Week 11: He is the Gift

This week we had a few bumps in the road, including losing our phone. We should be getting a new one this next week. My companion will be heading home next week, and I'll be ending my training.

B., who came to church with a less-active family two weeks ago, came again this week. He seemed very interested in the good, wholesome values we teach at church, and the instruction we give in discussions on how to raise a child in today's world. He invited us over to Thanksgiving dinner! We'll be eating at the less-active family's house, and he and his family will be there. It is so exciting!

 

The Church is coming out with a new missionary initiative, and it is called "He is the Gift". They will be taking over all the advertisements on YouTube on December 7th, and there is a new part of Mormon.org launching at christmas.mormon.org. We will be getting new pass-along cards, and I encourage each of you to check out the site. I am so excited for it!

 

Sorry this email is so short. I've got a limited amount of time today with all the other things I need to do.

 

I testify that Heavenly Father gave us the gift of His Son, and that that gift is available to all mankind, regardless of location, social class, race, gender, or time period. Everybody has the chance to partake of this beautiful gift, whether in this life or the next.

 

--

The Lord's Soldier,

                      Elder Tibbitts

 

 

 

I guess this is Jacob's reminder to us all :)

Other Sheep Among the Wayward Lambs

I felt pretty snowed-in this week, though it was mostly just the cold combined with sickness. Elder S got sick on Thursday. Long story short, don't buy Mega-Fruit chewing gum from candy dispensers. We had to stay in all Thursday. All the Elders in my district gave Elder S a blessing, and he recovered enough to head out to dinner with a family in Fort Lyons, which I hadn't been to until now. The roads here aren't paved as well as they are in Utah, and so I couldn't drive at 65 miles per hour going along the highway. Driving feels like an adventure here. It requires careful driving and reduced speeds. The car has drifted a little from time to time, but I am driving carefully enough that control is regained very quickly.

We taught S about the 10 Commandments and the Word of Wisdom. It was a blessing to have the non-member there that was there last time. We had to place special significance on "Honour thy father and thy mother" to this rowdy bunch of little kids, and we challenged all of the little ones, especially those approaching or just entering their teens, to find some way this week to serve their mom.

 

As we started talking about addictions with the family, we showed the Mormon Message "The Savior Wants to Forgive", followed by the Bible Video "Go and Sin No More." I then bore my testimony that the Savior wants to help us, and that we should never give up on ourselves or those around us who are struggling. I made eye contact with the non-member neighbor as I was bearing my testimony. I could tell that he could feel the Spirit testifying of the truth of it. I hope that he wants to continue coming over for the discussions.

 

Just before we went to S's house, we dropped by G's to see how he was doing. He was asleep, but his non-member mother wasn't, and she let us in. We talked about 30 to 40 minutes. She asked some basic questions about how our Church is organized, and we and her started sharing our beliefs. She shared hers and we shared ours. As I was listening, all I could think was that she is so very close to the fullness of the truth, except for her belief in reincarnation (which isn't so uncommon as you might think, though it is still generally uncommon). I don't think she's ever really looked into our church, but she is a wonderful lady.

 

Church meetings were cancelled this week, due to snow that had fallen the night before and the large amount of cities that our ward covers. It felt like a Monday on Sunday. :)

 

I want to testify to all of you that Jesus Christ atoned for the sins of mankind. As Elder McConkie once said in his final conference talk, just 13 days before his death, "... salvation comes in and through His Atoning Blood, and in no other way. God granted all of us a walk in the light, as God our Father is in the light, so that according to the promises, the blood of Jesus Christ His Son will cleanse us from all sin. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen."

 

I add my testimony to his. He lives, and He has saved all who will come unto Him and take His Name upon them.

--

The Lord's Soldier,

                      Elder Tibbitts

 

 

Here is a picture of my zone from the mission tour with Elder Baxter of the Seventy.

 

Week 9: The Fires of Elder Baxter and the Snows of November

Ok, so the title is a bit of a misnomer. Elder Baxter of the Seventy was actually very nice. We had our mission tour on Monday. Also the library was closed on Tuesday, so we have a very historic Wednesday Preparation Day!

I witnessed small continuing miracles this week. I can't give too many details, in order to protect confidentiality, but in short, there are many members who give their all to the Church and the Gospel when they have so little. I come across many people who say they can't make it to church or pay tithing because of their financial situation. But these people have less than all of them and they still work to find the means to pay a full tithe, drive 20 miles to church every Sunday, and magnify their callings. It brings tears to my eyes to know that they are doing everything they can because of the great faith they have. They remind me of the Mormon Pioneers and the sacrifices they made to defend their faith and hold "True to the faith".

 

I write in my journal every day, and I am now a third of the way through my missionary journal's pages, and only a 12th of the way through my mission. It appears to me that I'm going to have to buy more journals eventually.

 

We made great progress this week. We finally extended a firm, solid invitation to attend church to one of our less-active members, G, and we finally got to see him at church! Another less-active family showed up, along with a non-member and his kid who live with them! As he was sitting with us in Melchizedek Priesthood meeting, I could tell that he was very interested, and he even contributed to the conversation near the end (the lesson was about In the World, but Not Of the World). He sounded like he'd be very interested in coming again to church!

 

We finally got E to pray vocally! It took some prodding and encouragement, but she finally prayed with our guidance! Hopefully next time we meet she'll be willing to pray vocally on her own.

 

Now the awkward part. We had to teach an unbaptized 8-year-old about the Law of Chastity as part of the missionary lessons to prepare her for baptism. We discussed how to proceed with it quite a bit before we had to give the lesson. It requires the PERFECT amount of information. It actually went quite well, and it was all conveyed well and in the right amount.

 

The mission tour was incredible! Turns out Elder Baxter lives in Centerville back home, too! He taught us a lot about teaching with the Spirit, and just how essential it is to have the Spirit with us. Progression with investigators and less-active members won't happen unless they feel the Spirit. He actually talked directly to me for what felt like ten minutes, though I wish it was longer. I could really feel the Spirit, and the Holy Spirit spoke to me and gave me a powerful insight into what sacrifice really means. I will tell you at the end of the letter what He told me. It meant a lot to me to have him focus on me for just a short time out of the 100+ missionaries there. President Rehm also gave some beautiful C. S. Lewis quotes, which I'll also share.

 

It began snowing on Monday here in La Junta, and I love it, especially realizing all the wonderful service opportunities that will come from having snow on the ground. I've heard that winter time is wonderful for missionaries, because people are more willing to open their doors during this season.

 

So, the Spirit whispered this to me (though I don't think I have it down exactly as I heard it): In Old Testament times, you sacrificed animals. You raised the animal up yourself. You grew with it. You bonded with it. You loved it like a child. Then you were required to offer the animal as a sacrifice and you were required to kill this animal you had come to love on the altar yourself. Nowadays we aren't required to shed the blood of an animal. Instead we are required to throw ourselves upon the altar, so to speak, and sacrifice everything that is ourselves. We give up our heart, mind, body, and soul. While we in old times had to shed the blood of animals, we now give up what that blood is symbolic of, meaning our lives, in the service of God and in remembrance and reverence to the Atoning sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

 

Now the C. S. Lewis quotes: "Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself."

 

"Meanwhile, little people like you and me, if our prayers are sometimes granted, beyond all hope and probability, had better not draw hasty conclusions to our own advantage. If we were stronger, we might be less tenderly treated. If we were braver, we might be sent, with far less help, to defend far more desperate posts in the great battle."

 

Never forget that the bravest of all, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was sent to the most difficult of all posts, even that great Atonement in the sacred Garden of Gethsemane and that awful cross on Calvary, and He did it with far less help than any of us ever thought was possible. And because of that, He is there for all of us, so long as we let Him.

--

The Lord's Soldier,

                      Elder Tibbitts

 

Here are some pictures from this week!

 

 

And the morning weather report :)

 

 

Week 8: Halloween...

So not much happened this week either. We were never able to get many appointments set up, but fear not, next week we are going to have many, MANY appointments!

 

We had a ward Halloween Party and Chili Cook-Off on Wednesday. All the little ones got to go and knock on all the doors in the church to get some candy, and the chili was delicious. Elder S was probably dying inside, though, because Halloween is his favorite holiday and he can't dress up for it as a missionary.

 

Halloween was... fun. We can't do much as missionaries on Halloween, because we had to be in earlier than usual. All we could do is play some games once inside, although I cooked a pretty mean lasagna (Don't worry, it came frozen and store-bought. I didn't magically gain super cooking powers on Halloween, though I did use an oven.)

 

I guess I didn't plan too well again, because I nearly ran out of food again. However, because of that, I was able to see the Lord preparing me for such a thing beforehand. A family we visited gave us some eggs and bread just a few days before, though I didn't see the need then. Another bought us breakfast last Monday, and it really helped.

 

I used many different materials while out tracting. To you missionaries out there, don't neglect the materials given to you. Besides the basic lesson pamphlets and the family history cards, I've also given out some "The Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith" pamphlets, as well as "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" pamphlets. I also gave out an Articles of Faith card and several other things. They are there for a reason.

 

We went on exchanges, me with Elder F, one of the missionaries that came out into the field with me, and we found great success. We were driving by a family lifting furniture, and I opened the window and asked if they needed help. They thanked us and said yes. When we were done helping them, we introduced ourselves as missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and they said they have been trying to find out more about what we believe because they have some Mormon friends. They told us that they heard a lot of stuff, and they knew that there was some misinformation about us. We helped clarify some things, such as the fact that we don't practice polygamy, and that we do believe in grace, but that we also believe that Christ expects us to work for our inheritance. Grace saves us, not works, but effort is required. Imagine if we had just driven by and not said anything! We almost did!

 

Well, I guess I lied at the beginning of the email when I said not much happened. Sometimes you have to just look back at your week and realize just how much more God has blessed you than you thought.

 

My spiritual thought this week is this: Sometimes, when you have truly repented of something, whether it is an addiction, or it is becoming better at a virtue, you may look at it like you are worse off than before. Don't listen to that thought. It is of the devil. I like to think of it in video game terms. When you get to the next level, you have to start off at the beginning of that level. That doesn't mean you lost the game (lost the game ;)) and had to start over, it just means you are at the next level, which means higher difficulty, but greater strength in overcoming that level. Sometimes the Lord will help us let go of our past selves, and then reveal to us in greater light how we can work better on something. I have always considered myself very good at understanding people and their points of view, and loving everyone, but since being on  my mission I felt like I was lacking in that. It wasn't until last night that I truly realized that I was good at that, but that the Lord had revealed to me the parts I NOW need to work on. It is a beautiful thing.

 

Until next week, stay strong, and let Christ help you out.

--

The Lord's Soldier,

                      Elder Tibbitts