Good afternoon everyone!! It's a beautiful day to be a WKM Missionary!! Any specifics on the reason are to arrive promptly, it's just amazing to be here!! It's always hard to exactly describe how grateful I am to be here...so I figured if I said it in my Emails every week...someone might get a picture of it!
The week has been a good one to say the least! The work is an amazing thing to take part in each day. No matter with the hastening of the work around here for most of the inhabitants of Mattawa, there are many miracles and many people to talk to and share a message.
It's kind of funny looking back on my planner (where we keep track of who we taught), we have kept pretty well daily contact with one of our investigators, Vicente Lopez. Vicente is really an amazing Brother! He has such a strong desire to learn and apply the Gospel into his life, he really sees the blessings through it. Although he has many problems that are really holding him back, he has a strong deep desire to change and make it on the right path.
Commitments are things that we invite others to do that we have prayed and received an answer that it is something (if done) that will be a blessing to them. And we have a rather large blessing of action for the upcoming day and finding a job...returning the next day, he slept on through all day. Instead of questioning him on it, we opened the Book of Mormon.
The action of opening and reading out of the Book of Mormon made all the difference in the world. I go back to the quote from President Joseph Smith, "It is the most correct book on Earth, and one can get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts." ...Sometimes this is where my Elder Holland comes out....HELLO!! SEE THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS BOOK?! haha...but seriously. The Bible is such an amazing thing, it's true, and it contains the words of Christ through His Prophets. And along with that, the Book of Mormon is another testament, that Jesus is the Christ, Son of the Living God. We are meant to read it side-by-side to receive the fullness of the Gospel.
I have just learned so much from the study of the Bible and Book of Mormon when put together. The Gospel is such an amazing things to study, and I am really grateful for the opportunity to study each morning and ponder and apply what I have learned each day. How great is our calling?!!
Moving on, Saturday was a really awesome day!! We started things off in Othello for a Zone Meeting, where all the missionaries in the zone get together and learn, share, and be edified. It was a blessing for me to be able to give a training on the Christ-Lioike attribute of Diligence.
The first thing that really came to mind with this is the word "Will." Not necessarily "I will do," but our own Will and that to our Father's Will. Our will is the ability to choose what we would desire, our desires, thoughts, dreams, etc.
The Army has a saying that I really like: "Be all that you can be." That's really amazing, I love that...but I believe that there is SO much more!
Thinking on it, our whole lives are a battle between our own will and the will of our Father in Heaven. Christ gave the perfect example in that..."I came to do the will of the Father." "I came to do My Father's Will."
The purpose of God is to Bring to pass the Salvation and Eternal Life of Man. This life is to experience Joy...that is a really amazing blessing and desire of our Father. He has prepared a way for us to fulfill that purpose, and we are in the middle of that plan. But the biggest question is how is it that we can find that "True Joy" that our Father in Heaven desires for us?
It's amazing to think on where we can find that...scriptures!! WHOOO!!
But it brings that thought to me. Just as Christ gave the example, to truly have joy, we need to give our will to the Father. When we give up our will, our Will will be replaced with the will of the Father...so in order to Win, you have to loose....
Trust in Him, Him that knows all things. Him that for you suffered for all things, who knows you personally. He will create a masterpiece, when you will only make a smuge. You will make a good man, He will make a God.
I want to change that quote from the Army a little bit, "LET ME MAKE YOU all that you can be."
And for missionaries especially. Our will (desires, wishes, wants) can be put into boxes and left on our shelves at home with our boxed clothes. When we return, we will open all the boxes. We may find clothes that dont fit or are out of our taste, and we will give them away and replace them. We may also find that some of the other things that we left behind (Desires, wishes, and wants) dont fit us as well. Because we have let the Creater shape us to the best that we can be.
Let yourself get lost in the work, it is the greatest thing, it is where Real Life is. And dont come back the same, that is exactly opposite of your purpose as a missionary.
"You are guaranteed at least one convert, and it better be you!!" -Elder Holland
Later that day, we were able to go back and help out more with the Food Bank. At least there weren't any onions, so we were going through and giving out apples and oranges. It was a blast to help out and meet new amazing people!
Then we come to Sunday!! I loved this Sunday, a little crazy, but it was all worth it!!
Church was a blast. We had a wonderful time in both the Spanish and English wards/branches. At the end of the Spanish Branch, we had a lunch of Carne Asada that was the Bomb! We served and helped out, then got to eat a little bit before heading over to our Ward Mission Leader's house to Skype our families.
It was the best to see and talk to family! You are all amazing!!! I love every one of you! HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!! I'll talk to you in 6-months! wow...Christmas is coming up fast already...XD
Thank you all for everything that you do to help me out here. I love you all and pray for your health and safety! If there is anything that one needs from a missionary in Mattawa, dont hesitate to ask!!
-The vineyard laborer,
Elder Glen Wright
Washing Kennewick Mission
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