Temple, Elder Holland, And Exchanges
This week was loaded! A lot of cool things happened as it says in the title.
My zone (and the mission for that matter) have been preparing for both Elder Holland and the temple for a couple weeks. Not even kidding when I say it--my companion and I have listened to all 59 of Elder Holland's general conference talks!! It really did help us have excitement and vigor for when he spoke to us. I'll get to that fantastic devotional in a bit.
We had an exchange with our zone leaders on Thursday, and it went well. It was interesting because they are English speaking. I got to go to their area, and I spoke English all day. It felt a little unusual, which is good. I just know it must have been fun for the zone leader--assigned to my companion--to be doing Spanish for a day.
I had my second bash during the exchange! It got kind of intense. The zone leader I went with is named Elder Char, by the way. He is from Hawaii, and he is part Japanese. He has a lot of humor. So we were walking around an apartment complex when we saw an African American man walking inside. We waved to him and started talking to him about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. He said Jesus should receive the attention and praise, but not Joseph Smith. I agreed with him until he insisted that Joseph Smith shouldn't be known as a prophet. He continued that the Book of Mormon isn't true scripture because we can't extend the Bible. We listened to his opinions and beliefs about this for 10 minutes before Elder Char cut him off respectfully to defend our beliefs. We stated that he can have his opinions, but we know Joseph Smith is key to the Restoration and the Book of Mormon and that reading the Book of Mormon with intent can help us know it's true. He used the d word twice, and then we told him we didn't want to argue with him since we're all children of God, spiritual brothers and sisters. We offered him a pamphlet, and he refused. He added that he'd never take a Book of Mormon either. We asked for his name, and he said that he'd keep it anonymous. We thanked him for his time, and walked away. Within ten seconds, he said he actually wanted a Book of Mormon. We knew he was lying--he would've thrown it at the ground or something. We told him we'd only give him one if he'd read it, and he kindly said he wouldn't. We got back to the car and were grateful for solid testimonies of Joseph Smith and the reality of the book he translated. I feel bad for "Anonymous", although he drove the Spirit away. Still, he's one of God's children.
My mission had a temple trip on Wednesday, and it was truly special. Any chance to gather with so many missionaries is a privilege. I loved the endowment session, and as always, the temple workers were SO loving and kind. It reminded me of the sacred nature of covenants and just being a missionary. As always, we got food afterward, which was fun.
This is kind of random, but I found out Washington schools start this Thursday! It feels late since Arizona started mid July and early August. Just a fun thought from Elder Jones.
Something funny I'm learning is that when other Elders come to my apartment, my snacks and chocolate milk gets consumed and they don't ask. Instead of getting upset like I used to, I just laugh because I know I get snacky too. I draw the line at one point though haha. Having other Elders over before the Elder Holland devotional was so fun.
We had a "blitz" before Elder Holland, which was where all missionaries in the mission went to my area (Kent) to tract and get a mad amount of referrals. It was a blast!
As for the devotional with Elder Holland, I learned so much. In 4 different groups, we took photos with him, and he's funny in person. He taught about how missions polish and refine every aspect of our lives, and that we ought to take missions seriously and serve them since youth and missionaries are what the brethren give 50-60% of their time for. That stuck out to me. The entire chapel was full, and there were even two rows of people sitting on the stage in the very back. Plus, Presiding Bishop Geral Causse was there and spoke too! He did great, and I thought it was neat that there were two general authorities in our presence!
Lastly, our two on dates are doing well! They are getting baptized this Saturday. We haven't been able to teach them as much we'd like to because their dad works often, but we met on Sunday after church, which was good. We talked about the Plan of Salvation. It was really hard to focus, however, because Edelmira's two young kids were running and laughing in and out of the room demanding her attention. Thanks to her testimony, she is elect and desired that they would be quiet so she could listen to us. We worry for our other on-date, her 14 year old son Joel, because he plays with his siblings and hasn't sat in on the lessons. We're worried about his testimony and readiness to be baptized, but we'll follow the Spirit on that one.
Sorry for the lengthy email; there were so many great things that happened. I just know that God is worth it since he provides a way--even when it's tough. I don't exactly like being a "greenie"--trainee--but it's humbling and a good learning experience.
I love Kent! I hope you all feel that.
Weekly photos:
Elder Jones
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