Monday, July 22, 2013

NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEXT MONTH


WOOT this week went by like a flash. Gotta stay focused...gotta stay focused....

We have been working so hard. GOSH it feels good to just bike 20 miles ya know? We went to places this week that some of my previous companions refused to go to. I love Elder Horne. He is so down for anything. We contacted so many people and we are working towards that goal of one more before I get home. I don't know who it will be yet. 

Adam went out of town this week to CALI and we can't teach him till next week. He is doing well. He finally came to the realization that he does feel it's true and good but he doesn't belive that religion is important right now.....(that's a cop out) and SOOO, we have a fun lesson planned. We want him to know that the Atonement is for him. It is for TODAY. It makes us happy NOW. That will be pretty fun to teach and we have some good scriptures to back it up. His deal was "well, religion will probably be important when I have kids, so I'll wait till then" We are praying that the spirit can help him to realize that living the gospel is essential now, and in the eternities. 

Elder Nielson and I met with a man named John B. this week. He's Catholic. Very very nice. Both of his parents died this past month and he moved into their house. The zone leaders were looking for an area to tract so naturally we told them "tres leches" where we found Mary Lou. They found two way solid people for us. John B. And Robbie. 

Robbie is the man. We went up and he was in his swimsuit in the garage and invited us to go boating with him. (obviously I told him I would in 5 weeks) He's such a stud. Just a good ole' boy. He is going to get us a bucket of dirt from North Carolina this week and we are going to sift through it to look for shark teeth. That is his favorite hobby. HAHA!! 

John's lesson was typical of a lesson with a catholic. We brought up almost right in the beginning that we were not there to bash and he thanked us. It was a very nice encounter. He said he has seen Mormons before but that he let us in because he could tell by our attitude that we wouldn't try to tell him he was wrong and make him feel bad. Well, we didn't :) We just uplifted him in his time of great sorrow and shared some good scrips from the sticks and had a grand conversation. We got to a good  point in the lesson before we ended. Basically the poing that "it's either the Catholic church or the Mormon church" this idea that we are the only two churches with any sort of claim to holding authority from God. Either the Catholic church is true, and the authority was passed down from Peter to Linus, or the Church of Jesus Christ has been restored along with that authority. Every other reformed church either broke off of the true Catholic church and therefore is false or they broke off of a false Catholic church and are still false. No one else has a claim to any authority.

Jesus Christ said that in the last days we should beware of false prophets. (we like to tell our friends that we meet in VA to keep in mind that he didn't say to beware of prophets, just false ones) He said that "by their fruits ye shall know them" Well, as we know, the fruit of Joseph Smith and his claim to be a prophet of the Most High God is the Book of Mormon. It is a witness of Christ. If you come to know that the book is true, the fruit is good, and you know that Joseph Smith is truly a prophet. 

John B. shared some pretty interesting fruit of the Catholic church with us. He handed us a pamphlet. We read it. Let me share one tid-bit with you. 

"Do not be afraid to love Mary too much. She is the Co-adjutrix, a co-redeemer with Christ. She is the Mother of all living by way of her sacrifice, the sacrifice of her son on the cross. THE KEY IS: God wants to save sinners by means of the Immaculate heart of Mary"  

To me, this fruit is very telling. The plain and precious truths of the gospel of JESUS CHRIST have been removed, the true ordinances have been corrupted. This was a sickening witness to me of the work that the adversary is doing today. Please note that I am not bashing anyone, as we will not bash John B., but we plan on lovingly sharing that doctrine with him by highlighting the worth of Jesus Christ and his atonement in our lives, NOT by bashing the falsehoods and nasty lies that he has been taught. What an EYE opener. I had never realized what it meant when they said they worship Mary. To be honest, I wonder if THEY realize what they are doing when they worship Mary. The first commandment is to worship God THE FATHER and none else. 

I am excited for this week. We have a blitz on Saturday with the whole zone coming to our area. 25 missionaries, and hopefully 25 members, splitting into 25 companionships and finding in the Yorktown ward. That will give us some work to do. 

I want to bare you my testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as it has been restored to the earth today through the prophet Joseph Smith. I KNOW that it is true. It has changed me, and continues to change me today. I am so humbled when I think of the vision of this "marvelous work and a wonder" , "the work of salvation" that we are a part of. It encompasses all of this generation, the future generations, and EVERY past generation of the children of men. We, the members of the Church of Jesus Christ in the last days, have the responsibility of redeeming ALL PREVIOUS GENERATIONS through family history work and ALL NATIONS, KINDREDS, TONGUES, and PEOPLES on the earth today. That is quite a work. It's a MARVELOUS work. It's a WONDER that we even try to do it, but with the LORD's help, all things are possible. I know that is true. I love the Lord. I love his gospel. I love all of you :) 

Be safe. 

Elder Skyler Mark Andreasen

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