Thy Will, O Lord, Be Done

There was some miscommunication about the amount of miles we could drive our mission vehicle this month and what miles were reimbursed, so we are down to about 20 miles a day, instead of our usual 40 miles, and only that much because the zone leaders gave up  100 miles for us. So it looks like we'll be doing a lot more walking and getting rides. We ended up getting a ride to church yesterday and walking for about 45 minutes to a less-active part-member home.

Now in consequence of our limited number of miles, it took a longer amount of time to visit fewer people. However, I learned a very important lesson this week. I came as we were having dinner with the Second Counselor in the bishopric and his family. He is a convert of about 4 years. As we were talking about missionary work, I asked him if anybody at work knew he was a member of the ward's bishopric. He said they didn't know that part, and it inspired him to get a picture of the temple to put at his office, and he is also going to accept calls that have to do with his calling at work, and maybe the people right next to him might hear something. When he said that, I realized that all of my plans for missionary work that day had been MY plans, and the Lord's plans were for me to touch this person's life to be more open about being a member.

I also watched the Mormon Message "You Never Know" this week. It is incredible to realize that sometime even your plans for missionary work are different than what the Lord's plans for you are.

And that is my message to you this week. Sometime our plans don't seem to work out, and we wonder why everything isn't working, but if we just remember that the Lord's ways are higher than our ways, we can go to bed every night feeling accomplished, if we've given all we can. Sometimes we'll be able to see what it was that the Lord had us do, and it may seem incredibly small, but for the Lord, it was the biggest thing you could do that day, and it may mean a world of change in the life of that person who you touched.

Until next week, remember, from small things, great things come to pass.

-- 

The Lord's Soldier,

                      Elder Jacob C. Tibbitts

In case you were wondering, I built that Bald Eagle Habitat,
so you are welcome.

If it wasn't apparent from last email,
my companion IS a master chef.

Go Green: Be Genealogical

So the stake I'm serving in did their annual Family History Days event this weekend. We have a Family History DISCOVERY Center at our stake center, so it was fun. Except for the fact that we were signed up to man the registration booth the whole time. That's alright, we had good fun anyway. During lunch time, I got to sit next to the stake president and talk with him. He's an incredible man, and I've heard that throughout my ward and the stake.

B is possibly the the most incredible member of this whole ward. She's only been a member since January, but she is an incredible member-missionary. She gave her first talk this week, and she was sustained in her new calling. "The Spirit of God like a fire is burning [in her]," and the whole ward is catching on fire (figuratively speaking, of course).

We are entering into the second-to-last week of training my new missionary. I've learned so much, and grown so much from this assignment. I am excited to do whatever the Lord requires of me next. It is incredible how He helps us grow. It is in the most unlikely of ways, and those are the most effective ways.

Besides chopping and hauling wood, that's all for this week, folks.

I would like to bear my testimony of the Plan of Salvation, and it's incredible power. Out of all the messages we share as representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ, this is the possibly the most powerful and most important: That families sealed in the temple WILL LAST FOREVER. If the members of that family keep their covenants, then no power in existence can break those eternal bonds, no, not even death itself. It is the most glorious message to be revealed to humankind, that the things that are of eternal value are also of eternal endurance. This is the crowning doctrine of existence. Everything leads to this one eternal truth: "There is no end to glory; There is no end to love; There is no end to being; There is no death above."  (If You Could Hie to Kolob, verse 5)

To all within my power to reach, I declare: Families CAN be together forever! God has made it so. I know it with every fiber of my being. There is nothing impossible with God. I stand as a witness of God, that His Eternal Plan is true, and I do so in the sacred and eternal name of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and Savior, amen.

Until next week, remember that you are loved.

-- 

The Lord's Soldier,

              Elder Jacob C. Tibbitts

Elder Tibbitts to the RESCUE!

This wooden clock was 3-D Printed.
That's right, be amazed by technology.

My companion is a master chef.

Tracting: Sometimes It Works

Our mission has been setting goals to talk to as many people as we can. Due to this, me and my companion decided to do some tracting this week. Tracting is not a very common finding activity in this mission, and we tend to focus on most of the other ways of finding. However, we decided we would tract a street, using the upcoming Family History Event to our advantage. The success we met was incredible! We only had about an hour or less to tract, but we were able to talk to 5 different sets of people, and one of them accepted our invitation to learn more about our Church and how to strengthen your relationship with Jesus Christ.

We also decided to just walk around a major retail store, to just see if anybody would start a conversation with us. We can't really start them ourselves there, because of legal stuff, and our plan was to just have a random conversation, not even necessarily about the Gospel, unless it leads to that. Unfortunately, we were approached by an employee, then the Asset Protection Manager, telling us we weren't allowed to solicit there. Now I know we aren't solicitors, and I already said that we hadn't talked to anybody except for people we knew, but we didn't want to start an argument, so we ended up just leaving. In essence, we almost got kicked out of a retail store. That's alright, because a less-active couple that was there invited us to their place once we got the boot!

Now back to the positive: B came with a non-member friend to church, and she invited another friend to take the lessons, who was curious. This lady has been a member for 10 months, and she is on fire! She fasted every Sunday while she was working at a job that disallowed her to go to church on Sundays, and she has been hounding the bishop for a calling, which she finally got! She is getting her Patriarchal Blessing on November 1st, and she goes to the temple regularly! "Verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be like unto [B], behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever, yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men."

I have learned a very important lesson on my mission. It is found in D&C 82:10: "I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise." Another important scripture for this lesson is D&C 130:20-21: "There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—

And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated."

When we are obedient, we can ask the Lord for help. I'm not saying that you cannot ask for forgiveness while trapped in sin that you are trying to break out of, but rather that there is extra power and blessings to those who keep that law. They are blessing unavailable to a sinful person, because that person is not in a position to receive them. If you are struggling with the trials of life, I invite you to examine your obedience to the Lord. If you choose to obey, and become more obedient, the Lord will bless you in ways that weren't possible before. You can go to your Father in Heaven in confidence and faith, knowing that you've done all you can do. He will help you overcome your trials. The same is true with sin and addiction: start by being obedient to the commandments that you can be obedient to, and as you exercise that small particle of faith, ask the Lord for help, knowing that you've done the most you can right now. He'll help you do even more, then even more. I know that the Atonement is real, and that we can be clean and live with our Father in Heaven, if we just listen and obey Him, and I say that in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Until next week, just keep soldiering on.

-- 

The Lord's Soldier,

                      Elder Jacob C. Tibbitts

The Week of Miracles

First off, General Conference was INCREDIBLE! I had so many questions answered, both for myself and for those we are working with. I really felt the General Authorities and Officers were speaking directly to me! I was so excited to hear the announcement of the 3 new Apostles, Elder Donald A. Rasband, Elder Gary E. Stevenson (who I already loved), and Elder Dale G. Renlund. I was wonderful to hear their testimonies of the Risen Lord.

So let me tell you a wonderful story, one of those stories that a missionary will probably never forget for the rest of their lives. We were looking for a less-active member, but nobody answered, so we tried the old "2 to the left, 2 to the right" approach, and knocked on the doors nearby to see if we could get any more information. Nobody had any clue who we were talking about, but at least they talked to us. One lady gave us some sodas, but wasn't interested. One guy said he was busy, but that we could drop by next Friday. I figured we had knocked on enough doors to find this lady, so I was ready to go and do something else, but my companion insisted that we keep knocking on doors there, so we knocked on two more doors. At the second door, a lady opened up. She was visibly shaken, but invited us inside. She told us that she never opens the door for anyone. She was praying to God that he would send somebody to help her, so she knew we were here for a reason. She has been struggling with an addiction to alcohol for a long time, and she was starting to lose hope. We were able to testify of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and that she can be free. We invited here to watch General Conference with us, and she agreed, but later decided she wasn't ready for that. During the Saturday Afternoon Session of General Conference, we got a call from here, asking us to come over IMMEDIATELY, because she is craving really bad. We were with the bishop, and he came with us (unfortunately missing the 2nd half of that session). We were able to tell her about the Church's Addiction Recovery Program. We have a lesson tomorrow with her and her husband, and an LDS Family Services stake missionary is coming with us!

I would like to share part of one of my favorite talks from this past General Conference, by President Uchtdorf in the Priesthood Session. He talked of Daniel, who stood up for his strange religion despite persecution all around him. President Uchtdorf said, "Just think about it, how much easier would it have been for Daniel to go along with the ways of Babylon? he could have set aside the restrictive code of conduct God had given the children of Israel. He could have feasted on the rich foods provided by the king, and indulged in the worldly pleasures of the natural man. He would have avoided ridicule. He would have been popular. He would have fit in. His path might have been much less complicated. That is, of course, until the day when the king demanded an interpretation of his dream. Then Daniel would have found that he, like the rest of Babylon's "wise men", had lost connection to the true Source of light and wisdom."

My brothers and sisters, "the ancient city of Babylon is in ruins. Its splendor is long gone, but Babylon's worldliness and wickedness live on," as President Uchtdorf said. We cannot allow ourselves to fall under the peer pressure and "flow" of the world. I promise you, that if you will keep the faith, despite the opposition, or perhaps the lack of (because "Skepticism is easy. Anyone can do it."), then God will endow you with power from on high. True happiness is available only to the one who has the discipline to seek it.

Until next week, we thank thee, Oh God, for a prophet.

-- 

The Lord's Soldier,

                      Elder Jacob C. Tibbitts