Hey everybody! Whats up?
Teague looks like a handsome little man baby. I like his hair.
Things are going well for me here in the blessed land of Bremerton. This place is really pretty, and it has tons of sweet tracting places.
I love tracting; it is probably my favorite time of the day -- which is probably really obnoxious to other missionaries, lol. The reason why I love it so much is because it is loaded with spiritual experiences. We go out to find people following the promptings of the Holy Ghost who knows where the people who are searching for the gospel live. We found five new investigators this week through tracting, and the Holy Ghost led us to each of them. We'll be driving down the street and feel prompted to tract a specific apartment complex, or we'll be walking and feel prompted to knock on a specific door. It's so fun.
Our obedience and our diligence are the only things we have complete control over, and when we exercise these two principles, miracles happen. Plus, even when you don't find people to teach, you still find really interesting people.
Like this week we knocked on a guy's door who said he was the most trusted man in the USA; that he knew and funded every US President with all his cases of jewels; that he basically is the US treasury, and he's built pyramids with all the commas he has from his zillions of dollars... He also said he's been shot 17 times in the head with a .44 magnum. He lost track of all the times he's been shot in the body, and he personally knows the ancient Egyptians. He's also dating Maria Carrie by the way. We asked him if he believed in Jesus, and he said he definitely does -- then he thought about it, and said "Sometimes I even think I am Jesus." Drugs are terrible! Anyway, he was a very interesting conversationalist, and he was very hospitable. Being a missionary is such and interesting experience. So this area is very fun, and it's also very interesting.
We actually share our area with the Sister Missionaries. It's the only place in the world that does that, lol. That keeps things interesting, because we end up tracting the same streets a lot of the time. Actually, it's good because we found a couple people who weren't home when the Sisters came by, and some of them were interested. Heavenly Father knows what He's doing.
There is a little Philipino lady who lives in our apartment complex who makes us food. She cooks for us lumpia, fried rice, noodles, ribs; it's really delicious. She is a Catholic lady who likes us; so she feeds us. My companion Elder Lopez is a good Elder. He is Mexican so when some of our investigators speak Spanish and very little english he communicates well with them. It's fun, they are very nice people.
That's about it. I like our area. We have a really awesome member of the Church here named Patrick. He's a convert and is one of the most solid people I've ever met. He loves going out with the missionaries. He has a super strong testimony, and he knows this area like the back of his hand because he's been hanging out with missionaries for a number of years. He's awesome, I really like Patrick. He is 22, and he's submitting his papers to go on a mission of his own. Ha-ha. He's gonna train his trainer; this kid is a pro. Seriously, he's a super good tag-less missionary.
I've been reading the Book of Mormon, and I'm on Alma chapter 10 now. I love the Book of Mormon, it's so awesome. Somethings I've pondered a lot as a missionary are: real intent, obedience, charity, and faith. In Alma chapter 32, we learn the contingency in regard to faith, which is that our faith has to be exercised in things that are true. The only way to know if something is true is to experiment on it. And so aside from keeping us safe, another reason for God's commandments is to give us knowledge of things we can put to test. When we exercise faith by applying (testing) the commandment or principle God gives us, the promised blessings come and our Faith is rewarded. And thus we know our Faith was exercised in a real truth.
Charity is the pure love of Christ. Christ submitted his will to the will of the Father's in all things. Everything Christ did was done to please his Father. If we are to posses charity, we to need to submit our will to the Father's, or follow the example of Jesus Christ. See: Moroni 7:47-48 Real intent is the follow through of our faith, or the actual experimentation that will determine whether our Faith is true or not. Charity is the greatest of all. Charity is the combination of faith with real intent to be obedient to the Lord's commandments, or to align our will with His. As we do this, our faith grows, and our disposition changes. We overcome the natural man, and become purified through Christ. And when we look at our brothers and sisters, we will see them as Christ sees them.
I hope you have an awesome week, I love you guys.
Love,
Elder Thornton
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