The Spirit Works
Hey all,
It's been a fantastic week. Lots of work. Our stake
president has set a goal for each area of how many lessons he thinks is
possible in a week and we got it this week so that felt good. And honestly, we
could probably do even more than that if we tried a little harder.
This week instead of writing out all of the little details I
just want to write one story in detail. I think it's one worth writing out. I
think it shows that the spirit of God is ALWAYS the the ultimate source of
conversion. Nothing else can cause a change of heart in such a way.
We have this certain investigator who has been coming to
church for a while now. He comes with some of his close family that are YSA's
and solid members of the church. He's been coming consistently for a few months
now, and he fits right in. Wears a suit and everything. So we started meeting
with him about 6 weeks ago to go through the lessons with him. When we met with
him the first time he expressed his desire to find the right path for his life
and to grow closer to God. He even expressed some desire to be baptized. We
promised him that the message and the invitations we will give him with do just
that for him. So, we have been meeting with him about twice a week up until
this point. And through all of it we could see him grow. His confidence in
making decisions and firmness in keeping the commandments is now very evident.
And this last Saturday we had a lesson in which all of it came together in a
powerful way. The lesson before Saturday he brought up his concern with Thomas
S Monson being a prophet. He just wasn't sure if he was a prophet of God. His
background is a little unique because he comes from a break off version of the
LDS church so he believes in Joseph smith but after that is where he gets
unsure. So we invited him to watch Dare to Stand Alone by President Monson and
then to pray and ask God if he truly was a prophet. So here we are in the
lesson on Saturday and we ask him how his experience went with the President
Monsons talk. Right after we ask him he just gets a big smile on his face and
the room just gets silent and reverent. And then his face got serious and then
he continues to describe his experience he had while praying for the truth. He
then starts to describe the feeling he had in his heart as he prayed. He said
he had felt more peace and joy come into his heart than he had ever felt
before. And in that moment he knew that all of the things he had being doing
were pleasing to God and he felt a calm assurance that he was on the right
path. He's now crying, as well as the rest of us. And then he told us that he
knows without a doubt that this church is Gods church and he is so grateful to
be a part of it. With many tears falling in the room we all sat there in
silence for about 3 minutes. There was such a reverence and peace in the room.
We didn't even try to teach much after that. We just talked about the
priesthood for a few minutes and then realized that we were killing the spirit
so we stopped. We just soaked in the spirit for like 5 minutes at the end. And
then we set up our next appointment. So little was said in that lesson but we
all learned so much. The simplicity and power of the spirit is more than enough
to change lives. And that ultimately is the feelings of God’s love. It was such
a good experience. And it taught me that sometimes we just need to simply and
humbly ask God for truth. And with that, I invite you all to pray your
questions to God so they can be answered at general conference. I promise they
will be answered!
I love you all! I hope you have a good week.
-Elder Schneider
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| Found some LARPer's |
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| Dinner with Meg at institute |
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| Meg's Southern Cookin |
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