Hope you all had a wonderful week filled with peace and with the
Spirit. I know I ended the week great with Jimmy and Solomon both
getting confirmed yesterday. They are just so inspiring in their
testimonies of the truth, I can't wait to see where they go in life
and in their church service. I truly feel blessed to be able to work
with these people. Some of them are just so pure and tender hearted.
And many that fall into that category in this area tend to be in their
early teen years, many of them around Alli's age. It's been so bizarre
for me to meet and get to know these people and realize that they
could be going to school with my little sister. Alli's growing up!
They remind me of her too. Just tender and pure and peaceable people
who everyone loves and likes being around. Just like Alli.
Jimmy has that kind of heart and hopefully he will rub off on the few
active YM in the ward. I love this Ward, its a lot of fun and some
really great people. It just has such a diverse and interesting
demographic spectrum that it becomes a challenge to integrate everyone
as one body or Ward. But Bishop Ard is truly an inspired man and I've
learned so much from him just in the 3 short months I've served around
him. He does a marvelous job at ministering to the members of the ward
and using the ward council to strengthen those in need. Agatha got to
go to the temple to do Baptisms for the Dead this past Saturday and as
we talked to her after church we could tell it was a touching
experience for her. She said she was just filled with the Spirit and
is excited about doing her own family history work.
Being from Liberia during the horrific civil war, she has some stories
(of which we've only heard bits and pieces) that cause us to be just
filled with compassion for her. Her brother was buried alive, other
family members and loved ones were killed violently in ways too
inhumane to even mention. But I think I mentioned this before, the
Spirit of Elijah filled our hearts and hers as we testified of forever
families.
I felt of that same spirit as Elder Roberts and I prepared our "My
Family" family history booklets for mission leadership council last
Friday. President wanted us to have them filled out before we met
because we would be talking about how to use family history. I'll be
honest, I've never really had a testimony of family history. I guess I
saw how it would be good, but beyond indexing it just felt like
something for grandma and grandpa to do. Heavens, we don't even have
time for that. Gotta go to soccer practice, gotta get billy to piano,
Jake needs a haircut, oh no I forgot to buy So and so a birthday gift!
What am I going to do? Hold your horses! Slow down and let's do an
eternal reality check. What REALLY matters most? Is it these petty
little things that so quickly fill our time and our days to make us
mormons the busiest people on the face of the earth.? Have we ever
stopped to take a split second to think about those who came before
us. They need us. I thought my family was all online and inputted into
family search.org and please let me know if we are! But I had a chance
to look up some info about great grandparents, and for some reason I
was just filled with the Spirit as I saw a picture of Melvin Henry
Robins. I never met him in this life, but I felt an instant connection
to him and an urge to be more diligent about family history.
In pondering this, I thought of our investigator Ed Moore whom we've
been meeting with for several weeks now. He's got a good heart and
thinks he knows enough, but as he meets with us I think the Spirit's
pricking him and he's realizing there's so much more out there. He
feels like there isn't much purpose to this life and he's just ready
to go. It was heartbreaking to hear this 65 year old black American
man (who could be on a tv show...just fits the bill) say that this
life doesn't hold anything for him. We testified of the Plan of
Salvation and assured him that if he continued to meet with us then he
would begin to feel His Heavenly Father's love and learn of that plan.
He loved what he felt. It seems like we're often on the verge of
dropping him because he'll say how he isn't planning on getting
baptized and what not but we shall see.
So what are those things that we need to bury or just get rid of in
our lives? I know I have plenty. And you have to really want to get
rid of it I've found. Alma 24 teaches us beautifully about this
concept of really letting go of those things that keep us from
following the Son of God. For me, maybe it's sarcasm. Holy talito,
that is a hard habit to break! Of the devil I swear. But, we see so
many people lay down coffee or tea or other habits to follow Christ,
why can't we continue on that path? In mission leadership council we
talked about the law of consecration and how this really is an eternal
law. So why NOT begin practicing it now? Ha I'm sorry, I'm in a bold
mood right now, ready to go preach to the world!!
Paye and Rachel will not be able to get baptized as soon as we had all
hoped because we found out that there are some past marriage
complications and they still want to get married. I love em and know
that they will eventually come along. But I feel strongly that in
regards to our own weapons of rebellion, we need to "bury them up deep
in the earth." Alma 24:17. It's time to let go and let God work
miracles in and through us. I know that as we really let go of those
little (or big) things, the Atonement can work to change us and refine
us over time.
Elder Jake Robins
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