Week 23 (again?): The Many Adventures of Elder DeWitt

(I think my week count got off somewhere, so I'm marking this as week 23...)

Another week gone already! I say it a lot, but this week went by quick! This week was pretty great. We had lessons, adventures, stake conference, and a little bit of a thunderstorm! These are the makings of a good week. 

I'll probably forget stuff and be sad about it tomorrow. Oh well. 

Monday was quite the experience. After our regular shopping stuffs and whatnot, we decided to go on a bit of an expedition underneath the church building. Yes, underneath. Our building is weird and it has two basements. One is a counseling center and the other is...well, muddy and dark! It's sort of for storage of things like handcarts for trek and other bulky items, but it's fun because you have to climb down a sketchy ladder and crawl under wires and beams to get to the main area. Good stuff! It's safe but creepy :) 

After that we played a very interesting game of soccer in the church gym in our socks. No exactly easy to stop moving on a slick surface! We had a blast though. 

Zone conference! Every transfer we meet together as a zone and hear trainings and stuff from our mission president and other missionaries and it's super sweet. It's great to be around other missionaries and I always learn something. And food. It wouldn't be a proper gathering without food, right? This time they brought Chipotle! Sweet manna from heaven. 

Er...Then we had to eat AGAIN an hour later with a member at Freddy's. I mean, we GOT to share a meal with a wonderful member afterwards. He actually is super sweet and is preparing to go to the temple for his endowment! We're so excited for him. 

OH these days are the best. On Thursday we had a fantastic lesson with our friend Joe. We meet a lot of Joe's. And Jose's. And Julio's and Juan's and Jesus's, etc. Anyways, this was one of the best lessons. We clicked super well with this man and he just had some awesome questions. It's literally the best thing ever when someone has a genuine interest in learning. They don't want to argue or bash. We can have a civil and productive conversation and everyone leaves happy! Just fantastic. 

Friday was sweet! We had our weekly district meeting, practiced the song elder Fisher and I are singing next week afterwards, and planned some of our week. We also remembered that the BYU-Idaho Collegiate Singers and Chamber Orchestra were performing at a nearby school that evening. We were able to invite someone we're teaching so we got to go! It was a fantastic performance and I got to see one of my good friends from high school, Thomas Farr, who is part of the choir! Such a cool experience. 

The next day we studied, had a lesson cancel on us, tracted, and THEN had a phenomenal adults session of stake conference. Literally the best stake conference I've ever been to. We had some seriously outstanding speakers and we got to sing a musical number with some other men in the ward! Then afterward I met a couple that used to live in my stake and know my parents! It's super cool to see all the interesting connections that I've made out here. It's a small world! The Lord is very aware of us and the tender mercies are so special. I'm sure my mom very much appreciated the text and picture that she received that night.

Sunday was also really great. We had stake conference and had our transfer-ly interview with our mission president which is always fantastic. The rest of the day was pretty much regular missionary things. Not much else to tell bout it! 

Today has been pretty slow because we're low on miles (since we have an allotment that we're able to drive each month). Because we had to drive quite a bit already we aren't doing much today. We'll probably shop and play some games at the park with the district! Should be fun. 

Spiritual thought today is about pride. Pride is one of Satan's many powerful tools that he uses to separate us from God and the influence of His spirit. We are taught to be humble like the Savior and to turn our hearts to Him; to change and to repent. Elder Kevin S. Hamilton of the Seventy said,

"As we humble ourselves and exercise faith in Jesus Christ, the grace of Christ and His infinite atoning sacrifice make it possible to change." 

What a blessing it is to have the gift of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and to have that opportunity to change! Key word: opportunity. It is a gift freely given, but not forcibly received. We need to be humble and repent in order to make a true and lasting change. He went on to say, 

 "The Lord’s condition for change is humility. 'If they humble themselves before me,' He said. The opposite of humility is pride. Pride exists when we think we know better—when what we think or feel takes priority over what God thinks or feels." 

 When we are prideful, our progress is halted. We hear often of the "Pride Cycle" in the Book of Mormon when the people become prideful and forget the Lord. They chose not to change, and we all know where that lead. Not anywhere we want to be. I implore you to reflect on yourself and ask what pride you can remove from your life. What can you do better? We all have work to do, so let's start now! I can promise you that as you choose humility that you will be happier, lighter, and closer to the Spirit. If we humble ourselves, He will change us. I absolutely know that to be true because He has changed me. 

 

I'll leave it here for this week. Thank y'all for reading. I hope that this week is awesome for all of you. I love you all and I will type at you again from a slow Samsung next week!

In the wise words of a recent convert that spoke in stake conference, 

"The church is true. The prophet is the man."

Love,

Elder DeWitt