August 31, 2015
BUSY!
This week was pretty awesome. We taught some good lessons, a lot of things fell through, and we got to hear from a general authority! And we ate some food! And I got to sleep at night! And we got to do weekly planning! And I'm training! And....okay that's enough.
The week started out a little choppy. We didn't teach any lessons on Monday, but we did find a Jehovah Witness man. He said he could get us some bibles and a bunch of free stuff, so we insisted. So we went back on Friday and he gave us some materials and his little shpeal. It's all a bunch of bologna if you ask me. They think Jehovah is God the Father, when we clearly see in the Bible that Jehovah is Jesus Christ in ante-mortal form. He taught us some weird lesson and I just wanted to slaughter all his false doctrine, but I promised before going in there that I wouldn't, so I didn't. But now we have their bible and a book and I'm working on disproving everything so we can got back and show him the truth. Jehovah's Witnesses are very deceived. The only way I can accurately sum up what they believe is "the philosophies of men, mingled with scripture." That's exactly what it is! We're going back someday to teach the Restoration and if it gets argumentative, I'll have the evidence to back up our doctrine.
Through this experience I've really come to love the Book of Mormon even more. I go through and compare my Bible with the JW bible and eventually I end up in the Book of Mormon and I can literally feel a change in my attitude, the Spirit, and the clarity of the doctrine as I begin to read it. Not only that, but the Book of Mormon makes it VERY clear who Jesus Christ was before He came down to the earth. The Book of Mormon shows us what God's plan for His children is and what we need to do to be happy in this life. It's a book that can change your life if you let it. If you're not reading it regularly, start now!
Something else I've learned this week is just how great of a blessing it is to have the knowledge of the full Plan of Salvation. We're teaching an old man and he just doesn't get it. He thinks that Adam and Eve ruined God's original plan of having us in paradise. My thought is....how can the most intelligent being in the universe's plan be thwarted by a couple of naive dust made humans?!?!?! It can't! So as I've attempted to teach this man some true doctrine it's been very difficult to explain to him that the Fall was all part of the plan. So as I contemplated how to show him that it was meant to be, I thought about the doctrine of the premortal life. We know from the scriptures that we existed before this life and that we lived with God. Our Father in Heaven presented us with a beautiful plan to allow us to experience a fullness of joy like Him. The Plan was that we would come to earth, gain a body, make choices, experience happiness and sadness, learn and grow, and sin. That was what was presented! And God knew that we wouldn't be perfect, so He promised to send us His son Jesus Christ so that we could repent and become perfect like our Father in Heaven. Once we understand this doctrine, we understand why the Fall was necessary and why sin, sadness, and mortality had to enter the world. Without these things, we cannot become like our Father in Heaven. So that's what we plan to teach when we come back on Thursday. That is, if he lets us talk. He's pretty long winded in his old age. He came to the branch barbecue and just enjoyed himself , so I'm hoping he progresses nicely over the next few weeks.
We also had a church tour with our investigator. He said he didn't feel the Spirit, but I don't believe him. He said he wants to see the church full of people, so I think he'll be coming to church next Sunday. We're visiting him tonight and hoping to give him a spiritual experience.
The rest of the work is going nicely. We're building this area from the ground up, and it's proving to be very rewarding. I'm just hoping we can be consistent enough to have some progressing investigators.
Whelp, I gotta get going. I've reached my quota. Please continue to keep me in your prayers so I can finish out this mission strong.
Love y'all,
Elder Landon Carroll
I yanked these photos off of the Raleigh, North Carolina Mission Facebook page. You can just see Landon in the back by the stage. Not the best photo but we take whatever we can get!
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