"Commitment is doing the thing you said you would do, long after the mood you said it in has left you." George R. Zalucki


Monday, February 8, 2010

Dear Sister Bassett,
Here are a few miracles for this week.
1) Last Saturday we had a baptism (btw that's 2 baptisms in a transfer. That's something that hasn't happened in a long time and we have more on the way.) for an investigator named Chris. He was very prepared and very solid. Coming close to the baptism his Mom was nervous about him being baptised because it was so fast. She wanted to wait for a year, but she realized Chris is 18 and should choose for himself. So planned the baptism, but the day before we heard that his Dad had to work that day and couldn't be there. Never the less, Chris wanted to do it. While getting everything prepared, low and behold there is his dad at the baptism. That was cool.
2) last night because we were so far from our apartment and because we didn't have a dinner that day, we ate at burger king. Trying to keep everything cheap.A group of teenagers walked in and ordered their food and also applying for work. Then one of them started asking some questions. She had a belief in God but did understand the bible. We explained that God loves her and has rules that he wants to bless us with. Specifically she was asking about lesbianism. After her questions, her friend came over and started talking to us and said he really wants to change his life around because he now has a daughter (he is 19). He had some concerns, but we told him that he has the agency and God will help him. Then we committed him to meet with the local missionaries. By the end of our conversation with him he seemed to have a better understanding and some questions of the soul answered.
Time is short and only enough time for those 2 miracles but know we are seeing many miracles.
Love Elder Thomas

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When I was 14 or 15, I had a teacher that prided himself on being a thinker. We had some enlightening discussions in his classroom. He helped me ask some great questions that led to tremendous answers that still guide me today. We agreed on many things, but were at odds on a few. One of them was religion. I had a lot of respect for this man, but it amazed me that someone who claimed to be open minded was blind to just how closed minded he was when it came to God. He was always challenging my faith. He considered my beliefs to be a sign of my weakness. His claim was that unless it could be acknowledged by the 5 senses, there was no proof that God existed. I struggled as a young person to help him understand that he was limiting his understanding to what he had personally experienced, cutting himself off from other possibilities. The best that I could do was to try and help him understand how I knew; that things of the spirit could only be understood and perceived by the spirit. Years later, I still don't have a better answer to this one fundamental question, but I face the same dilemma. This blog is dedicated to preserving stories and experiences of missionaries in the Arizona Mesa Mission both during and after their formal missions. Some stories are fun and light hearted, but others are of a spiritual nature. The blog forum is so convenient, yet the format is limiting. There is more to these words than letters on a page. To truly understand the messages requires not only an open mind, but a soft heart.

After all, "A man's reach should exceed his grasp, else what's a Heaven for?- Robert Browning"

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