Wow, it's crazy that school is starting up again. Here it starts today. A couple of weeks ago I had completely forgotten about school, until someone mentioned that it was starting up again. The concept of school had almost completely fled my mind.
What have been on my mind are a couple of things about the gospel.
The first thing is what we learned at zone conference, about losing yourself
and charity. We love the Lord with all that we are, so we obey Him with all
that we are, and lose ourselves in His service. When we do that, He makes us
what we need to be and who He wants us to be, which is the best self possible.
It's our full potential. In order to develop to be that, we don't focus on
ourselves. We lose ourselves in serving others, and the change occurs. I feel
like everything that I have learned this week in my studies and throughout the
day has connected and based itself in this.
The other thing is what it says in the lessons about the gospel,
and I think it states this in the Restoration. The gospel is God's perfect plan
for us, and is the only thing in existence that makes us happy now, and later
(meaning the near future, the distant future, and eternity!) Most often in this
world, we think that what we do is either focused on our happiness in the
present, or in the future, and never, or scarcely for both. But the gospel does
just that. It probably looks more like a future happiness thing, but it's got
it all! When we follow the gospel (which essentially means we lose ourselves
and do what God asks) we can have the joy of Heaven! We get the privilege
of the presence of the Holy Ghost (for those of you who are amazed at how happy
I am, that's the reason - the Holy Ghost feels soooo good!) right now, and then
we have His guidance to make sure what we are doing now will make us happy
later.
Today some of us are going to rego park and I might look for a
sidebag there at a very nice but very cheap store called Century 21. We shall
see how it goes.
President Calderwood,
This week was a lot better than the last. After emailing you and recognizing my need to serve more, I was really excited to put forth those plans. And although I wasn't perfect in serving Elder Wright, or even excellent at it, my mindset was more focused on contributing and providing more to the companionship in simple ways. I felt a lot better, of course. It really fortified what you say about the glass being half full or half empty, depending on if we are putting something in or taking it out. Elder Wright and I had a good week and had some really good study sessions. Elder Wright has the gift of asking fantastic questions, and uses it with investigators, as well as with me. During our studies he asks questions that make me think in a way that really refreshes and strengthens my understanding/thoughts about pieces of the gospel. He has also commented on a couple of things that I do that he is learning from, and it makes me feel good that I'm setting a good example in a variety of ways.
This week we had a zone elliptical activity where I learned a good lesson about prayer and depending on the Lord. It was a street sweep focused completely on the temple. It's hard to fearless someone about the temple in just a couple of seconds or even a minute as they walk past, and a ways into it I was trying to figure out how I could get it to work. Then I remembered what you had said at trainer/trainee meeting about praying that the Lord would fill your mouth. So I said a silent prayer for that. After that, everything smoothed out a bit. I felt like I was able to get my point across in a simpler way, and was able to have good fearlesses with various people.
What I have really been focusing on right now is what we talked about all during Zone Conference. Charity, and losing oneself for the Lord. All week long during my studies, I felt like everything that I learned and everything that we can do to improve and do our best really boils down to losing ourselves in the Lord's work, because we love Him more than all. That's why this is the Gospel of Charity. It's the simple, perfect answer to everything.
Elder Wright said something very profound the other day. As we become converted to Christ, we start to develop the Character of Christ, which is charity.
All in all, I have no doubt that the Lord knows exactly what we need to be the most like him possible. The people here are helping me to change so much to be like Christ. I love the zone, district, branch, and especially my companion.
Thanks so much for everything,
Love,
Elder Schenk
This week was a lot better than the last. After emailing you and recognizing my need to serve more, I was really excited to put forth those plans. And although I wasn't perfect in serving Elder Wright, or even excellent at it, my mindset was more focused on contributing and providing more to the companionship in simple ways. I felt a lot better, of course. It really fortified what you say about the glass being half full or half empty, depending on if we are putting something in or taking it out. Elder Wright and I had a good week and had some really good study sessions. Elder Wright has the gift of asking fantastic questions, and uses it with investigators, as well as with me. During our studies he asks questions that make me think in a way that really refreshes and strengthens my understanding/thoughts about pieces of the gospel. He has also commented on a couple of things that I do that he is learning from, and it makes me feel good that I'm setting a good example in a variety of ways.
This week we had a zone elliptical activity where I learned a good lesson about prayer and depending on the Lord. It was a street sweep focused completely on the temple. It's hard to fearless someone about the temple in just a couple of seconds or even a minute as they walk past, and a ways into it I was trying to figure out how I could get it to work. Then I remembered what you had said at trainer/trainee meeting about praying that the Lord would fill your mouth. So I said a silent prayer for that. After that, everything smoothed out a bit. I felt like I was able to get my point across in a simpler way, and was able to have good fearlesses with various people.
What I have really been focusing on right now is what we talked about all during Zone Conference. Charity, and losing oneself for the Lord. All week long during my studies, I felt like everything that I learned and everything that we can do to improve and do our best really boils down to losing ourselves in the Lord's work, because we love Him more than all. That's why this is the Gospel of Charity. It's the simple, perfect answer to everything.
Elder Wright said something very profound the other day. As we become converted to Christ, we start to develop the Character of Christ, which is charity.
All in all, I have no doubt that the Lord knows exactly what we need to be the most like him possible. The people here are helping me to change so much to be like Christ. I love the zone, district, branch, and especially my companion.
Thanks so much for everything,
Love,
Elder Schenk
Thanks so much everyone!
Love you all, keep strong, lose yourselves in the gospel, and
share it with your friends!
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