We
went on exchanges this week with our Zone Leaders. And Zone Leaders,
are the missionaries who are appointed as leaders of a Zone. Our
Zone consists of two Districts, one of which Elder Ellis and I belong
to, it being our District, of which Elder Ellis is the leader, or
District Leader as he is formally referred to as.
So anyway,
exchanges is when one missionary in a companionship is exchanged for one
missionary in another companionship. So one of the Zone Leaders was my
companion for a day. That was fun. We found a really cool lady we'll be
able to teach. She was a referral from some other missionaries, and the
only information that was sent to us was that she was from Canada. And
so we used that information the best we could and we said something
clever like, "So you're from Canada?" And she was actually really
touched that we knew that. So it just goes to show that you never know
how much the little things might mean to people, even if we think it's
useless information at first.
General
Conference was also this weekend. And General Conference, for those of
you who may not know, is where all of the members of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints all around the world are
invited to listen to the words of the current Apostles and Prophets
which God has called to lead His Church. Listening to
their words this weekend has strengthened my personal testimony that
those men really have been called of God. And that the words they have
for us are the words that God wants us to hear right now. And I know how
true that is because of the comfort and the knowledge and the insight
that I gained and also the peace and the truth which I felt while
listening to them. Because of that my testimony has also been
strengthened that Jesus Christ's Church really has been restored to the
earth, with the same organization that was used when Christ first
established His Church while he was on the Earth. Ephesians 4:11-14
says:
11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
13
Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the
Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the
fulness of Christ:
14
That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried
about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning
craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
That
same authority and blessings and miracles and doctrines and
organization and everything is on the earth today just as it was before.
God truly is the same yesterday, today, and forever, so it makes so
much sense to me that He would call prophets today to guide us and keep
us spiritually protected in today's world of spiritually destructive
influences all around us. Verse 14 up there is really accurate. We're
surrounded by "cunning craftiness" and "the sleight of men" and it can
be overwhelming to think about "every wind of doctrine" without knowing
what is true and what isn't true. That is why I am so grateful that we have a living Prophet and living Apostles to help us.
On
my mission I've been able to see how true it is that Jesus Christ's
Church and His Gospel have been restored to the Earth. I've seen
Christ's Gospel change people's lives and their families lives. And I've
seen how Jesus Christ and His teachings have blessed and shaped me and
my family's life.
If I had more time I would explain things a
little better and I could go into more detail about what it really
means that Christ's Church has been "restored." But unfortunately time
is something that I don't have in abundance. And so if you have any
questions you can email them to me and I'll do my best to answer them.
Or you can ask someone else you know who is a member of the Church. You
can also browse around on the website "comeuntochrist.org" and learn more about various questions you might have. But
my invitation for you is, if you haven't watched it already, to get on
the handy dandy internet and find General Conference and watch it. Or at
least some of it. The messages that they shared are just really
inspiring and uplifting, which is what the Gospel of Jesus Christ is.
It's a message of hope and peace and of the blessings that we get when
we follow Jesus Christ.
But anyway, that's what I've got for you this week.
It's been a pleasure as always.
~Elder Oswald
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