The Savior

This week has been a pretty wild one. We had transfers and did a TON of organizing and cleaning, which took up like 3 days, so it was pretty rough.  Elder Abbott and I get along so well! We have been having so much fun together and have worked super well with each other! I am really excited to see what this transfer has to bring.

Our teaching pool right now is pretty small, so we are really working on finding.  We have been going to public places and literally talking to everyone, it's so sick! Even though we haven't seen too much success from this, the Lord has still been blessing us! We just had some people move into the ward from Kentucky, and the husband is "looking to be a member"! It's pretty cool how when you do what the Lord asks he blesses you; it may not be in the way that you expect, but he will always come through with his promises!

Ever since President Nelson's talk about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, I have wanted to feel His spirit and love more in my life, so this week I was studying about repentance and there were three things that I feel that are necessary for true repentance. The first of which is that we need to realize that we have sinned. We know that no unclean thing can dwell in the presence of God, so we will have a desire to become clean through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Next, we will have godly sorrow. We will be sorrowful, not because we got caught and have consequences, but because we realize that we have caused the Savior harm.  Lastly, we will seek for a change of heart. All too often we have a desire to change our actions and have self mastery, but we don't seek for a change of our nature. Along with a change of heart come the knowledge that you have changed and become something new through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, so there is no need to think or talk about our past life, because the Atonement of Jesus Christ covers all! I am a living, breathing example of that! The Savior has truly helped change me to someone completely new, it's so amazing!

On Sunday, the sister missionaries gave talks in sacrament meeting about the Savior, and shared a story that I loved so much! She was talked about this time when she helped with a production of the nativity. In the play, a person with downs syndrome was the inn keeper, so she helped him for weeks to practice his lines, and finally the time came for the performance. When the time came, Joseph and Mary came to the inn and knocked on the door, so the kid answered the door and just stood there........ everyone one was encouraging him and trying to help him out, but he just stood there. Finally after a minute or two he quietly and calmly said "I'm sorry there is no room in the inn" and closed the door, HE NAILED IT! But then, as Mary and Joseph were walking away he swung open the door and said "WAIT!! There is always room for you here!!!" It made me realize that we should always life our lives like that young man, we should ALWAYS make room for the Savior in our lives! I think that the inn keeper is permeated in a lot of people today when they turn down opportunities to read the scriptures, to pray, to teach, to serve, or just to show compassion on some of God's children. When thinking about this, I thought about the painting of Christ waiting and knocking at the door, and I thought of the question "Are you going to open the door and invite Him in, or say that there is no room?" (2nephi 2:27 & Mat 25:34-40)

GOSH!! I love this gospel so much and am so thankful for our Savior Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for us! It brings me so much joy in this life, it is absolutely amazing! I just wish everyone could just open the door and allow the Savior to stay with them.

I love you all so much! Thanks for everything!!

Elder Schipaanboord