Week 58 email

A letter needing a typesetter... I never know how to title these lol

(Aug 12, 2013)

 

All:

So now that I've been out for 13 months, I finally got around to bringing my notes or "reflections" on my first year as a missionary. It only took a month to remember to bring it. So here are some thoughts:

"Trust God, and believe in good things to come"~Jeffery Holland

This has become my motto. In essence faith is looking forward with hope and actions to make that hope a reality.  A major lesson I have learned is to have patience and trust in the Lord's timing. Even though it seems like nothing is happening miracles happen every day. 

Like yesterday, we needed to call someone who we heard might be interested in the lessons. We were in an area with little to no service (like pretty much everywhere in our area. We said a prayer before I made the call. I dialed the number and waited for it to connect. "Dang, no service." I said and not a second later, we had full bars and were able to have a great conversation in perfect clarity. Tender Mercies. 

For people to change, you and/or they must change their experiences.

The Results pyramid:

Results: Seen

Actions: Seen

Beliefs: Unseen

Experiences: Unseen

People's experiences lead to their beliefs, which lead to their actions, which lead to the results of their actions. This has a lot of applications in business and social aspects but also for us as missionaries. We need to help people to have experiences with the spirit so they can feel that confirming witness of the truthfulness of our message and then act on it.

Never Pray for patience because if you do you will gain opportunities to exercise it (I still may be getting the ramifications of that one)

The Path to perfection is simply making our mistakes smaller and farther apart.

Teach with the spirit, testify with power.

If you talk the talk you must walk the walk

So, be honest and upfront about your shortcomings. 

That's all I have time for

Thank you for everything, please write

Elder Bryce Johns