Faith Brings Blessings

Vrrrooooomme!!!!  

Haha that's what this week sounded like as it flew by once again!  Me and my companion constantly ask each other if it will ever slow down.  Haha you know what we have been saying lately.  We say, "probably not." :)  Being in the service of God is just the best ever, putting on a name tag each and everyday with my Savior's name across it, nothing better.  Going out and representing the Lord and His Gospel to the people of Australia and the people of Merimbula what an honour, what a blessing, what an amazing experience. 

"Sharing the Gospel Isn't a Burden, But a Joy"

Who can believe that next month is Christmas?  What are you going to do this year for others during this Christmas season?  Remember what blessings we have in our lives and try your best to share those with others.  Maybe just have a family over for a holiday dinner, or invite a friend to an activity.  I LOVED Elder Oaks address to us in this past conference about how "Sharing the Gospel isn't a burden, but a Joy."  What a great time of year to help others and just be a friend to them.  Haha I know Christmas is not until the end of next month but it is never to early to start.  I give heed to everybody to go back and read Elder Oaks talk and really try to apply it to our lives.  Remember that it is not suppose to be a burden but suppose to be a joy.  It's scary no doubt about that, it's even scary for us full-time missionaries but we do it because it brings joy to our lives and because it is such a huge blessing.  I love D&C 18 and the truths taught in this section.  Verse 15 "And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!"  Isn't that our goal as members?  Live in the kingdom of Heavenly Father.  Verse 16 goes on to say, "And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!"  Verse 18 "Ask the Father in my name in faith, believing that you shall receive, and you shall have the Holy Ghost, which manifesteth all things which are expedient unto the children of men."  How awesome are these couple of verses?  Look at all of the blessing that we receive if we share the Gospel to those around us!  If you look closely at the end of verse 15 and verse 16 both passages of scripture end with and exclamation mark. (!)  There are not many verses that I have seen that end with one of these and if they do they must be really important.  In this section it is revelation to Joseph Smith and so Christ is talking directly to the Prophet.  You can see just in the way that it is written how important it is to the Lord.  Another verse that I love is in verse 13 "And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth!"  Verse 14 tells us "Wherefore, you are called to cry repentance unto this people."  I also love verse 23 of section 1 in D&C.  It states, "That the fulness of my gospel might be proclaimed by the weak and the simple unto the ends of the world, and before kings and rulers."  What does verse 23 in this section and verse 13 in section 18 teach us?  That we don't have to be mighty people to share the Gospel.  We don't have to be perfect, and we don't have to be fearless.  That is the amazing thing about the Gospel and God is that He will take us if we let Him and He will turn us into something far greater then we imagined we could become.  Why am I sharing this because the Lord wants us all to know that sharing the Gospel should not be scary, or hard.  Just like Elder Oaks said, "Sharing the Gospel isn't a burden, but a Joy."  I got thinking man it's so hard to share the Gospel even for us as missionaries.  You just don't find very many people that are ready when you shove a Book of Mormon in there hands and say, "read this, it will change your life."  Haha you have to come up with so many different ways to share the Gospel and help those people want to learn because a lot o them don't even know that they want to learn.  

Be Their Friend

One thing that we do as missionaries and that I love and really try to do that you guys can do back home.  Is just be there friend.  It really is just that easy.  I think over my mission and all of the investigators and people we have taught and especially those that got baptized and it was because they had a friend or family member in the Gospel.  They were never pushed into learning the Gospel but it was just always there.  Waiting for them, waiting for a time in there life where they would turn to that friend and ask what is different about you and me?  What makes you so happy?  How do I get through this hard time in my life?  The answer to these questions and many more is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Invite your friends to Church activities and to family activities not to convert them but to help them.  To have a good time, to have fun, and to gain more friends.  Remember what President Nelson taught us in this past conference, "missionaries leave there homes to preach His Gospel.  There goal is not to increase the number of members.  Rather our missionaries teach and baptize to bring joy to the people of the world."  We are not here for the numbers to see how many members we can get before the Second Coming, we are here to bring the Joy the Gospel brings us to other people in there lives.  So remember if you are friends with those around you that are not members which we all have just keep being there friend.  Invite them to activities and family things and according to the Lord's plan because it is His work everything will work out.  That is what Christ taught us when He was here on earth was how to be a great friend.  So be that great friend to those in your life because everybody needs a great friend that cares about them and loves them.  Never forget that the Lord is with us in the work and will help us when He calls upon us to share His Gospel to those around us.  He is with us in the vineyard wherever you are.  Jacob 5:72 "And it came to pass that the servants did go and labor with their mights: and the Lord of the vineyard labored also with them; and they did obey the commandments of the Lord of the vineyard in all things."  What a blessing the Gospel is in our lives and share it with those around you by your example and your friendship to others during this Christmas and Thanksgiving season.

This is not Dalton or anyone we know, but just a cool picture.

 

We Are Doing Great!

Haha hi mum and dad.  Well I wasn't planning on sharing any of that but I guess the Spirit took control and that is what He wanted me to share today so hopefully it helps someone but that is what I have really learned while out on my mission is really how to do missionary work because it is hard and scary but we do just need to be friends to those around us and those people we know and it will all work out according to the Lord's timing and our faith and obedience.  Things are going great down here and we had a great week!  Me and Elder Newman are doing good and haha were excited but also scared for transfers and we will find out this Saturday.    I hope I stay another transfer there is just still so much more work to be done down here and I just don't feel like it is time for me to go.  We have worked hard and done a lot of good and so we will just have to see what happens.  Elder Newman has been here for a long time now I think at the end of this week it will be 6 months haha but he loves it down here and doesn't want to leave so we will see what happens.  I have learned mum and dad on my mission that it is all according to the Lord and where He needs me and so transfers are hard but I do know that whatever happens that is what needs to happen and I will be okay with it, but haha that doesn't mean if I get transferred from Merimbula that I won't be very sad because I will be.  

The Week

Well let's see this week has been good.  Haha Halloween was awesome and a great time.  We dressed up as missionaries.:)  And the S_______'s little son A____ also dressed up as a missionary.  D_______came along with us as well and he let Sister S__________ paint his face like Frankenstein.  Haha it looked real good and D______ made a perfect Frankenstein cuz he is so tall.:)  It was a good night and we went to this trunk-or-treat and was way fun.  (Check out Dalton's companion's blog for some extra info about the Elder's "creepy" costumes. :-)

Oh I sent some pictures of the gym that we have been working on that I'm sure you have heard a lot about.  Well we are basically finished with it!!!!:)  We painted and laid the floor this past week and moved all the equipment in.  There are just a few little things left to do but it is finished and ready to use.  It's been really fun to get to help build such a building and haha never thought I would have a chance to do that.  

Elder Newman :-)

We have had some good visits this past week and met some new people and some less-actives in the branch and so we are excited to see where our friendship goes with them and how we can help them grow.  D_____ is doing great and we are working with him to get the Priesthood real soon.  Also our investigator W_____ H_____ is doing awesome!!!  I don't know if I have told you much about her but haha here you go.  So W______ was first taught by the other elder's before I got down here.   She was able to make it to church on Sunday and she loved it!  We had a great lesson with her at Church yesterday and she believes this is the right way for her to go.  The Spirit was so strong in the lesson we taught yesterday and we are excited to keep working with her.   If you could add her to your prayers that would be great.:)  The work is just going great and it really just seems like we are constantly being blessed for our Faithfulness, our diligence, and our obedience, but yet we still have weaknesses but that's the amazing thing about the Lord is He still works with us to help others. (D&C 1:23)  One of my favorite scriptures in the Book of Mormon is Ether 12:12-15 how Faith brings blessings and miracles in our lives and I still remember up in MacArthur when me and Elder Delahunty were together and we made this our companionship scripture and then we got that amazing miracle of a phone call from J___.  But I still love how God works with us even though were not perfect and we have weaknesses and make mistakes all the time.  Man how great is the Atonement.  Oh ya that reminds me this past week in my studies I was reading in Mosiah and King Benjamin's address to the people.  Man great stuff in those couple of chapters but something that really stuck out to me this time was how he kept teaching the people that we can always retain a remission or our sins in our life and continue along our journey to endure to the end all because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  I remember each and everyday how important the Atonement is in my life and at the end of every night during my prayers and ask for forgiveness for all of my sins and mistakes that day.  Man how great is the Atonement that always works no matter what, no matter when, no matter how many times!:)  (Mosiah 26:27)  

What else happened this week oh we had a branch activity and we played softball which was way fun!  Oh and also a bummer of the week Elder Newman got sick with I think the same thing I got a couple weeks ago cuz there has been a stomach bug going around so he was sick on Wednesday and Thursday but he is doing better which is awesome!:)  The week has been good and we are excited to work hard for one more week of the transfer and see what happens.:) 
 

Mom thank you so much for what you said about USU in the Fall.  When I read what you said it brought peace to my soul and Joy to my heart to know that it will all be okay.  I loved exactly what you said about taking 3-4 classes and one of them a PE one.  I'll think about it some more this week and let you know.  Thanks so much mum.:)  I also want to thank you mum for your awesome email to me this week it was great and really helped me see everything that has changed in my life.  Wow it's crazy to think about my life before my mission and my life now.  Haha crazy and it's all because of the Lord and His Gospel and my Father in Heaven and because of my two awesome parents and my awesome sister!!!  Thank you all 3 for all the support you give to me for always emailing me and the things you say they always help so much and recharge my batteries for the week to keep going I love you guys all so much.  I was thinking what you said mum about reading the scriptures regularly and I don't want you to feel bad.  One thing we do a lot with our investigators is we read the Book of Mormon with them to help them get into a habit of reading and understanding what it is saying.  So I was thinking the other day hey we should do that as a family when I get home.  We should read the Book of Mormon together as a whole family.  We won't read it all together but we will read it all together at the same time.  Like we will have our own personal study but we will all start reading the Book of Mormon together and so as we read it we will be in the same spot as everybody else so if there is something that we read that doesn't make sense we can ask each other for help to understand or if there is something we read that really sticks out to us we can share it with each other and we can grow our knowledge and testimony of the Book of Mormon as a family.:)  I don't know just an idea we will think about it when I get home.  

Well I gotta go thanks for everything I love all of you guys and hope you all have a good week.  I know we are going to have a good week this week no matter what the Lord has in store for us.  Loves yous all heaps.  Remember Christ is where we get our strength and remember to "Count your many blessings."  :)
Love Elder Stott