Ohio - Week 6 - Testing, Interviews, Transfer News!

Hello there!

This week was pretty eventful so I'll get right to it!

In reference to last week's email, we both got tested for Corona and turned up negative. So we got out of isolation real quick and went back to full work.

The people we're working with are doing pretty well! 

For instance, one older lady we are working with, Dorothy, we invited to read the intro to the Book of Mormon last week. This lesson, we had planned to teach the Plan of Salvation, but right as we were about to meet, I thought to myself, it would be nice if we could do a Book of Mormon read with her. We started by following up on her commitment and she had good questions regarding where the book came from and what it was about. Right there, we switched to a Book of Mormon read with her to help give her a foothold in the background to 1 Nephi. It went great and we committed her to keep reading until next time! The Book of Mormon really is our most powerful and most important tool in this work!

This week had a lot of special events as well. President and Sister Wright came to our District Council and gave a quick message on Obedience before we had our personal interviews, which were awesome as usual. My companion, Elder King, was so excited to be the last person in the entire mission to be interviewed. 😆 President asked me if I felt I knew the area very well...not an ominous question at all, lol.

We also had the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania temple groundbreaking! We were given permission to watch the ceremony over Zoom and it was so cool to see! When I come to visit it will probably be about done, and it will be such a blessing to the people here. It was also an awesome sharing opportunity, since we were able to share the link with one of our investigators, who thought it was super cool as well!

And at long last, Transfer news came in! Our district got super shuffled! The Wheeling trio of Elders, which has been together for 4 transfers, was finally broken up. I get to stay in Ohio, thankfully, but Elder King is leaving, so that's a bummer. It'll be fun to meet Elder Stubbs, who's replacing him though.

 

I've been reading the New Testament over again to refresh my memory of it and the scriptures inside, and I came across something cool in Luke. We all know the song about the wise man who built his house upon a rock and the foolish man who built his house on the sand. I think my favorite version, though, is the way Luke depicts it. 

 

Luke 6:47-49 

47 Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:

48 He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.

49 But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.

 

Building our lives on the gospel takes work. It requires us to dig deep to make room in our lives for the gospel and work hard to build our foundation of testimony. It takes much more time and effort than someone who builds their life without that foundation. However, the consequences are invaluable and eternal. May your lives always be blessed to be built on the firm foundation of Jesus Christ's restored Gospel.

 

Have a great week! Love you all!

 

Sincerely,

Elder Brown