Week 33: Lost Phones and Found Sheep

We had dinner with a member family, and we found out that one of their daughters is in the same class as B, one of our investigators. She is a wonderful member missionary, so good that she nearly got kicked out of her school for proselyting. I have to say that is probably the most epic way to get kicked out of school. I'm not condoning activities that lead to expulsion, but I am encouraging spreading the Gospel. ;) We challenged her to invite B to church and to an 8-year-old baptism that is happening this week.

 

We taught a lesson about baptism to the 8-year-old who is getting baptized, and Elder M did a pretty cool object lesson. Now before I share this object lesson, I feel obligated to tell the youth to not try this without adult supervision. Elder M got a cookie sheet and some hand-sanitizer, and put the hand-sanitizer on the sheet. He then lit the hand-sanitizer on fire. He got his hands wet under the faucet, representing baptism and repentance, and he picked up the flaming hand-sanitizer. He said that the reason it wasn't burning him was because he had a protective layer of water on his hands. Satan will try to burn you, but if you keep your baptismal covenants and repent, you will be protected from the worst of Satan's damage.

 

We are trying to work with the youth to get them more missionary-minded, because the  youth are usually the best member missionaries. We decided that the best way to work with the youth right now is to help relieve any burdens that we can from them. That way they won't feel so stressed and they will be able to grow their testimony. We met with the Young Men's President, and he decided that the best way would be to help the Young Men fulfill their Duty to God, mostly through just reminding them of their goals. We also are going to employ the help of the sisters in our district to help the Young Women with their Personal Progress.

 

Now, for the title of this week. Every Saturday, we invite the youth to morning sports, and encourage them to invite their friends. The church was occupied this Saturday, so we played at the park near our house. We went down to the field below to play two-touch rugby. When we came back up the phone was gone. The other elders called it, and the sisters had it. They said a man had called them with the phone, saying he saw it just lying there and thought it had been left behind. They gave us the address, and we went by and thanked him. He said he and his wife don't go to a church right now, but they read the Bible regularly and use it to compare with any other religious material they find. They even already have a Book of Mormon. We were able to set an appointment with them for tomorrow! Maybe we should lose our phone more often!

 

Satan is making every possible move he can make to destroy this Church, and one of the devious methods he uses is attacking the youth of the Church. He knows that they are the future leaders in the Lord's army, and he sees their potential more so than they do at times. He writhes at the idea of us growing up firm in the faith and like a light shining forth. He will stop at nothing to destroy our confidence and self-worth. Brothers and sisters, WE CANNOT LET THIS HAPPEN! You are sons and daughters of the Most High God of Israel. You have within you the seeds of eternal life. Do not let Satan destroy what you KNOW you are, and NEVER allow the Father of Lies to do it to anybody else. I learned something really cool recently. Redwood trees, some of the tallest trees in the world, don't grow their roots deep like other trees. Instead, they grow them sideways near other redwoods, so that their roots mingle and tangle together. These trees don't rely on their own strength, because it won't be enough for something that has such potential and can touch the sky. They rely on each other, and that is something WE must do. Lift each other up, and you will soar above the sun, moon, and stars.

Until next week, Gelukkig Koningsdag! (For all you citizens of the Kingdom of the Netherlands)

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The Lord's Soldier,

                      Elder Jacob C. Tibbitts

Week 32: Super-Planning and Finally Teaching

We finally have an investigator in our area. We've been without non-member teaching in our area for the last few weeks. M is a wonderful guy from England, and his son B is very inquisitive and extremely bright. M hasn't had a Christian background for over 40 years, and his neighbors are members. He has gone to our church once or twice, and he wanted us to come over and talk to him about Jesus. It went fantastic, and B was constantly asking questions that could be answered with the Plan of Salvation, which is what we are definitely going to be teaching them this week.

 

This week we had zone training, and the zone leaders and sister training leaders told us about a wonderful thing called weekly planning and how we can do it right. Two representatives from the Missionary Department came by last week and went on exchanges with the zone leaders and APs. They evaluated what one thing if the whole mission worked on would revolutionize the mission, and they decided it was weekly planning. They showed the MP, APs, ZLs, and STLs how to do weekly planning effectively, and they brought up this awesome way to make weekly planning work. We start off by having a vision of what we want our investigator to accomplish, then we make a goal based off that vision, then we make plans based off the goal, then we schedule around those plans. Vision, goal, plan, schedule. Me and Elder M hadn't done weekly planning yet that week, so we tried it out, and was INCREDIBLE! I really could feel the Spirit during planning, and we learned a lot about those we are working with through the Lord's help.

 

One of the people we planned for was B, a less-active member. We were planning on going in and helping him find a relationship with God, but that quickly changed and we realized that we need to work on helping him have faith in himself first. If we hadn't planned like that, though, we wouldn't have been prepared for that shift and it would have been a disaster, but instead it was AWESOME!

 

Planning has made me realize that it is a tool we need every day of our lives. Effective planning leads to effective living. I invite all of you to learn how to effectively plan.

 

Sorry, I don't have much time, so I've gotta go now. Until next week, I love all of you.

 

PS, Elder Holland is coming in 25 days to our mission conference.

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The Lord's Soldier,

                      Elder Jacob C. Tibbitts

Week 31: On the Border With the Rich People

So it looks like I've entered into the well-off zone of the mission. It is a very wealthy area that I am serving in, and the members are very missionary-minded. The area right next to me has a gated community that the guy who owns Comcast lives in. Don't worry, a lot of my area is gated communities as well with no way in except the permission of members. We did service for a lady in the other area, and she is incredibly nice and funny. It looks like we'll be doing service in her house every week. We call her Grandma. :)

 

We have decided to call our district the Borderlands District, because all of our 3 areas are on the border of the Colorado Springs and the Denver South Missions. The temple is literally 10 minutes from our house, but it might as well be 2 hours away, because we still can't go to it unless we are working with somebody who is going for the first time or during our halfway and finish marks of our mission. The Wal-Mart is literally less than a minute out of our mission boundaries, but we have special permission to journey outwards to gain rations and supplies necessary for survival.

 

So we are blessed to have a Costa Vida in our area. Missionaries eat half-off at Costa Vida (because the company is owned by a member), and I've already eaten there 3 times this week. There are two workers there who every time missionaries come in, say, "Hey, two coffees?" It is pretty funny. One time we went over, there was a new guy who worked there, and they were joking around about it. He didn't know they were joking, so he brought out some coffee from the back and gave it to me (they don't sell coffee at Costa Vida). I took the cup and pretended to start putting it up to my mouth, then the older worker stopped me and said, "No, no, no, it's only for me. I have to tell your bishop," joking around. It was pretty funny.

 

This week I'd like to share a scripture from Isaiah chapter 59, verses 15 and 16: "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me."

 

A member brought up a beautiful truth. Jesus Christ will be the only resurrected being in the universe with scars and wounds. As Elder Holland said this last General Conference, "This Easter I thank Him and the Father, who gave Him to us, that Jesus still stands triumphant over death, although He stands on wounded feet. This Easter I thank Him and the Father, who gave Him to us, that He still extends unending grace, although He extends it with pierced palms and scarred wrists."

 

The Savior has chosen to keep these scars, to be the only being in the universe that will forever hold wounds, to remind himself and us of the immeasurable love He has for us. He will never forget us, or forsake us, and so we should never forget Him.

 

Until next week, remember who you are and what you stand for!

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The Lord's Soldier,

                      Elder Jacob C. Tibbitts

 

 

A recent visit to Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.

Pictures sent to me (Mom) by a wonderful member there.

Schlotzsky's Chicken Pesto Pizza!  I (Mom again) started making this at home because it was my favorite. It is now Jacob's favorite meal. So, I told him he needed to go to the restaurant where I copied the pizza. He claims mine is better :) I love him and I miss him!!!

 

Week 30: Service, Easter, Conference, and Transfers

This week has been packed completely full with service, so much that we barely even had time to teach any lessons. We usually do maybe 2 hours of service a week, and this week we did about 15! It was just non-stop service! It was so fun! We got to work at the Cheyenne Mountains Zoo, digging holes for posts for the new Bald Eagle Exhibit. We all now realize that there are a lot of Disney songs about digging holes. We kept making jokes like, "Here you can see the Mormon Missionaries in their natural habitat. They live on a diet of green Jello and funeral potatoes. Don't feed them coffee, that'll make them angry. Oh look, they've spotted us, it looks like they want to extend a baptismal invitation!" After we finished volunteering, we got to go through the zoo for free.

Easter was fantastic! It keeps in perspective that our true purpose as missionaries is to testify of Christ, not the Restoration, which is only incidental to our real message. It was a beautiful day, and everybody was so happy. We also got to color eggs!

 

General Conference was AWESOME!!! The General Authorities and Officers were so bold this time around. It is the 100th anniversary this year of Jesus the Christ and Family Home Evening, the 20th anniversary of The Family: A Proclamation to the World, and the 15th anniversary of The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles. There was a big emphasis on The Proclamation to the World, and the Apostles and General Authorities didn't mince words. They made the Church's stance very clear, and they called the members to action. To me, it's a sign of the approaching of the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The world is getting more hostile, so we have to stand up stronger.

 

Well, it looks like I'm getting transferred to Castle Rock zone, Lone Tree area. My new companion is Elder M, who happened to serve in Indigo Ranch with Elder H! I'll be heading out to there on Tuesday. I am sad to leave behind all the people here, but I'm ready for whatever adventure lies ahead.

 

There was a lot said about families in General Conference. They are the focus of our religion, the key to everything we do in the Gospel. Without eternal families, the whole Plan of Salvation would not be what it is. God gave us families to help us become what He wants us to be — This is how He shares His love, for the family is of God. If you grew up in Primary or watched the General Women's Session, you may recognize that phrase. Do not forget that the family is constantly under attack by the adversary. They are our greatest source of happiness, and so the enemy of all happiness wants to destroy them. Do all you can to strengthen your families, and do not forget that we are all brothers and sisters.

 

Until next week, remember that faith is the remedy for fear.

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The Lord's Soldier,

                Elder Jacob C. Tibbitts