75 Degrees...and I'm COLD!!

We got a new zone leader and they don't go to Tempe every week,  so when I got mail I got like tons. Ha. So I will take a lot of time writing back today.

Well, anyway, what my days look like;

      Wake up and exercise. (normally run or lift for a half hour). Then eat, shower, and study the scriptures. I am reading the Book of Mormon now, and sometime I will read some talks or whatever. Ha! We have all of The Gospel Library we can study from. I have read the Missionary Library and a bit of Jesus the Christ. I just read what I felt like that day. For instance, today one of the Elders in my apartment airdropped me a talk. It was all about how a lot of people believe in Christ… but not a lot can say they BELIEVE Christ. Anyone can say they believe in Christ.   And a lot of people do, but they cannot say they BELIEVE Christ when they believe they cannot be forgiven for all the sins they do. Like Legrand Rischards says. “No true Christian on earth would not join this church.”

It is so sad to see that people are willing to settle for so much less than they can have. Elder Holland says, “People want a God that won’t rock the boat a little… but that won’t even row it!!!!! So many people here are just that way. They are just content with where they are. “When they are learned they think they are wise and they hearken not unto the counsel of God.” If you want the gospel to be complex and hard to understand, God will close your heart to understand the scriptures and make it hard. But the Gospel of  Jesus Christ is simple to understand. LOVE God. If you love God, then everything else you will WANT to do. That’s easy. Now it is a VERY different story to live that. 

Well, I want to tell you about Robert  I think that I have told you about him. If I have, whatever, I am saying it again. Me and Elder Rook street contacted him a few months ago. He has been inactive for most of his life. He had a mission call to Germany and things happenede and he went inactive and pretty much left the church. Anyway, he has a 13 year old daughter and she lives with him every other weekend. So it took a while to get a hold of them both to teach them a lesson. And when we did we had a super awesome experience.

We don't know if we can baptize her because she lives with her mom most of the time, and her mom doesn’t want her to listen to us. So dang, but we texted Robert on Thursday to ask if Skyler was going to be over for this weekend. He said, “no” but that he was super scared and asked for a blessing. So we went over there and had a super spiritual lesson with him and we asked if he would like to make it back to the temple. He said he would. That was amazing.

He and his girlfriend are going to San Diego for a trip. (They have been fighting a lot, I guess) So we invited him to go and walk around the temple grounds at that temple.

Yesterday, he was trying to send those pictures to our phone, but we have a piece of crap phone, so we will get to see those pictures later. Anyway, during the lesson we showed him "Mountains to Climb." It is a Mormon Message and he started to cry. Things worked out so perfectly in that lesson…. and the whole day. I could never have done any of it by myself. The Lord is doing his work, and I just get to be along for the ride.

I get to see how He prepares people and shapes them and gets them in positions in their lives. And when they are ready, He introduces the gospel to them. He does it when they are ready. God will never force anyone to do anything. And I just get to be here right now… and be the Lord’s hands with Robert right now. The things I said in that lesson, I will never be able to tell you they were my own. This will happen to everyone on earth through different people and at different times.

I am so grateful for the Lord and his atoning sacrifice for me, and all he does EVERY DAT for me. I was feeling very down and wondering why on earth am I stuck here in this area… that is super small??? And the Lord had to point me back in the right direction… again. And that very afternoon we had that experience with Robert, and I got my answer. I am here for Robert. I am here for him.. NOT my self. (Robert said in the lesson that if I got transferred he would have to shoot whoever transferred me). The Lord has to be pretty basic with me.

Anyway, most of the time we are just going to member’s houses and checking up on their family mission plans 90% of the time.

Sweaters: I like argyle. I like zippers… ok with mid or full zippers. Don’t get anything to out there. Just dark grays and blacks and gray. Ha! It was like 75 with a little wind, and I was way cold!! So they are going to need to be warm. Ha! Or solids work. Also, nothing that will distract from my purpose. I cant think of anything else.

Elder Dawes