If we are not preaching things in line with the gospel, then we are preaching against it (November 11)

Well time to catch you up from this week :)

Last Monday, I had a really great thoughtful day. We listened to a talk by Bill Carpenter. It was the most amazing thing ever. It was about his conversion story and his mission. GO LOOK IT UP! Also, if you can find the transcript to his talk, please, please, mail it to me! I would love to be able to read that. So inspiring. I thought a lot about motivation and those types of things. It turned out to be PERFECT because for district meeting, that is exactly what we talked about! What motivates us. Perfection.

So one of our new converts' houses caught on fire. Why has this happened to me twice on my mission! crazy. He calls us at 6:25 and simply says my house burned down.... Well turns out it was just his kitchen. We are setting up something so that we can go clean and try to get it in livable conditions again.

It will be nice to wear pants in this weather :)

This week, I was able to meet our 18-year-old investigator. It was so cool. She has a kid, who she loves more than anything. She is really searching to find out who God is. She grew up Muslim so she’s very nervous to try praying and such. With her questions, it's obvious that this is just what she needs! Keep her in your prayers because she needs a little push. I really want her to meet the young single adults. It's really nice we have those kinds of activities to invite her to! For example, this week we had waffle night, put on by the senior couple missionaries. It was amazing. The missionaries decided to go and it was PERFECT. The less active that we have been trying contact, also came! We totally clicked with her and talked to whole time. It was a really great feeling. I have such a testimony of these activities helping in the work! Plus we just had fun, ate waffles, and the Elders learned how to play this lord of the rings game (I wasn’t even going to try to learn how to play haha)

This week, while at a members, I met a guy who was actually baptized a year ago, but never received the Holy Ghost and confirmed. Sad. It makes me feel sad that he was so close, but didn’t quite get there. He somehow ended up getting involved with anti-Mormon literature, which is always so deceiving and misleading. He now drills the missionaries with questions whenever he gets the chance. It was an interesting experience to say the least.

Speaking of interesting. We had another encounter with the Jehovah Witnesses’. Well, we had a lesson with them. The ones I met with didn’t seem interested in really listening. When we answered their question, they just acted as if we didn’t and asked another..... It was kind of funny, when our new convert interrupted and said he would like to "ask a question." He started talking about how Jesus died for us, and His blood atonement is so important. Then he bursts out saying I WOULD NEVER LET MY SON DIE. He was concerned about their stance against blood transfusions and that sacrificing one’s blood to save another was a sacrifice the Savior made, so why couldn’t one sacrifice to save another’s life. IT was an interesting point and they seemed very awkward when confronted by his honest question. It seemed that they were really just wanting to create an argument with us, but it just didn’t happen, the attempt sort of back fired. It was an interesting experience to see such a different approach to teaching Gospel topics. You just can’t teach without the assistance of the Spirit.

This week, I called a less active and set-up an appointment with her. On Sunday, she was at church! For the first time, in a very very long time. She told me that her mother, who isn’t a member, told her it would be good for her and that she knows the church helps her. How cool is that. Just a little call from the missionaries pulled on her memory enough to talk about it with her mom and come to church! I am really excited to see how things go!

Church yesterday was AMAZING. We started off in a combined RS and Priesthood lesson about missionary work. Naturally, I loved it. Something I really pondered was that we are all missionaries. We just have to decide whom for. If we are not being good examples, we are being bad examples. If we are not preaching things in line with the Gospel, then we are preaching against it. It really is important to remember at all times we are children of God. We need to act that way and represent the good, at all times. I also was so interested that only 1/3 of young adult boys are serving missions. There can be so many more missionaries in the world!

The second hour’s lesson started off with this video. http://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2011-07-013-watch-your-step?lang=eng&_suid=138416684425004505086053840363?category=2011-07-013-watch-your-step&&lang=eng#2011-07-013-watch-your-step?lang=eng&_suid=138416684690607162003360822475 

Powerful right? There was also a talk about the problems pornography addiction. It was really wonderful. The speakers, the RS and EQ presidents, did a wonderful job. There were lots of handouts and ways that if people were struggling with this problem, there is help. That is something that is just so powerful in our church. We help one another. No matter what. I love it. I love this Gospel. I love the people in this Gospel. I know Heavenly Father is so proud of us as we are reaching out to his sheep in need.

Love,

Sister Regnier