Obedience over Everything

March 11, 2015

What's Gucci my nucci?

Last week when Elder Haycock and I were tracting through the blizzard we came in contact with a guy who said we could come back over. This man happened to be gay. This man's companion also happened to be the head priest at an Episcopal church. This week they invited us over to meet with them. 

Elder Haycock and I were pretty nervous for this lesson. You never know what you're going to get when you go into a situation like this one. We showed up and they were both super legit! That was one of the best first lessons I have had on my mission. They both seemed very interested in our beliefs and actually knew quite a bit about our church. One of them already had a copy of the Book of Mormon. 

We thought the priest was going to bash but he didn't at all. They were both really accepting of us and I thought we did a good job of accepting them. We asked them about their expectations for our visits and we talked about our expectations. We both seem on the same page. We have more appointments set up with them so I will give you the deets as they come. 

At church on Sunday we had a member from Nigeria bring his non-member friend who was visiting from Nigeria. This guy was golden. He asked amazing questions and seemed so prepared. He was totally down to let us teach him but he went back to Nigeria right after church. This guy will get baptized one day mark my words. 

 

The member to the left is my dood named Festus
His friend that he brought to church is named Charles
Charles was going to play professional basketball in Nigeria 
but he quit so he could make more money

We have Zone conferences this week. Three of them to be exact. We already had our upstate one yesterday. Tomorrow we have one in the Bronx and Friday we have one in Manhattan. We have been working overtime in the office because this is a big conference. In preparation for the zone conferences, we started the two days before and we were working constantly. I'm not talking constantly in the way that missionaries are busy because they always have stuff to do, but in the way that we had stuff that HAD to be done. Other than granola bars and half a sandwich that some missionary gave us we didn't eat a legit meal for like, two days. It was like fasting without the blessings and... A purpose so basically it was like starving ourselves.

We are turning in all of our old IPads and getting the new ones and President Morgan is introducing the church's new initiative for Easter, "Because He Lives." Speaking of which President Morgan showed us the video!! It's soooo amazing. When the video drops you all HAVE to watch it. Well you don't have to but if you like feeling good then you should. 

So this is the part where 90% of missionaries lose people's focus in their weekly email. On to the SPIRITUAL! Now I don't want to lose your focus so please stay with me. IF YOU ONLY READ ONE PART OF MY LETTER READ THIS PART:

Friday Elder Haycock and I went to the new missionary meeting where President Morgan gives training to the new missionaries and their trainers. Between the times I trained and the times I have gone being in the office, this was my fifth time attending this meeting. They have been pretty much the same every time. He delivers similar training and similar information. This time for the most part was a lot like the others however, he did spend an interestingly amount of time on obedience and shared the example of Adam and Eve. 

Moses 5:5-8 reads:

5 And he gave unto them commandments, that they should worship the Lord their God, and should offer the firstlings of their flocks, for an offering unto the Lord. And Adam was obedient unto the commandments of the Lord.

6 And after many days an angel of the Lord appeared unto Adam, saying: Why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord? And Adam said unto him: I know not, save the Lord commanded me.

7 And then the angel spake, saying: This thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, which is full of grace and truth.

8 Wherefore, thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore.

So basically tha sitcheeashun that we have here is Adam is commanded to offer the first king of their flock. Can you imagine how weird that must have been to Adam the first time he heard that? Like, who in the actual world would kill a lamb as a sacrifice??? However, he did it and was obedient. "After many days" the angel comes to Adam and asks him why in the world he is doing this and Adam gives the answer I dunno...  But God asked me to so that's why. THEN the angel explains to him the purpose of the commandment. LISTEN UP folks, sometimes we don't know why we have to do things in the church. What it takes is not a sign before we are obedient but obedience first and then the spirit can manifest to you the importance of it. Sometimes we have to wait "many days". Just think of it in Adams perspective too. Adam lived to be 930 years old! "Many days" for Adam would have been dayssss. When we are asked to do something and we don't know why we need to be obedient and then as we are obedient we will be confirmed of the blessings as we do so. Faith before the miracle. 

I love you guys. Have a wonderful week. 

Elder Tyler J Johanson