Alrighty so After reading mom's novel :p of which I am grateful for. I will now write a response...
So the lesson of this week: COURAGE
So I've been working really hard on courage because I realized that I was having trouble feeling the spirit not this week but last week because I was doing things in which I did not fully believe nor agreed. I did them because, I was trying to be obedient to my leaders and to President. Which is very very important and essential to having the Spirit. Being obedient to our leaders. Also you have to be obedient to the Spirit because when you are obedient to the Spirit you are never wrong! SO, yes putting those two together gets a little messy sometimes and is very difficult. But I have learned, that you have to do what you believe is right, confirm it with the Spirit and speak up when you don't agree. Basically that talk that President Monson gave in conference. Hence this is why last week, I spent most of the time writing the president and not writing you all. President is truly and inspired man but he doesnt know what's happening if no one tells him.
Sometimes it doesn't always work out like you think it will but the important thing is the peace of mind that comes from the Spirit. If you follow the Holy Ghost, he will always lead you to where you need to go and to do what you need to do. That is why, it's so important to do what's right and always be worthy of the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. Study the Scriptures and pray fervently and always seek the Lord in every thought, and every moment and never, ever doubt or fear. It is in sin that we fear, but it is in faith and righteousness that we have courage. We read about it all the time with the prophets in the book of Mormon. The courage they had to do what is right regardless of what would happen. To follow the Spirit with exactness and to stand for truth in every moment. SOmetimes you have to defend the truth from people who you never would think you would have to. For example, I was in the mtc and I had to defend what I believed, a doctrine principle that I know to be true from my companion. It was no easy fight and lasted 4-5 weeks but it was one that had to be done. When we follow the Spirit we are never confounded by the doctrines of Men.
Sometimes it doesn't always work out like you think it will but the important thing is the peace of mind that comes from the Spirit. If you follow the Holy Ghost, he will always lead you to where you need to go and to do what you need to do. That is why, it's so important to do what's right and always be worthy of the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. Study the Scriptures and pray fervently and always seek the Lord in every thought, and every moment and never, ever doubt or fear. It is in sin that we fear, but it is in faith and righteousness that we have courage. We read about it all the time with the prophets in the book of Mormon. The courage they had to do what is right regardless of what would happen. To follow the Spirit with exactness and to stand for truth in every moment. SOmetimes you have to defend the truth from people who you never would think you would have to. For example, I was in the mtc and I had to defend what I believed, a doctrine principle that I know to be true from my companion. It was no easy fight and lasted 4-5 weeks but it was one that had to be done. When we follow the Spirit we are never confounded by the doctrines of Men.
I had an experience this last week to teach during a party. We were invited by the member to teach but when we got there we knew there would be no way to teach. So we just started talking with the people there getting to know them. And about 40 minutes into the party one o the men sat down in front of me and started asking questions about the states. What are things like, how are the people, the money. The basic things but then it started to turn to gospel topics. What do you think about this and that. What about the Pope. And the entire time, I was praying that I could answer his questions in accordance with what the Lord wanted. Every one was listening and my companion was in the other room not knowing what was happening. I had one member there with me and every once in a while he would say something. The best way to explain what happened is that I felt the Spirit slowly in the begining and then the feeling grew stronger and stronger and the words filled my mouth. The Spirit was so strong that I was just smiling the entire time. I was just filled with such a joy. A peace impossible to describe. The man even commented on how firmly he felt my conviction and could see it in my eyes. What he was filling was the Spirit, what he saw was the power of God working through his servant. He wasn't the only one, there were 5-6 other people there. And no drink, nothing can block the force of the Spirit. The only thing left to do is to decide to follow or to reject what he felt.
It's for moments like that that I live every day trying to keep the commandments with exactness, obeying all the mission rules. Doing everything, I can to be worty of that influence of the Spirit. Because it is really the Spirit that does the work, that converts, that heals. Me, I'm just a simple messanger. A boy of 19 years who still has trouble speaking the language. But of all the things I've learned so far on the mission is that it is the Spirit of God and the Atonement of Christ that make boys men and men of God. As in the example of Enoch and the power of the word that he had. This is my testimony, that I leave with you in the name of our Savior and redeemer Jesus Christ. Amen.
Elder Simonsen
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