On Thursday we were able to go to Tallahassee for a Half Mission Conference with Elder Juan Uceda of the 70 and his wife. While there we
were extremely spiritually uplifted and learned a lot about charity and
how the only way that we can teach with the spirit and help people feel
of the Savior's love is if we ourselves have charity for them. we also
learned about being humble and willing to change. I would say that
humility is the most important Christlike attribute (I know most people
would say charity), because if we are prideful and not humble, we will
not have a desire to improve or develop any Christlike attribute. Humility isn't thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less. Halfway through the conference, I was able to participate in singing
"Brightly Beams our Father's Mercy" with my district. We practiced so
much and felt that we had it down pretty solid where the Spirit would
come in very strongly, and then when we performed we remembered that we
are a 9 elder district with ZERO sisters, who's idea was that??!! It was
honestly terrible and so embarassing! When the music started, we
started singing super late, half the people were off key, someone sang
the wrong words, and because of that everyone was laughing at us, it was
sooo bad!!! Thankfully the General Authority and his wife are very
experienced and was able to bring the Spirit back to the room as they
taught.
We got a phone call from a member of the ward and asked us if we
could give her mom a blessing cause she is super old and is in really
bad health right now, so we went over and gave her a blessing. This lady was very near death, with lots of pain and her family members
were very sad, it was hard for me to be a part of. But as we were there I became super grateful that I was on a mission while my grandpa passed
away. This made me realize how hard it would've been if I was there by
his and my family's side like I would've liked to have been, but
because I was out serving the Lord and his children it made his passing
much easier, because I was turning outwards rather than inward. There
are so many times when I wish things would happen the way that I want
them to but it doesn't happen and I get frustrated, until I look back
and realize that God's plan was so much better than mine. Something that
has been on my mind a lot lately is the question "Do you believe God,
or do you just believe in God?" I think there are many of us who believe
in God and that he is there, but there are only a handful that take God
at his word and act upon it, because they know that his promises are
sure and that his plan is perfect. It takes a lot of experimenting and
faith, but how much better do you think our lives would be if we could
simply change the statement "I believe in God" to "I believe God." How
much of the Spirit do you think would be in your life, how much closer
would you and your family be, how much happier would you be, how much
more successful would you be, and how much more prepared for the next
life would you be? the thing that i have seen work the most is an
attitude of "why not try this out and see if it actually works." As
you act, you will always see blessings, "because the Lord is bound when you
do what he says, but when you do not what he says, ye have no promise "
(D&C 82:10). I put following spiritual promptings to the test this week and
because of it, I made myself look like an idiot at two restaurants,
because I got up and talked with one of the workers, well it was worth
it! In both instances the people didn't like their church and want to
start going to a new one. Even though both the people live outside our
area, it was still really neet to see how true God's promises are!
Thank y'all for all that you do, all you say, and all that you say
you do, and always remember that you've got to be odd to be number 1!
Love you guys, hope you have a great week!
Elder Schipaanboord
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