Getting drenched while tracting . . . I forgot my umbrella
With Elder Deka (his companion)
Hey everyone! So this week has been so amazing and I'm gonna share a few stories that stuck out to me and strengthened my testimony in the truth of this great gospel.
So we had a zone training meeting which the whole zone meets and also the mission president and his wife comes. President Rogers talked about being an urgent missionary and when he taught something just kind of clicked and it made me think of exact obedience. I have been very obedient, but I knew that I could do better so I made the choice right then to do everything as on time and exact as I could (ex. waking up at 6:30 and not 6:31). After that meeting I have been doing a really good job and I have noticed the spirit has been with me so much more than I have ever experienced in my life. Exact obedience is vital to being a successful missionary.
The first thing that stuck out to me was when I went to go teach our investigator Delina who the night before texted us and said she was having a hard time and that a lot of trials and struggles have been popping up recently. So we prepared to teach her about the importance of opposition and also that as we are more righteous the adversary is going to be trying a lot harder to drag us down. Some of the scriptures we read her were:
2 Nephi 2:11 - "For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility."
Helaman 5:12 - "And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."
and also my favorite scripture which is Ether 12:27 - "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."
After we shared these with her she felt so much better and the spirit was so strong in that room. We also then had the chance to give her a blessing of comfort and council. When we gave that blessing I could feel Gods power working through me as the words were said. The priesthood is such a strong and powerful gift from God. After the blessing we started talking and I felt that I should show her the LDS library app and how we can listen to the scriptures while we read them. After I showed her this she just kind of sat there and looked at me and said "that's really weird" I was confused, but she then pulled out her phone and showed me that when she was texting us last night she tried sending a message that failed to send when she was talking about having a hard time. The text was, "is there by chance any audio that I can listen to. I learn better from hearing." This message was never sent and so just figured it was that important so she didn't resend it, but that next day I shared the app with her and showed her the audio... after she showed me this I was just like that's so crazy! This just strengthened my testimony in following the promptings of the Holy Ghost, because I had no idea that she learned better from listening, but God did and he ALWAYS knows what will help his children the most.
The last thing I'd like to share is the importance of fasting. Elder Deka and I yesterday decided to fast to be able to find investigators that would be willing and open to hear our message. So we went to church and testimony meeting was amazing! Elder Deka and I both got to bare our testimonies and I love to be able to share and also to hear others testimonies. It always strengthens mine. After church we decided to check up on some less actives and as we were doing that we went to one less active and they weren't home, but outside there was this lady smoking and so we were like lets go talk to her. Well turned out to be she is a less active named Becky and she moved here a year ago and she just hasn't been to church, because she didn't know anyone and has gotten back into old habits. So we scheduled a time to go back and see her. that was pretty sweet. We then went to try a referral who wasn't home and as we were walking back to the car there was a guy just sitting on his porch so we went and talked to him. He is a Roman Catholic and goes to church all the time and we shared our message about the restoration especially on the priesthood authority. We intrigued him and shared a Book of Mormon with him and he said he wanted us to come back! So it stood out to me the importance of talking to everyone, because a lot of the times when we are going to one persons place the person God puts in our way may just be walking by or sitting on the porch. So if we talk and share this message with every single one, God will soften their hearts and the spirit will testify of the truth. After that we went tracting and only got to knock on two houses, because both houses we knocked on invited us in and we taught them a lesson... So from fasting, being obedient, and talking to everyone God put so many people in our path and it is the best feeling to see these blessings right in front of me constantly happen.
Well this email has been super long... sorry. I just had a lot to share. I just want to say that I know this gospel is true and that as we are obedient to all of God's commandments he is waiting to give us blessings. I know that Heavenly Father loves each and everyone of his children and as we follow his son Jesus Christ we will feel an abundance of the spirit and of his love. I love you all!
-Elder Cahoon