February 22, 2011
Well happy Presidents day,
The only reason I knew Presidents day was yesterday was because I went to check mail and the Elder that I was on exchange with so kindly told me that there was no mail that day. Days just blur together as you forget the world and just get to work.
Elder Liu and I have been working none stop. We are doing great as companions and are having a blast at the same time. We have seen a lot of amazing things happen this week and our patience and diligence has been tested. This week we were also able to teach 20 lessons which was nice. It helped that on Thursday we blitzed our area. The Assistants to the President were in town so we split up and just went to work. We were able to cover twice as much ground and see twice as many people. I had the chance to go with Elder Sanders. We were focusing on the YSA people that we needed to see or hadn't seen in awhile. We had a great visit with Amos. I talked about him about a month ago and he was doing great. Then he kind of fell of the map and back into the same old routine, just being complacent. We talked with him about how there no room for laziness in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We can't just sit around and expect blessings to come. We need to get up and do something. Then we had a few other visits and tried some less actives.
At night we had some miracles occur. We went to John Carbine's house and just helped him see that if he is going to achieve his goals he is going to have to do something as well. He has to put forth the effort. He committed to reading the Book of Mormon. We told him it is his choice but if he wants to change his life he needs to do something. If you keep making the same choices you will continue to get the same results. After that we were planning on heading home. It was 8:57, we had a great day and figured it would be okay. We had planned to go see this girl named KC all day but never got to it. She has made some poor choices and we are trying to help her change her life around. We were pulling up to the Solomon's house and we started talking and just decided we still had a few minutes we would go try and see her. Well that made our good day and amazing day. We knocked on the door and the first think she says is "I am so glad that you are here". We were a little nervous at first but then she goes on to explain how she is done with her wild ways and is changing her life around. She is moving out of the house that was such a bad influence on her and just wants to be better. It is amazing how the few choices we make can change everything.
As you can tell I learned a lot from that exchange about agency and our freedom to choose. That has seemed to be the topic this whole week. The talks in sacrament were on that and I read a lot from the scriptures about it. Our agency is one of the most amazing gifts that we have. It is also one of the most misused gifts we have. As it says in 2 Nephi that we have the power to choose. We can either choose God or we can choose Satan. There is no gray area or middle space. If it is not of God then it is of Satan. We each make choices every day, some good and others not so good. As I talk with those around Pendleton I hear the consequences of the choices that they have made. We definitely reap what we sow. We cannot expect to gain salvation if we are not following Gods path. I may seem like I am a little fired up about this topic but it is the hardest thing for me to see people have to go through hard times. I wish I could make the choices for them, but I know that is not the plan. I see so many complacent people each day that just don't care. This is our salvation, it should be the thing we care most about. We each have those choices to make, some of them are rebellious others are not. When the anti-Nephi-Lehis were converted, they laid down their weapons of rebellion. Let us do the same. Let us lay down our weapons of rebellion. Those weapons could be not reading the scriptures, watching inappropriate movies, or other disobedient things. The difference between obedience and disobedience is happiness. I know that as we choose the path of God we will have happiness. Not just short term happiness but lasting and eternal happiness. I know I am not perfect, I make bad choices but that is why we have Christ. Let us each strive to make those good choices each day. We cannot be complacent or just sit around and expect blessings to come. There is a difference between getting up and doing and getting up and becoming. We need to make those choices that let us become who we really are; sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father.
So now that I am off my soap box, the rest of the week has been great. We were able to talk to 90 people this week. Those are ones that we either tracted into or talked to on the street. At night we are not supposed to come in before nine so if it is like 8:45 or 8:30, Elder Liu and I have been going to down town Pendleton and talking to people on the street. It has actually been really effective. I love this work. I am so thankful for the choice I made to come out on my mission. I am grateful for the choice Christ made to suffer for our sins. Without him there would be no hope.
Nothing else to amazing or inspiring happened this week. I hope you have a wonderful week. Stay safe and remember to make good choices. Replace fear with faith and know that if we lay down our weapons of rebellion, even though it may be hard at first, will bring lasting happiness.
Love you,
Elder Scott Draper
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