Hey Everyone!
It has been a super awesome week here in Georgia! The weather is getting a little bit colder this next week, so that is not my favorite thing in the world but I’m sure it’s going to be good!
Last Monday and today, we are pretty much chilled and are just chilling. We might do something as a district but idk yet.
Tuesday, we had District council and then we set up for the baptism for later in the day. Our friends Danielle and Lauren got baptized, and it was a super sweet experience! Anne, our friend who got baptized a couple weeks ago got asked to speak about the Holy Ghost and she did a really good job as well! It is cool to see how much our friends are growing as they learn and apply the gospel of Jesus Christ into their lives. 🙂
Wednesday, the food pantry was closed because it was the first week of the month. This next week we will be able to go again :). We pretty much spent the whole day finding, and we had some impromptu lessons and met some really cool people!
Thursday, we had weekly planning. Because it always takes so long, we have been trying to finish it faster, but it still takes forever ??. We did have a nice dinner at the Gublers afterwards, and we had some really good homade pizza!
Friday, was so busy with lessons! We were able to teach Caleb, a recent convert from before I got here. We were able to teach about the Temple and he seemed excited to be able to prepare to go do baptisms!! We also were able to do a service project where we broke some pallets with some thick wood and long nails. We got some crow bars and a hammer and it was loud, but fun haha.
Saturday was the Ward Christmas party. Elder Lettich and I woke up at 6:00 so we (he) could make cinnamon rolls for the competition. Turns out they were the best ones because he won haha! We had quite a few friends make it to the party, so that was super cool to see them there! The rest of the day was you guessed it, finding time!! ?
Sunday, church was really good! Danielle and Lauren got confirmed and we had dinner at the Kimballs. That was super great! Sad part of the week though is that Sister Peña, one of the Sisters in my district got ET’d (emergency transferred), and she had to fill in their spot. So now our district of 6 people is now going to be 5 people for the rest of the transfer.
This week has pretty much flown by! I have had some really good studies about the roots of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to summarize even part of it. One thing I can say that it always amazes me how you can study and get such a deep spiritual and temporal understanding of the gospel; but it can all be boiled down into one word: Love. Love of our Father in heaven to give us his only Begotten son to provide a way to return to him again. We can show our love by keeping the commandments.
Another focus that I’ve tried to have this week was to follow the prophet in “taking charge of my own testimony” which got me thinking. As a missionary you have the opportunity to share your testimony a lot! Sometimes the things that I say are the same, but sometimes it’s different too. It has been really cool focusing on this, because I have been able to learn what I believe and know to be true. As our prophet has taught, “truth is truth,” as we build our testimonial foundation on Jesus Christ and ask God through prayer to help you learn truth, the spirit will be able to touch our hearts and bring us joy. One quote that I loved this past week from President Oaks is, “We gain or strengthen a testimony by bearing it. Someone even suggested that some testimonies are better gained on the feet bearing them than on the knees praying for them.” As we bear our testimonies, the Holy Spirit testifies to us and the person we are talking with that what you are saying is true, which creates a spiritual experience that helps not only you but other people.
That was a little long winded and I apologize, but my invitation this week is to find opportunities to bear your testimony this week! This will help to #LightTheWorld and help you to strengthen your testimony. Best thing about testimonies is it doesn’t have to be something formal (it can be), but rather simple statements of belief like, “I know that I am a child of God.” :). It can definitely be scary, even for missionaries too! But I know that it has helped me strengthen my relationship with Jesus Christ and has helped me to be more confident in what I know to be true. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ amen :).
Love you all! Have a great week!
-Elder Claussen 🙂
P.S. Shout-out to Kenton for the awesome title! ?
