Day 516

Well hello hello!!

First off I just want to say sorry for the email-less week last week! We had like no time because we had to fly down to Stockholm that night for MLC. 

I will try to make this email a little bit better! I still don't have that much time at all! We have to do some stake reports today and it takes up a lot of time!

Okay I need to gather my thoughts here a little bit, haha. We had such a great week this week! We did a lot of stuff for the zone (MLC, travel, prep for zone training, zone training, shuttling missionaries to the station and back, buying food for lunch at zone training, etc.) so it felt like we weren't in our own area for very often. So when we were in our area, we took advantage of every second we had and went out and worked super hard! The Lord has definitely blessed us as we have put in the effort.  We don't have very many progressing investigators right now, but they will come. Elder Olsen and I are working our hardest and we are out every second we can to try to find the Lord's elect. We have found so many positive people this week. We have a bunch of new TUs (potential investigators) that we are going to start working with. I love Elder Olsen so much! He is such a good missionary and example to me. I am learning so much from him. We are getting along so well and having so much fun!

This week we were able to attend MLC in Stockholm. It was really good! The focus this transfer is on the temple and the blessings of the temple. It was dumb because we were going to do a session in the temple together but it never ended up happening because it was closed for cleaning haha but it was okay cause we went on a little walk to some viking burial grounds (the temple is build on ancient viking burial grounds). It was super cool! The training portion of MLC was amazing! President Beckstrand talked a little bit about eternal families and the Assistants talked about how to get new converts and less actives to the temple! Sometimes I think we as missionaries feel too often that baptism is the end goal. We don't see the big perspective and the importance of getting our new converts to the temple. In the temple we can receive some of the greatest blessings and through the promises we make, we can experience the most happiness possible in this life and in the life to come! I am so grateful for the temple and the blessings of the temple! I love my family so much and I am so thankful that I have the opportunity to live with them forever! How amazing is that? That is why I am out here. To help others have the same opportunity. 

I want to write about a series of experiences that have happened because Elder Olsen and I have included the Lord in our companionship and because we have worked so diligently and have had so much faith. Elder Olsen and I have been working so hard with the time that we have also been trying to implement the Lord in our work as much as we can. And as we have done so, we have seen the blessings. The Lord is truly bound when we do what he says. When we are obedient and serve with with all our heart, might, mind, and strength, the Lord will bless us with people who are interested in the gospel. I can say that because I have seen it this week. This week we have gotten so many numbers from people who are interested and want to learn more. It is amazing! There have even been two separate instances where a person has come up and waited until we were done with the person we were talking to so that they could talk to us. Both of them were interested and willing to learn more. I don't know how many times that has happened to me, but not many. It is just so amazing! It's not like I haven't worked hard before, because I always have. But I believe that we have received this success because we have involved the Lord in our work! He truly has blessed us and I love Him so much and it is such a blessing to be able to serve him.

We were able to hold zone training for the norrland zone on friday! It was fantastic! The spirit was so strong and it was exactly what our zone needed to hear. We focused on the importance of getting our investigators to the temple and also on our own personal worthiness. We focused a little bit on a talk called "Temple Standard". https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/temple-standard?lang=eng Read it!  It is such a good talk! There is so much we can learn from it. Here is just the first part:

"As we moved through the temple, I watched and listened to Elder Walker and his associates as they inspected the work and conversed with the general contractor. On occasion I observed one man running his hand along the walls as we moved from room to room. A few times after doing this, he would rub his fingers together and then approach the general contractor and say, “I feel grit on this wall. Grit is not temple standard. You will need to re-sand and buff this wall.” The contractor dutifully took notes of each observation.

As we approached an area in the temple that few eyes would ever see, the same man stopped us and directed our attention to a newly installed, beautiful leaded-glass window. This window measured about two feet (0.6 m) wide by six feet (1.8 m) tall and contained an embedded, small stained-glass geometric pattern. He pointed to a small two-inch (5 cm) colored-glass square that was part of the simple pattern and said, “That square is crooked.” I looked at the square, and to my eyes it looked evenly placed. However, upon closer inspection with a measuring device in hand, I could see there was a flaw and that this little square was indeed one-eighth of an inch (3 mm) crooked. Direction was then given to the contractor that this window would need to be replaced because it was not temple standard."

He later finds out that they put wall paper on the walls anyway and a plant in front of the window. He says this towards the end:

"I learned that even though mortal eyes and hands may never see or feel a defect, the Lord knows the level of our effortsand whether we have done our very best. The same is true of our own personal efforts to live a life worthy of the blessings of the temple."

Grit is not temple standard. I challenge you all to find out what the grit is in your life and to get it out. Even though others may not know that you aren't giving your best efforts or if you are fully keeping the commandments, the Lord does. Give the Lord your best efforts!

I love you all so much! Sorry this email wasn't the best either. You are all amazing and you are in my prayers! The church is true!

"Without hard work, nothing grows but weeds." 

Gordon B Hinkley

mvh

äldste Bailey