Dear Everyone,
This week has passed by so quickly. I was able to learn a lot about patience and about losing myself in the service of others. I was able to serve at Meals on Wheels, The Healing Place Thrift Store and with a few of the Elders in the stake. We were able to review the first and second discussions with one investigator and I tried to help out, but I ended up tripping over my words and making a mess of things. The missionaries handled it well though and we ended on a wonderful note. I was also able to attend District Meeting this week where we talked about the Spirit's role in conversion. I was able to do a roleplay with the District Leader and it went really well. :) I was a bit nervous since the last time I tried teaching it didn't go over very well, but thankfully this time it did. I did a little study on how the Spirit enlightens our minds and helps us to discern between darkness and light. That which does not edify is darkness, that which is light edifies and builds up us and those around us. As we are full of the Spirit and have an eye single to the glory of God we can be full of light to the point that there is no darkness. It is when we are burdened and blinded by the glory of the world that we stumble and fall as those who were ashamed after eating from the Tree of Life in Lehi's vision.
I also had an opportunity to study the roles of Christ in the Three Pillars of Eternity, namely the Creation, the Fall and the Atonement. In the creation He is the great creator, in the Atonement He is the Savior and the Enabler, not only saving us from death, but enabling us to have faith, repent, be baptized and endure to the end through His grace and mercy. However, in the fall it is a little different. In the Fall His role must be traced back before the world was, where the great debate over the Plan was held. He contended for agency which allowed mankind to choose to partake of the fruit and take upon themselves mortality. It was this agency that made the Fall possible. I had never thought of that before. The role of agency in our lives and in the Plan of Salvation is essential to our progression. Without it we could not learn or progress, there would be no way to righteous, for we could not choose either righteousness nor sin. We would be acted upon and not agents unto ourselves. In this we learn that there must be an opposite force, and we must be enabled to choose to follow it, for without it neither righteousness nor sin, misery or happiness brought about. As it says in 2nd Nephi Chapter 2.
I am grateful for Jesus Christ and the many roles He has and does yet perform in the grand Plan of Salvation. I am grateful for His Atonement and for the cleansing and enabling powers that flow from that. I am grateful that He is, not was or will be, but is. That He lives and is the great mediator. I am grateful for the opportunity I have to serve Him and to be a representative of Him in His Church. I know that He lives, I know that this is His Church and that He has called a Prophet in these the Latter Days. I know that the Book of Mormon is with the Bible the Words of God unto His Children. I know that I am a son a God and a bearer of His Holy Priesthood. Of these things I know and humbly bear witness of, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
With Love,
Elder Roberts
This week has passed by so quickly. I was able to learn a lot about patience and about losing myself in the service of others. I was able to serve at Meals on Wheels, The Healing Place Thrift Store and with a few of the Elders in the stake. We were able to review the first and second discussions with one investigator and I tried to help out, but I ended up tripping over my words and making a mess of things. The missionaries handled it well though and we ended on a wonderful note. I was also able to attend District Meeting this week where we talked about the Spirit's role in conversion. I was able to do a roleplay with the District Leader and it went really well. :) I was a bit nervous since the last time I tried teaching it didn't go over very well, but thankfully this time it did. I did a little study on how the Spirit enlightens our minds and helps us to discern between darkness and light. That which does not edify is darkness, that which is light edifies and builds up us and those around us. As we are full of the Spirit and have an eye single to the glory of God we can be full of light to the point that there is no darkness. It is when we are burdened and blinded by the glory of the world that we stumble and fall as those who were ashamed after eating from the Tree of Life in Lehi's vision.
I also had an opportunity to study the roles of Christ in the Three Pillars of Eternity, namely the Creation, the Fall and the Atonement. In the creation He is the great creator, in the Atonement He is the Savior and the Enabler, not only saving us from death, but enabling us to have faith, repent, be baptized and endure to the end through His grace and mercy. However, in the fall it is a little different. In the Fall His role must be traced back before the world was, where the great debate over the Plan was held. He contended for agency which allowed mankind to choose to partake of the fruit and take upon themselves mortality. It was this agency that made the Fall possible. I had never thought of that before. The role of agency in our lives and in the Plan of Salvation is essential to our progression. Without it we could not learn or progress, there would be no way to righteous, for we could not choose either righteousness nor sin. We would be acted upon and not agents unto ourselves. In this we learn that there must be an opposite force, and we must be enabled to choose to follow it, for without it neither righteousness nor sin, misery or happiness brought about. As it says in 2nd Nephi Chapter 2.
I am grateful for Jesus Christ and the many roles He has and does yet perform in the grand Plan of Salvation. I am grateful for His Atonement and for the cleansing and enabling powers that flow from that. I am grateful that He is, not was or will be, but is. That He lives and is the great mediator. I am grateful for the opportunity I have to serve Him and to be a representative of Him in His Church. I know that He lives, I know that this is His Church and that He has called a Prophet in these the Latter Days. I know that the Book of Mormon is with the Bible the Words of God unto His Children. I know that I am a son a God and a bearer of His Holy Priesthood. Of these things I know and humbly bear witness of, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
With Love,
Elder Roberts
