Sorry it's late!

So as of late, I’ve been getting a little tired of going to District Meeting.  I’ve been to so many of them and sometimes they seem to be the exact same as the week before.  However this past week I went to one of the most powerful ones on my mission.  What I loved about it too was that the training wasn’t on anything deep or magnificent… it was simply on bearing testimony frequently.  They did an amazing job at inviting the spirit using scriptures and Preach My Gospel.  They then opened up the last 20 minutes for all of us to share our conversion story and our testimonies.  There were only 5 of us in the room so I thought to myself… we might not need this much time.  It was one of the most powerful times I’ve ever felt the spirit.  Everyone’s testimony had something in it that I could relate perfectly to or something I needed to hear.  It’s cool how the spirit can make a meeting feel like it is all for you, yet at the same time, everyone else feels that way too!  “Every man eventually is backed up to the wall of faith , and there he must make his stand” (A Witness and a Warning, 4-5) We had all felt the pressure and temptation of the adversary in our lives but there was a point for all of us in which we decided what we wanted most.  I’m so thankful for the way Heavenly Father teaches us.  He won’t ever set what we want in our lap.  He makes us work for it and it is through that work that we change and become increasingly stronger and happier.  I’m so grateful for the spiritual experience I shared with those Elders and I know it will be an anchor I can hold fast to and remember when  the winds and the waves come.

The other interesting event this week was running into an Anti-Christ. To make a long story short, we were teaching a lady and her children at her doorstep and this guy who lived nearby showed up because he heard we were out sharing a message about Christ.  He ruined our lesson and got pretty vocal and vulgar.  We simply told him we weren’t there to argue or fight but simply help people live a happier life.  He contradicted himself multiple times as he quoted scripture and then used it to deny Christ.  It made me so sad to see someone chained down and deceived as badly as he was.  A scripture that came to mind as he yelled at us trying to make us feel like dirt was… Moroni 7:13, 16-17 “13 But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, everything which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God. 16 For behold, the spirit of Chirst is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for everything which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God. 17 But whatsoever thing persadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man to do good, no not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him.”

We didn’t bash like we could have and like our natural man wanted to.  He threatened us with voodoo and told us that that area was his territory and he wouldn’t let anyone listen to what we had to say.  Well, we are being cautious about it… but we are not afraid to go in that area.  We know that our message is true and it is only through it that people can enter the Kingdom of Heaven. 

This is the last week before transfers.  There are 27 missionaries leaving and 17 coming.  It is going to be pretty crazy or at least the craziest one so far.  There are going to be 2 new assistants and 7 new zone leaders.  So I will have plenty of opportunity to train some leaders this next transfer! I’m really excited and I know Heavenly Father will help me to do my very best job.

Something I am trying to focus on is being grateful for what Heavenly Father has given me.  I can so easily get carried away in the thought that I can do more and that what I’ve done is not enough.  Heavenly Father has blessed us so much these past 3 transfers that by asking for more and more and more I sometimes forget to stop and say thanks and thanks and thanks!!!!

We don’t simply fit God into our life, but we find a way to encompass life with God! –Elder Crandall the Vandal

Shout out to the Curtis’s! Thank you so much for getting a Krio Baybul (bible) for me!  I love it! I’m so grateful for the amazing miracles you do for my people in Africa!

Love Elder Crandall the Vandal