This area is just awesome, we continue to stay busy with all of the people we see on a regular basis. There are a couple more people we have lined up for baptism, one is a lady named Busisiwe and the other is a married couple Moregain and Tatenda. Busisiwe is really smart, and when we first met her she had a lot of smart doctrinal questions, she thinks on a much deeper level than most of the people we teach and it's nice to have an investigator who has an eternal perspective on things. Moregain and Tatenda are a couple from Zimbabwe who have been living here for a little while, they are very committed and have a deep desire to learn more they are scheduled for the 21st of August, and Busisiwe is coming up on the 24th of July. We do have a couple other Investigators with a baptismal date but they are a little bit less committed than the ones mentioned. All the people we meet with have a real great desire to learn and It is awesome to teach them the gospel and help them follow the savior Jesus Christ by having faith in him, repenting and being baptized.
Whenever we meet a new person and sit down with them and have our first lesson we are to Invite them to be baptized. With this approach it gives the Investigator a chance to bring to light his or her concerns about whether or not they want to be baptized. We get a lot of different answers some people say "Well I have already been baptized" and others say "yeah I would love to be Baptized". What I have learned is that when we get the first answer most missionaries will ask how people were baptized or maybe why they were baptized and a lot of the times talk about priesthood authority, and for most of my mission I have had a problem with that approach but I haven't found a solution until this week. What I have come to learn through much study of the scriptures and Preach My Gospel is that regardless of how or for what reason people were baptized elsewhere they still need to baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ, that is what it all boils down to. Surely if someone is Baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ their Baptism will not only last in the books recorded here on earth but also in the books of heaven, Paul talked a little about this subject. The only thing we can do to help investigators is to help them learn that the Church of Jesus Christ is here again upon the earth, and we are given as missionaries a very good Lesson specifically aimed at such people, it is The Message of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As missionaries we don't need to mess around with little principles like the correct manner of baptism or priesthood authority, all of that is minutia and will be resolved if the investigator comes to know that the Message of the Restoration is true. For if this is the Church of Jesus Christ and we have a prophet on the earth than the Church itself is established in the manner it should be, and whoever reads and prays with real intent and with sincerity of heart will receive and answer from on high that it is true, and who would not want to enter in the gate by baptism, regardless of any previous baptism. That is what I have been able to learn on that subject, I hope it makes sense because it is definitely not Jane Shaffer material.
I am glad that you Mom and Dad were able to help Ariel and Brian move and returned home safely. Mom any updates on that Job that you were hoping to hear back from? Thank you for the pictures! I haven't received the package yet but I know it is in the Office so it's just a matter of the Zone Leaders distributing it to us, I'm pretty excited for it. I love our new Mission President and his wife, President and Sister Wood are just spectacular, it is sad that President and Sister Probst are no longer here but their time had to come to an end. Colin good luck with the Flight school, today I am sure you enjoyed the flying that is so cool man! Being a pilot would be so exhilarating.
The pictures that are attached are as follows, Me at Cape Point (really cool place, very windy), and baboons on a roof. Until next week.
Love,
Elder Nielsen
No comments:
Post a Comment