Mr. and Mrs and Mrs and Mrs Yikes!

Spiritual: When we came into the area there was a note on the board that said to call a man named Matt. He had a baptismal date but there were no other records about him at all. We called and called and called and never got a response. We finally made contact and decided to meet up at the church one night. We had no background on this man other than at one point in time he had been taught by the missionaries and had agreed to be baptized. We grabbed one of the members that we had eaten with a few nights before and we headed out to teach him. No idea what was going to happen or who this man was. We arrived at the church and saw this guy standing outside. We met him and he introduced himself as Matt. We pulled him into the Relief Society room and began to talk. We talked about his background, about how he just got out of jail, about his family life and his two kids that have some behavioral issues. We talked about his spiritual health and what the missionaries had talked about. Finally we read out of the Book of Mormon with him about the Doctrine of Christ. We told him that most people and even members of the Church don’t understand the Doctrine of Christ. Most members don’t even realize what it is! Having an understanding of the Doctrine of Christ is critical for not only our salvation but for our personal peace and happiness here on planet earth. Faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end are the simple steps required in the Doctrine of Christ. We drew the steps on the board in a circle and told him how one thing leads to another. Faith leads to repentance, repentance leads to baptism, baptism leads to receiving the Holy Ghost. (I was thinking of doing my Yoda impression when I told him that but I decided against it.) This doctrine is not just a one time thing. It’s a continual process throughout our lives. Enduring to the end is not a step  but an action that needs to be taken continually throughout each of our lives. Having and utilizing faith, continually repenting, renewing our covenants by going to church and partaking the sacrament, feeling the presence of the spirit in our life and by courageously following the promptings that we receive from the Spirit we are then led to have more faith in Jesus Christ. When we told him this and expounded on it a little, he truly recognized that this gospel, this doctrine is not a one time thing. It’s a lifetime of change and improvement. It’s meant to be hard! I saw a quote on a members wall, "If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you." I would add, "If it doesn’t challenge you to do better, It doesn’t change you to be better." Our next lesson with this man will be to set a baptismal date. He is close. I know that without Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for us, we would not be able to change. I am so eternally grateful for his unconditional love and sacrifice for us that makes it possible to change. If you are finding that maybe there are times when you are coasting, go back to the Doctrine of Christ. Find out what step you are on and then find a way to be challenged and change for good.

Funny: There was a family we met this last week that was a little crazy. We went over with a member who had been in the area for a long time. When we went over we met the father of the family who was in his mid-60s who was not a member of the church. The house was decorated hoarder style with piles and piles of stuff round about. We talked to him for a while then asked him why he wasn’t a member of the church. He responded that he was upset that the government took away polygamy. We thought we had heard him incorrectly. Nope! He was upset that the church took polygamy away. Yikes! Obviously he had more concerns than that and after digging a bit we found out he hadn’t prayed about the Book of Mormon. Okay. Now we know where to start. We didn’t quite know how to respond to the polygamy issue. We are really good at addressing the fact that that it did exist at one time, but we had never had anyone who was upset that it was taken away. Welcome to California!

Where I am at: This ward is awesome. The ward council ran like butter on my yam. Smooth and well-polished. It was really neat to sit in and see how it’s supposed to run. That was really amazing. It’s been good being here. I really enjoy it. Darrell who watched conference came to church and liked it. He almost got offended, but due to some good damage control all was well. Things are good! I am figuring out the area and things are going well. We meet some really interesting people. I love you all! Thank you for your prayers and support!