I Am Glad For Many Things

This week went well. Lots of things to work on and lots of preparation for things that are coming up. It’s been busy, but it’s fun as well. 

Spiritual: This week I was able to go on exchanges up in Fremont. Fremont is really interesting. There is a huge population of Indians there. They were trying for a while to change the name of the town to little India. It was really an interesting day. I want to talk about an attribute in our spiritual lives that is hard to learn but can be instrumental in changing our lives. This attribute is the immediate reaction to a prompting from the Holy Ghost. Developing the capacity to react instantly without knowing exactly what will happen or where we should go. That immediate action is Faith that builds our confidence in Heavenly Father. There were a few experiences this week that made me realize what an important component this knee-jerk reaction is to our spiritual lives. The first happened when I was on exchanges in Fremont. We were contacting at a huge lake and we weren’t having a ton of success. We ended the day with three or four phone numbers and one copy of the Book of Mormon left. It was a mediocre contacting session. It also while we were there got dark really fast. We decided that we were really quite scary so we decided to leave to go to dinner. As my companion was driving, I was backing the car out. As I was walking backwards I noticed a man who was about to get into his car. For some reason I felt compelled to go and talk to him. So I did. I happened to leave my poor companion sitting in the middle of the road just waiting to drive away. As I ran up to the man I thought that there would be no way in the world he would want to talk to me. Two cranky kids in the car, it was late at night and I was wearing a dark coat and looked a little imposing. I thought that he would turn and hop in the car as fast as he could. Instead he said "Oh! Mormons! Awesome! I would love a copy of the Book of Mormon! I have never had one before and I have always wanted one." My jaw hit the pavement. It was a true book is blue miracle. It was amazing. It testified to me of the importance that when a prompting comes, to just drop what you have and act. That action is faith. The faster you react even if you don’t know for sure if it is a prompting from the spirit is evidence of your love for God and willingness to follow his plan for you. Most of the time we will not know for sure if a prompting is actually a prompting. We just act in faith and know that if the action is good, is in harmony with the principals of the gospel and is intended to serve others then we can press forward and act in faith. This will bless your life so much! I would strongly urge you to pay careful attention to the little thoughts you have that will help others and then act on them.

Funny:

 They listed all of their weights before Thanksgiving dinner.

Then compared them to after dinner. Ammon got second place in weight gain. 

Where I am at: Thanksgiving was a great time. We ate at the Zamora home and it was absolutely delightful. There is always a sweet spirit that exists in the heart of men when they decide to be thankful for the blessings that they have. There are a lot of fun things coming up in the mission! I am excited for what the next few weeks will bring. The mission is doing a talent show for Christmas Eve and there will be a lot of fun events along with that. I love you all so much. I am so incredibly, eternally grateful for the blessing it is to have a family that is rooted in the gospel and is stable and loving. I love you all so much. 

Elder Black