Well, transfers came and went this
week, and I'm still here in Manassas! Elder Flaherty and I are sticking
together, which marks only the second time in my mission that has happened!
Until now, I've been able to say I've had as many companions as transfers! It
was pretty crazy!
Well, one thing of note, transfers
are a lot less nervewracking to sit through when you're not moving! Usually,
people don't go when they aren't moving, but the Zone Leaders have to be there
to make sure nobody in their zone gets stranded. And we are the
"hosting" zone leaders since transfers happen in Centreville, so we
have to close the place out. Our zone was pretty much unaffected. The only
changes were because of new missionaries or missionaries going home!
That evening, after transfers, we
had stake correlation, so Thursday was pretty much shot... haha It was great
though! Kind of nervewracking... President Dionne asked us to get up and speak
to all the Bishopbrics and Ward Mission Leaders in the stake on what wards can do
to help investigators follow through on commitments and how to help them do that.
We felt like it went well!
Friday was Elder Flaherty's
birthday, and President always calls, sings and asks if their companion made
breakfast.... So, I planned ahaead! It was Elder Flaherty's first time trying
Eggs Benedict, and he LOVED it!
The musical fireside last Wednesday
was amazing! Since we pretty much have the same zone, we're hoping to do it
again! We're excited!
This week we worked hard when we
could, but it was busy! Yesterday was a killer day though, so it made up for
it! We were crazy busy yesterday! But that's how we like it :)
The Syrian family we're teaching had
a slight setback when the father went to the ER this last week. He was having
heart palpitations due to some anemia... He's much better now though. We just were missing him for a while.
This week was kind of a pass-off
week. We had multiple people either move out or start going to the singles
ward. Something we're definitely not against. The singles ward (institute in
particular) is great for people and the Sisters over there are amazing (I trust
them more than myself with investigators!), It's just hard to not see these
amazing people as often. It's all good though! That's the nature of the work! (and
we still stop in periodically for short check-ins)
Zone Training was probably one of
the highlights of the week. After Mission Leadership Council, we go back and
train the rest of the Zone on what we learned. It's been very interesting
lately to see the focus of President Riggs lately. His biggest focus has been
consecration. Personal consecration to the Lord. He still teaches us missionary
skills, but he feels very strongly that what will make us the best missionaries
we can be is not the missionary "tricks" we know, but the people we
are. It's been amazing putting our focus on the source of our consecration:
Christ. President Riggs said the other day: "My success as a Mission
President isn't going to be measured for another 20 years. My success is based on
how consecrated you all are 2 decades down the road. Now, do I hope we baptize
a couple people in the process? Absolutely! I LOVE building the Lord's kingdom,
and I hope we do! But my biggest concern is that you each become consecrated to
the Lord for the rest of your life."
So, we've been talking a lot about
grace and the role it plays in consecration. Look in scriptures for this
formula: Grace=Faith+Humility+Diligence. I'll even give an example. Ether
12:27. "And if men come unto me (diligence) I will show unto them their
weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble (humility); and my
grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they
humble themselves before me, and have faith in me (faith), then will I make weak
things become strong unto them (This is one of the effects of grace)." So,
if we have faith and humble ourselves, and diligently come unto Christ, His
grace will make our weaknesses strong. Grace really can't be overdone. It's the
GREATEST thing about this entire gospel. Through Christ we can receive grace.
Elder Bednar talks often about the three powers of the atonement. The healing
power, the enabling power, and the exalting power. All three come from grace!
It's through grace that we receive forgiveness, it's through grace that we
become better (or more obedient for example) and it's through grace that we can
eventually become exalted.
Elder Flaherty put it best during
Zone Training when he said "Nobody should leave unaffected when we talk
about the grace of Jesus Christ." It really has the power to change; and
that for the better! It's been such a huge boost to focus on the things that
really matter. And it's been amazing too, to see how all the other aspects of
missionary work just fall into place as we come to understand Grace and become
more consecrated.
Love you all!
-Elder Hodgson
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