This week was a great work week. We got tracting done, walked for hours as it downpoured, and got a few baptismal dates nailed down. I got to see sheep and we got to make tortillas! The first tortillas in 8 months! They were home made and probably the best tortillas I've eaten in my life. We had a really good zone meeting, and one of the Zone Leaders is Elder Crozier who I met in my first two transfers. He's from Austin Texas, plays guitar, sings, and is really cool. We learned how to extend the baptismal commitment better. However, a baptismal commitment only does any good if they complete all of their other commitments.
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| Sheep selfie! |
We're starting a focus on the Book of Mormon. Like Elder Holland said, the Book of Mormon really is a stumbling block for anyone willing to walk away from the truthfulness of the Church of Jesus Christ. Every time I talk to a less active member or an investigator of the church who wants to stop going to church, I ask the same question, ''Are you reading the Book of Mormon?'' The answer is always the same too... I feel so blessed that God decided to prepare and bring forth a book like the Book of Mormon for this, the last and glorious dispensation of time. It's short, powerful, has the ten commandments, prophesies of Isaiah and one of the most powerful testimonies of Jesus Christ that exists. It's so concrete that the Prophet Joseph Smith called it the ''most correct book upon the face of the earth.'' People that try to push the Book of Mormon to the background do not understand the nature of God or Jesus Christ. The only way we can know that the Book of Mormon is true is if we read it, meditate in it, and pray about it (John 7:17). If we won't do that, we will never receive a definite yes or no from the Holy Ghost. I expect that all of my siblings will obtain a testimony of the Book of Mormon before they leave on their missions because it makes no sense to be a representative of Jesus Christ if you don't have a testimony of His word.
I'd like to bear my witness that the Book of Mormon is true and it's been manifested to me by the power of God. You can never receive too many witnesses of it and your testimony of it can never reach a limit. Like a tree, so long as it lives, a testimony will never stop growing if it's nurtured.
Have a great week everyone! I'm having fun here, and we're going to baptize and reactivate this month. Love you all!
Elder Jake Avery
New Area - Yungay, Peru (March 17, 2014)
Baptism in a Canal (March 31, 2014)
