Strange conversations from Visiting Teaching
This post is really for my brother David (AKA Elder Clark) because I know he will want to hear this and I also know he checks this blog out from time to time.
So it was Stake Conference this weekend. The mission president challenged us all to pray for a missionary experience. Mike and I did and I had to visit teach the next day. I visit teach a girl that was baptized but had no intention of ever being active. She says that she was raised Catholic but never went to church and that is how she is with the LDS church. She got baptized because her in-laws are passionate about the LDS church and she thought it would be nice to join for them. Anyway, I have visited her for a few months and she has a little boy that is Will's age so we've become friends. I showed up to teach her and she had a friend there that is Pentecostal. I gave her the message and then things got crazy. The friend wanted to know what we believed and so I filled her in on some general beliefs. Kaly (the girl I teach) started saying stuff about how Heavenly Father could be a woman and that he was a spirit, etc. I was like, "What? No, He's a he." Then I went on to explain that we are created in his own image and therefore, he has a body, etc. The entire hour and 15 minutes was like this. It was really interesting to hear how confused people are about God and His character. It really made me feel thankful for my testimony. The ironic thing is that the lesson was on strengthening your testimony and therefore, strengthening others.
On another note, yet still related, our Stake Conference was a tri-state conference so we shared conference with people in New Mexico and Texas. Because of this, we got to hear from President Hinckley. Elder Walker was the area authority that spoke and he talked about a woman that was on a plane telling someone about our church and when she was asked what the Prophet had to say recently, she didn't know. So, I thought I'd write some of the things President Hinckley said so that I would know what his recent teachings were in case I were in the same situation. The following isn't word for word but I tried to be as close as possible.
"God is our Eternal Father. There is none to excel Him. We can be assured He hears and answers our prayers. I know that. I have had too many experiences to doubt that. The great constant in our lives it the Atonement. It is the fundamental part of our Plan of Happiness. Through the Atonement, instead of dismal oblivion we can have eternal life. God has restored His kingdom. If all else fails, the truth will remain that He has spoken again. Live worthy of the Priesthood so you can have the administering of angels."
Unfortunately, it was about this time that Will started acting up and had to be taken out. So, that is all I got. We are lucky to live in a day where we can hear our Prophet speak to us.
So it was Stake Conference this weekend. The mission president challenged us all to pray for a missionary experience. Mike and I did and I had to visit teach the next day. I visit teach a girl that was baptized but had no intention of ever being active. She says that she was raised Catholic but never went to church and that is how she is with the LDS church. She got baptized because her in-laws are passionate about the LDS church and she thought it would be nice to join for them. Anyway, I have visited her for a few months and she has a little boy that is Will's age so we've become friends. I showed up to teach her and she had a friend there that is Pentecostal. I gave her the message and then things got crazy. The friend wanted to know what we believed and so I filled her in on some general beliefs. Kaly (the girl I teach) started saying stuff about how Heavenly Father could be a woman and that he was a spirit, etc. I was like, "What? No, He's a he." Then I went on to explain that we are created in his own image and therefore, he has a body, etc. The entire hour and 15 minutes was like this. It was really interesting to hear how confused people are about God and His character. It really made me feel thankful for my testimony. The ironic thing is that the lesson was on strengthening your testimony and therefore, strengthening others.
On another note, yet still related, our Stake Conference was a tri-state conference so we shared conference with people in New Mexico and Texas. Because of this, we got to hear from President Hinckley. Elder Walker was the area authority that spoke and he talked about a woman that was on a plane telling someone about our church and when she was asked what the Prophet had to say recently, she didn't know. So, I thought I'd write some of the things President Hinckley said so that I would know what his recent teachings were in case I were in the same situation. The following isn't word for word but I tried to be as close as possible.
"God is our Eternal Father. There is none to excel Him. We can be assured He hears and answers our prayers. I know that. I have had too many experiences to doubt that. The great constant in our lives it the Atonement. It is the fundamental part of our Plan of Happiness. Through the Atonement, instead of dismal oblivion we can have eternal life. God has restored His kingdom. If all else fails, the truth will remain that He has spoken again. Live worthy of the Priesthood so you can have the administering of angels."
Unfortunately, it was about this time that Will started acting up and had to be taken out. So, that is all I got. We are lucky to live in a day where we can hear our Prophet speak to us.
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