Tuesday, January 17, 2023

Week 71 - Rainy Days

Hey All, 

We played Chair soccer last Tuesday. I played my heart out and it was really hot. Heres a picture of me and Elder Cummings in the rain after our final game.

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We also played it for the youth activity which was fun. We were put in charge of it.

There has been a lot of rain this week. Not an absurd amount in a lot of other places, but a lot for San Diego. We have a lot of tame weather here so when it rains it's usually a sprinkle. But it rained a decent amount.

 

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Here's a picture of my comp in a puddle at the church. We jokingly recited Mosiah 18:7-11. Except we replaced the waters of Mormon with the waters of Roberts.

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Earlier this week while we were tracting on Saturday morning, Elder Roberts said "I feel like we should go to the park". So we did. As we were walking I saw what looked like Sam's sister pulling into their apartment complex. At first we just continued walking, but then we thought that maybe someone would answer the door. We knew at least someone was home, and that we really didnt have anything to lose. We walked over, knocked on the door, and Sam answered! She initially said she isn't interested and that her mom doesn't like us coming by. We just wanted to understand what her concerns may be, and see if we can help with anything. She said we could meet up at the park nearby at some point and talk about it, but just to text her. So that was good! We've texted her but haven't gotten back from her. We afterwards continued to the park, and had some good conversations. But I feel that the spirit prompted Elder Roberts to take us to the park because on the way to the park we had the second idea to talk to Sam. She isn't home a lot and we kinda gave up on trying to reach her because we didn't want to push too hard or be annoying. But I'm glad we got back in contact. She hasn't gotten back to us yet, but we hope she progresses more. One of the hard things about thinking about the past experiences I've had with people, is that they felt like miracles, but a lot of the time they didn't actually progress or are not currently progressing. However, this is not the end of their journey.

This week I've been thinking a lot about this article/message given by President Nelson. It is published in the Liahona for October of 2022 as "The Everlasting Covenant". It's really good. Anyway, I just thought I would share a post I made on facebook that has some of my thoughts:

"Covenants are spoken of all throughout the scriptures. In almost every instance, a covenant refers to a sacred promise between God and His children. God determines the conditions of the covenant, and the son or daughter can choose whether or not to agree to keep those conditions. Those who make and keep covenants with God experience great joy and blessings. In his message, President Nelson speaks of a Hebrew word known as Hesed, which is a special kind of love and mercy we experience as we make and keep our covenants with God. He says: "Because God has hesed for those who have covenanted with Him, He will love them. He will continue to work with them and offer them opportunities to change. He will forgive them when they repent. And should they stray, He will help them find their way back to Him. Once you and I have made a covenant with God, our relationship with Him becomes much closer than before our covenant. Now we are bound together. Because of our covenant with God, He will never tire in His efforts to help us, and we will never exhaust His merciful patience with us. Each of us has a special place in God’s heart. He has high hopes for us."

By following the gospel path of faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and making and keeping the covenants of the holy temple, we experience this special kind of love. We gain greater access to the grace of Jesus Christ by being bound to Him. We invite all people  everywhere to embark on this path, and come closer to their Savior by doing so. Moroni 10:32-33 reads: "Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God. And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot"."

That's the end of the post. I really thought President Nelson's words on "hesed" were especially cool and they have been on my mind. Covenants really do bring that kind of power, we just do our best to keep them and follow the example of the Savior. 

I love you all! Thanks so much for everything. Have a good week.

- Elder Wride

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