Happy 4th everyone!
This last week has been wonderful! My comp and I have been teaching many lessons and have been helping lots of people with lots of things. One instance that sticks out from this last week is there was a woman who really needed help moving her things because she didn't have enough money to pay for the movers. We stepped in and helped her move the things we could so that she would pay less when the time came for her to move. She was extremely grateful and it just reminded me of how much we need to serve. There are always times when we can serve all around us at all times. My Dad was a great example of this. He would always find little ways for us to serve that weren’t assigned. We fixed sprinklers at the church building, we moved people, we cleaned the community, the church building-hundreds of little acts of service for years and years (now I get it). Our Savior was the perfect example of this. He was always serving. He was always helping.
There was another woman who has stopped going to church because of some doctrinal issues she had with the church. It was about something in the Book of Mormon and something with what Joseph Smith had said in one of his sermons. Apparently these questions were faith-destroying and she fell away from the church after being a member for 2 1/2 years. She is still a good example though. Why? Because she did not lose her faith in Jesus the Christ. I have been studying the scriptures and other sources this last week to try and find answers to her and I believe I have found some, but it will, of course, take faith on her part (which I'm almost certain she has) to accept them. Please pray for me as I present my answers to her to her deep doctrinal questions. Hopefully this will re-ignite her faith in the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith as well as in the Savior Jesus Christ and then apply the teaching of Dieter F Uchtdorf: "Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith."
Have a great week!
Elder Sands