How Great Thou Art

man, this week has been sooo crazy!! Elder carlson and i have been doing soo much finding, and it has started to pay off! we went tracting, and got 7 return appointments, all of which i swear are with single ladies with 3 kids, its crazy!! we also were able to get 4 new investigators (dont know how much progression will happen, but its sooooo nice to be teaching again!). then, we were at a members for dinner, and someone knocked on the door, turns out it was a vivant salesman who was a RM; after we left the appointment we walked out to our car only to find a note on the windshield with him telling us to give him a call so he can give us some "leads", hahahah this guy knocked all the doors in the neighborhood and told us which ones to go and see, it was pretty dope! and he told his "team members" about us, and so we keep getting tons of houses to go and try, its pretty sick! all of this has happened though because we have been showing god that we are willing to work hard. time and time again i have seen that when i just do what god asks, he always pulls through with blessings from heaven, but i am so carnal and weak and forget too easily. i wish that i could just "always remember him", life would be a lot easier and smoother if we could master that one simple line.

On saturday we went to Opp to help elders move out of the house there. They had a massive pool table that we needed to take back to a members house. The thing probably weighed 1000 pounds!!!! We couldnt get the door to open to take it out so a nonmember helped us take the door handle apart so we could open it. Which consisted of him taking a crowbar and smashing things till they fell off. The table was so heavy!!! it was so hard to lift even with 6 elders there, and im pretty sure i threw out my back, so that was fun! But it was so much fun to go and hang out with them, being with other missionaries is the best!!!

We had a Stake Priesthood meeting on Sunday. The Stake President said something so profound, he explained how when we are baptized it is a great spiritual moment because we have prepared to be there, and treat it as a special event. He also went on to say that it is the same with the other ordinances in the gospel like getting the priesthood, going through the temple, and being sealed to your family. Then, he said, so why don't we treat the sacrament the same way? It is the only ordinance that we do for ourselves more than once and yet we don't come to church prepared and ready to be spiritually fed. I can promise that if we come prepared, and treat sacrament meeting like the spiritual feast that it really is, you will be filled with the Spirit, and understand how you can improve in your life and come closer to your family and to our Savior.

Definitely the highlight of the week, we went over to this members house and got into this crazy deep conversation about the gospel. Then it turned into talking about the last days and how some of the signs are coming true, not going to lie, I was pretty pumped! It's definitely going to be pretty scary and crazy but also such a wonderful and glorious day! I am really excited! As we talked, I had to stop and ask myself if I was ready, I think that is a question that we will never be able to answer with "yes" by ourselves because we can always do better, and get closer to God, but because of the grace of Christ, He will make our shortcomings made whole and our Heavenly Father will extend His infinite mercy towards us. How grateful I am for our Savior!!!! He has helped me in so many ways and will help me to become more. Because of Him, we are able to overcome sin and death, and return to live with our Father in Heaven, the greatest gift ever!! So how will you show your appreciation for this?

I love y'all so much!! I hope you have a great week!!

Elder Schipaanboord