Come Unto Christ in Colorado Springs: "...Not Be Room Enough to Receive It."

Well, I am now 21, so that means less than people who are not LDS (but at the same time more, because I've got more reason to say no). I do, however, now have the right to a landscape-style driver's license, be the adult supervising my sister who just got her driver's license, and get a concealed carry permit. I was so busy on my birthday I didn't even have a spare moment to open my package from home until around 4 PM. THAT is a good birthday in the mission.

So you know how the Lord says when you pay your tithing, He opens the windows of heaven and pours you out more blessings than you have room to receive? And you know how people say that a mission is like tithing on your life? Well let me tell you, that ain't a false statement, and the Lord don't lie. I have felt so blessed this past week. Honestly, I don't know what to do with all these blessings. I feel like it's just one miracle after another.

So at church last week, a less-active member, N, decided to attend, and an awesome member came with her to the Gospel Principles class. She said she has an 8-year-old, M, that she wants to be baptized. That's awesome! She has already started coming back to activity, and the bishop feels that her child is ready for baptism!

The Assistants are in the area just adjacent to ours. We are actually in the same apartment complex. They were talking to people in a park in their area, and they came across G, a less-active member who lives in our ward boundaries! We set up an appointment with him, which ended up getting rescheduled to the day we had exchanges scheduled with the Assistants, so it worked out perfectly transition-wise. He understands pretty much all of the doctrines (he served a full-time mission), but he hasn't read the scriptures in a while, so his scriptural knowledge is lacking a bit. We are going to be meeting with him again this week!

We met with E again (our media self-referral), and we had a great lesson about the Restoration of the Gospel. He told us that it has answered some questions he's had for a while. He came to church, and before it started, we had a lesson with him and our awesome ward mission leader (who just got off his mission a few months ago). He told us that he felt that there was something more than just this life, that there was something before, and we happened to have planned to teach him about the pre-mortal existence that day! Totally incredible! He stayed for all 3 hours of church, and loved it!

We and over half of our zone had an awesome service opportunity this week. The town of Security has a contaminated water supply, and so Care & Share (a non-profit organization) put together a project to hand out water bottle to the residents. They got in contact with our JustServe missionaries, and we committed to 6 volunteers. That morning, we got a text from the missionaries going there, saying they needed 4 more volunteers ASAP. We quickly mobilized our district of 6, and we helped out. It was in a Catholic Church parking lot (#Inter-FaithForTheWin), and most of the volunteers (not including Care&Share employees) were us Mormon Missionaries. There ended up being news reporters there, so we are famous now. I was directing traffic, so I wasn't in any of the shots, but my companion got some air-time. We are going to be doing the same thing this week, but we might have almost all of our zone this time (because they need more volunteers than last time).

Mormon Channel just put out a wonderful new Mormon Message about living with mental illness, particularly MDD (Major Depressive Disorder, or "Depression"). It can be a very serious thing, that can affect a major part of who you are. But I testify that the grace of Jesus Christ is sufficient. It is an Infinite Atonement. Christ knows EXACTLY what you are going through, and EXACTLY how to help you. You don't have to live in the darkness. MDD is a very real and serious thing, but there is help. It is possible to feel joy again, to feel hope again, to feel peace again, to feel the Spirit again. God loves each and every one of His children, and has prepared a way for each of them to achieve ultimate happiness. We can be healed. That is the promise of the Resurrection. All physical and mental illnesses WILL be healed because of Jesus Christ. I know that He stands supreme, and He has conquered the grave, and I so testify in His Holy Name, amen.

Until next week, today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one who can be more youer than you. (Dr. Seuss)

The Lord's Soldier,

Elder Jacob C. Tibbitts