only). The fat having been burnt and the priests’ pieces removed, the rest of the flesh was eaten by the sacrificer, his household, and the poorer Levites at the tabernacle.
Love Elder Keller
No comments:
Post a Comment