First Prayers

Hopefully, I get news about the Visa soon, but if not, I just need to plan on serving here for forever, because that’s the only way to really be the most effective missionary I can be. It’s a tough thing. They give me money for only two weeks at a time, just in case I leave, so I feel like I’m leaving soon, but I might not be.

One of the best lessons this week was on the Plan of Salvation, and making wrong and right decisions in life. Before we talked about it, I asked the guy what has been one of the happiest decisions in his life? He said when he went on this internal cleanse from drugs and smoking for like two weeks. And that was perfect for talking about knowing when we make wrong and right decisions. And you can just tell how the Lord had prepared him, and he knows he is doing the right thing. He prays to be able to change, and learn more about the Book of Mormon. It is so awesome. I love hearing people pray for their first time. They are the most sincere prayers I think. 

So, something cool about what you said about the Book of Mormon, and about the statement Joseph Smith made…that’s one of my favorite statements. We were at this lady's house, and teaching her about the Book of Mormon because she is a recent convert. We read the Introduction a little bit, and then I read to her that statement from the Introduction, "the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding its precepts, than by any other book," and the first thing she said was, I feel like I’m not as close as I used to be. And we told her, we know you can get closer by reading the Book of Mormon, and by praying with sincerity. It is true. That is one of the times when I really felt like we cared about her, and we were teaching her by the Spirit, because we knew what she needed. She had a true desire to want to become closer with Heavenly Father. It was the best.

We have also been teaching about the Atonement too. Something I knew before, but now I know even better, the statement from Preach My Gospel, "everything unfair in life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ." Isn’t that an incredible statement? The thing I understood better though, is it doesn’t mean when we are going through a hard time, it will automatically change our situation, and make it back to the way it was, this would stump our progression, because we are here to experience things and to learn, we learn most from our hard times. If those hard times were taken away, how would we learn and become strong? Paul says that he treasures his trials because when he is weak, he is made strong. So we shouldn’t ask for our trials to be taken from us, but we should ask for strength in our trials. That’s why Paul says he is strong through Jesus Christ. He has overcome the world for us, so He would know how to give us strength.

It is sad when people don’t understand, and they decline the Gospel because they are going through hard times. It doesn’t make sense. We met this lady at this random door who said she doesn’t want us to teach her because her son passed away two years ago, and she is still having trouble. But we said that we know this message can help her. Some people think of Church as just a Sunday thing, and how much sacrifice we have to make, and time we have to invest. But really, Christ suffered for us! Not that we would go to Church every Sunday, but that we could receive strength in our lives when we go through tough times. When we feel guilty, feelings of depression, sadness, unhappiness, frustration, He will come down into the pit, and lift us out of it. He doesn’t require much of us, He only wants for us to be happy.

We are asked to sacrifice some things for Him, and sometimes we complain, and when we do complete an assignment, we make sure everyone knows about it. Jesus Christ made the ultimate sacrifice and never said, "but look what I’ve done, look how bad I had it," even when we don’t do what He asks of us. He could only think of others. If we are to become like Him, we need to do the same. We need to change our outlook and attitude by yielding to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and becoming a saint through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. The Spirit will always guide us. The more we listen to the Spirit, the more promptings we receive.

I love all this, and I hope to improve so much more, so I can know how to teach others, and become a better missionary and better disciple of Christ. I love all of you so much, and I think about you all the time! I’m glad to hear everything is going so well. I love the Book of Mormon! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Hoyt