FAMILY!
Dad: I
hope you had an excellent Father's Day!
Mom: I
hope you are having fun in Utah!
Elaine: I
hope you are being nice to people!
Krista: I
hope you have an excellent first day of college classes!
Everything
in the mission world is going great. Elder Horning is awesome and we get
along really well. The rumor is that I will be transferred next
Monday. We will get transfer calls sometime this week. I wish I
could just stay in this area the rest of my mission. I love
Summerlin. I love the members. I love the people we are
teaching. I just love it all.
Food
Report:
Monday:
Cheeseburgers
Tuesday:
Fish Tacos
Wednesday:
Tacos
Thursday:
Sesame Chicken (Pei Wei)
Friday:
Chicken Alfredo
Saturday:
Salmon
Sunday:
Pizza
Weekly
Summary:
Monday: After
e-mailing you, Elder H and I went out with Brother M, his son, Mark, and
daughter Katie, Sister P, her two daughters, Marinne and Madelyn, Tanner,
Tyler, and Trevor and we went riding in the back of Brother M's truck up on dirt
into the desert to Redrock. It was so much fun to bounce around in the
back of the truck. I thought I was going to bounce out of the truck at
one point, but I didn't (obviously). We had a lot of fun as we walked
around and found petroglyphs. It reminded me of the time Dad, Grandpa,
and I would go into Redrock at find petroglyphs. We had dinner with the T’s
that night. Brother T was Lyman's best friend growing up. He also
works with Jeff E.
Tuesday:
President and Sister Black came to Zone Meeting.
Wednesday:
I spent the whole day on exchanges with one of the Zone Leaders, Elder T in his
area. We had a very busy day. We taught one of their new
investigators, Cindy. She started crying as I testified to her that she
was feeling the Holy Ghost. Then, we taught Ryan. He is 19 years
old. He was the best lesson of the day. He has been meeting with
the missionaries 3 to 4 times a week, and he will be baptized on June 23 as
well. He is so impressive. He recognized he was not happy living
his current lifestyle, so he turned to the Church for hope of finding
happiness. I got to teach him about Tithing, Fasting, and the Law of
Chastity. After the discussion, he said to me, "Will you be at my
baptism?" It made me so happy that he invited me to be at his
baptism. So, now I have his baptism to go to right before Mathew's.
I am so excited. We taught a recent convert gone less-active about
Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy. We had dinner with a girl named Cassidy (single's
ward) and her family. She has a disability, and she always signs up on
the missionary calander...then her parents have to cook and feed us. It's
so funny. She is so sweet and nice. It was so fun to meet
her. She just is one of those special spirits that radiates the love of
Christ. Our day ended by visiting a recent move-in, less-active family.
Thursday:
A day.
Friday:
Teaching, teaching, teaching.
Saturday:
We watched The Testaments with Mathew. He LOVED it. We asked him to
say a prayer at the end and he was crying. He really felt the
Spirit. I love that movie.
Sunday:
Elder H and I taught Baptism to the Gospel Principles class in the A. Ward. We taught Priest Quorum in the Alta Vista
Ward and Town Center Ward. Bishop R talked to the Priests about the
importance of going to the baptism on Saturday for Mathew. He talked
about the great relationship I have been able to establish with Mathew.
It made me happy to hear.
Spiritual
Thought:
A few
weeks ago we had Zone Conference. For the meeting, we were all asked to
prepare a few minute talk on a Christ-like attribute. Then, at the
meeting, they would pick out of a hat and see who got chosen to share their
talk. I was not chosen, but here is the talk I had prepared:
Obedience
Elders and
Sisters, think back to that exciting day when you opened up your mission
call. Think about the feelings of anxiety, excitement, anticipation, and
joy. I opened my mission call just over a year ago on May 6, 2011.
Each of our call letters stated, "You will be an official representative of
the Church. As such, you will be expectd to maintain the highest standars
of conduct and appearance by keeping the commandments, living mission rules,
and following the counsel of your mission president." The fact that
we are all here is evidence of our promise and committment to be obedient.
I got an
interesting letter from my cousin who is serving his mission in Chile right
now. This is what he said:
"After
being a couple weeks in Antofagasta, I thought my mission was in
apostasy! There are massive amounts of rules being broken.
My...leaders...stay up until three in the morning talking about obscure
subjects...and watching movies....In our mission, this is against the rules.
I was
super concerned about our district and zone being in apostasy so I tried to
approach my companion who is the district leader. I told him we should
probably be out proselyting during proselyting time and things like this.
He said that he still felt the spirit during the day even as he stayed up until
three or watched movies or slept in during proselyting times...
As
missionaries, we have extra rules. If a 'normal' person stays up [until]
three [in the morning] watching [movies] does that mean he won't have the
spirit? He probably could still feel the spirit....My companion feels the
spirit still, but doesn't realize he is forsaking the blessings of obedience to
the rules as a missionary. In essence, he is choosen to be a 'normal'
person."
Elders and
Sisters, our reponsibility as missionaries is a celestial calling. We
much overcome the natural man to be truly effective. Are we choosing to
be 'normal' when we should be extraordinary?
President
James E. Faust said, "If you will...be obedient...and follow the mission
rules, you will be a successful missionary." We must be obedient to
the Lord, His commandments, the mission rules, and the mission president in
order to receive an added portion of the Spirit and His constant companionship
that is necessary in doing this work.
If you are
being disobedient, you may rationalize success as you teaching and
baptize. However, you will never have the sure conviction and blessing of
knowing you are doing all you can to assist the Lord in His work and glory.
Hebrews
5:8 speaks about Jesus Christ and says, "Though he were a Son, yet learned
he obedience..." Christ was perfectly obedient to the will of the
Father and we are to become even as He is.
Obedience
is the first law of Heaven. We must live it and pattern our lives after
the Savior's to effectively teach others to make and keep committments and covenants.
The blessings of obedience are sublime and supreme.
I AM SO
EXCITED FOR MATHEW'S BAPTISM!
I LOVE YOU
ALL! Keep writing me and praying for me!
LOVE,
Elder Sean
Edwards
