Hello hello,
First happy fathers day dad, sorry we don't get to phone on that day too ha. Sounds like it was a cool day though. I would like to see those pictures of the boys cliff jumping if you could do that somehow?
Our past week was good though. It was the first week of the new transfer. Elder Durrant went to Frankfurt on Wednesday with the group of Elders in the zone getting transferred and came back in the afternoon with the new Elders coming in to the zone. So I spent that day with Elder Wilde here in Nürnberg. Then Wednesday night right after Elder Durrant got back we went straight to a couple appointments then tausched that night with the Elders in Erlangen. So that day went quick and the next day too. I think tausches make weeks go by really quick.
It was fun though I worked on Thursday with Elder Gautreaux from Texas. I was in Frankfurt back in January or so when he first got into the field. Every transfer when new missionaries come in there is a little thing we do downtown Frankfurt in the walking only shopping area. Missionaries from the zone that are close enough would come and then all the new ones and we'd sing and talk to people. It was always fun with the new missionaries their first time talking to people and all. I worked with Elder Gautreaux for a bit though when he first came in, now I was able to work with him for real on tausch. Nows he's been out here like over 5 months I think. Crazy how fast that went by. Its really cool to see the development of the missionaries and how they all progress. So much happens in all that time. Days are packed with different things then those days fill the weeks then those weeks fill those months and things go before you know it.
Elder Durrant knows how to read music and all so he's been showing me how to sing different parts of songs. We've been practicing O My Father, if thats what its called in english, and got it down pretty good. We made a little spiritual thought around it and have been visiting members and investigators and doing it for them. Then one of the members in the bishopric heard we sang from a member and now we are supposed to do a musical number thing in sacrament next week ha. Its cool though I'm pretty sure right now we have about a 90% cry rate. So this transfer we are going to try to learn as many as we can and arrange them cool and sing them for people. I basically leave the arranging and showing me how to Elder Durrant then I just do my part and it seems to work well ha. Music is an awesome way to bring the spirit and share powerful messages with people.
Throughout my mission I have come to realize and understand how true the law of the harvest is. You reap what you sow. Elder Scott talked about it a little in his talk called The Transforming Power of Faith and Character. He talks about the 'axiom' we know, you get what you pay for. He says ''this is also true in spiritual matters as well. You get what you pay for in obedience, in faith in Jesus Christ, in diligent application of the truths you learn.'' Its now is more clear to me and seems like common sense. If you want something you do something for it. In the spiritual sense as well. If you want to have a spiritual experience or learn something from a Sacrament meeting or from General Conference, then you must prepare for it. Put something into it on your part and you will get something out. I do not believe we can rightfully expect to get anything out of it without doing our part first. Elder Bednar also says something related to this. He said in April conference 2010 ''The spiritual understanding you and I have been blessed to receive, and which has been confirmed as true in our hearts, simply cannot be given to our children. The tuition of diligence and of learning by study and also by faith must be paid to obtain and personally ''own'' such knowledge.'' Take your claim on the things God has prepared for you by doing something for them.
Elder N. Eldon Tanner in 1975 said ''Remember also that nature never pays an unearned account and she never fails to pay one that has been earned.'' You could not earn it and perhaps benefit from something for a while, for the things to be permanent however you must earn it. Then you can obtain it and ''own'' it as Elder Bednar says. In Alma 41:15 it says ''...that which ye do send out shall return unto you again, and be restored...'' What we pay for and what we earn will rightfully be ours, whether now or later. That is an eternal law. If we sit around and expect to somehow receive a testimony from God it will probably not come. If we are light minded and not focused and enter a Sacrament meeting then expect to be spiritually uplifted and to learn it will not be very likely. If you enter a class having not prepared and are not focused, but expect somehow the teacher to spiritually touch you and teach you; you are expecting a very hard thing from the teacher, for a teacher cannot teach a testimony. They may simplify gospel truths and make things understandable but you alone can plant them in your heart, act on them, and give them the chance to grow.
We cannot go through our lives expecting things to come from nothing. No matter what area of our lives it may be. We must be proactive and take initiative to do our part in order to affect results positively that will come in the future. We will have an affect on what happens. Whether we do something or do not do something will simply determine what we get back. It literally is on you. You determine whether or not you receive the many wonderful blessings your Heavenly Father is holding ready for you. If we do not feel we have felt his influence much in our lives lately or the influence of the spirit, then we would be smart to first see what WE have been doing lately. Not to simply become bitter at God for something of which we are actually the root cause. This will blind and numb us, and continue to blind us and numb us and it will become more dangerous the longer we allow this to continue. It will also become harder and harder to open our eyes and see clearly, to open our hearts humbly and feel clearly. We will begin to rationalize and justify our actions incorrectly because of our fogged perception of what is actually going on. If we would step back out of the fog by humbling ourselves and turning to God for a clear view, we would see what we now can do to fix these things and clear the fog causing us to stumble through life. Making the right decisions and taking the right action will lead us up out of the fog to the peaks of the mountains where we have a beautiful and clear view.
I am grateful God is our Heavenly Father. That he wishes the best for us, and that he understands the eternal goals so much better then we do. So that with his perspective he can guide us through the spirit in our lives. Everyone of us can choose how our relationship to the one with the clear view will be. We will also choose the clarity and amount of guidance that comes into our lives. I hope we will all do our part, pay as much as we can, and thereby receive the blessings of the greatest worth.
I hope you are all doing well. Continue moving forward, serving and loving. enjoy the week and make the most out of your time. love you all,
Elder Puriri
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