Family:)
Hey my Beautiful Family that I love so dearly. This week has been a week full of trials and learning opportunities. I would love to share with you a couple of experiences in hope that I might be able to share something that could bring strength, add courage, or lift your spirts. Hopefully my point of view on things can help you in struggles you all might behaving in your day to day lives.
These last few weeks have brought struggles of door knocking and getting shut down, even to the point where as we walk away, we hear cussing and vulgar language about us. Often times, work is hastened by the hand of missionaries and members working together. This has been a big struggle for this area for a long time. We recently have had many leadership meetings trying to increase our efforts and the members increasing theirs. As days and weeks pass, things don't seem to be getting that much better. It is hard to work with members when scheduled appointments with them don't go through. It has been a heart ache and struggle. Just recently we had someone come from Tonga (main island). I was able to talk about her in my last letter. Here name is Helen. It is actually not as good as I had thought it to be. Everyone has told us that they are pretty much being forced to listen to us, so they just want to hear all five lessons and be done with us. And everyone knows that is not a place where the spirit can dwell. President Uchtdorf said that we must study with an intent to hope it is true and must be open to feeling if the word is the word of God....But, when the tell us they won't accept the Book of Mormon and tell us that they are just listening to get it over with, then they will never be able to know the truth. This approach only pushes away the spirit before we even begin.
This week we taught twelv new people. As we headed into the 3rd lesson (same day with all of them), they all said at the beginning, "Helen said this could be our last time." Going into that lesson, we had hoped to invite them to baptism. We had been so excited. We were like little kids on Christmas morning. When we heard them tell us that they didn't want to listen anymore, it was like Santa lit the Christmas tree on fire before he left and we walked into a room full of ashes instead of gifts. The story goes on in more detail, but I want to stop there. I want to focus on why I told you all of this. I want you to understand the bigger picture. It goes with this saying by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. "I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, this is the truth, and He is our great eternal head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never easy for him?
I am humbled by this quote and by the truth of this statement. Part of being able to "earn and learn" heaven or how to put upon us those Christlike attributes, we must first be able to feel a little bit of what it was like for Him. Even after all that pain, being outcast, spit upon, denied, tortured, and put to death....he kept it all. He was loving, humble, virtuous, faithful, diligent, patient and full of knowledge.....He was perfect. He is a leader to us all. He is perfect.
This is what I want all of us to learn and know and be reminded of. We need to turn to the Savior and cry unto Him! He is there and He will answer your prayers! This general conference emphasized in several if not most talks that we need to cry unto our loving Father in Heaven in the name of Christ and then become perfected in Him. This is how we find compfrt. This is how we will find strength and where we will find happiness! Whether we come unto the Father because our hearts are broken from having the gospel message rejected or if we come unto the Father because we are struggling with sin and trying to return back to the fold, the answer is to RUN! RUN as fast as we can into our Father's care. I know that as we come to know our Savior and our Heavenly Father, we will find courage. We will find strength. We will find the spiritual light of which it seems there is never enough of. This is my prayer. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Elder Blake Daniel Harmon
Your Brother/Son
But never forget we are an Eternal Family
Mom "Dude"
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