Hey Family!
Davis Happy late Birthday! Hope it was great and only a year from double digits haha. Well.........this week was pretty much the same as the last few weeks. We were looking for new investigators and we were able to teach people for the first time but we really have trouble to get back in the second time. So we visit a lot of less actives cause of the 400 members in this branch only 50 or 60 go to church so we have plenty of work to do in strengthening the branch. I would rather get less actives to return rather than baptize and then go less active right away. A serious problem with retention here. So we working on getting members to fellowship better here. Other than that just working haha. President Rahlf wants us all to read the Book of Mormon before the next zone conference in may so I started over again. He wants us to highlight every time it mentions Christ's name or he is quoted or references to his life, mission, death, and resurrection. So I am doing that. So far it is a pretty colorful book. I am writing at the bottom of every page how many times it mentions a name or title of Christ. It is quite often. But that is about it haha. 9 weeks..... Thanks for all the support! Have a great week everyone!
Love, Elder Robertson
President had a cool spiritual thought I thought you guys might like:
In a book entitled “God’s Mirror,” inspirational author Max Lucado shares the amazing rescue story of an American naval officer named G.R. Tweed. Tweed had been serving on the island of Guam during WWII, when the Japanese overtook it in 1941. He escaped into the jungle and survived there for nearly three years. Late in the day on July 10, 1944, he spotted an American battleship. Positioning himself on a cliff, he pulled from his pack a small mirror and began sending signals. Holding the mirror in his hands, he reflected the sun’s light in the direction of the boat with the dot-dot-dot, dash-dash-dash, dot-dot-dot code that spelled SOS. A sailor on the ship saw the distress signal, and within minutes a boat was sent to rescue Tweed.
How grateful he must have been to have that mirror, and to know how to use it. And how fortunate that the mirror cooperated. “Suppose it hadn’t,” writes Lucado. “Suppose the mirror had resisted, pushed its own agenda. Rather than reflect a message from the sun, suppose it had opted to send its own?” What if it had been an insecure mirror? “What if I blow it? What if I send a dash when I’m supposed to send a dot? Besides, have you seen the blemishes on my surface? Self-doubt could paralyze a mirror. So could self-pity. Been crammed down in that pack, lugged through the jungles, and now, all of a sudden expected to face the bright sun and perform a crucial service? No way. Staying in the pack. Not getting any reflection out of me.” (from God’s Mirror, Max Lucado)
What a good thing that Tweed’s mirror didn’t act on its own! Instead, as an instrument in his hands, it was the critical means of his rescue. That mirror matches exactly what we do in our service as the Lord’s missionaries. As we let ourselves become “mirrors” in His hands, we reflect and share His message and we become the critical means in the saving and rescue of His children. And as such valuable instruments, we understand that we are on His errand, that we lose our life to find our life, and we know that it’s not about us; it’s all about Him.
It is both powerful and humbling to be an instrument in the hands of God. Ammon expressed this when he said, “And this is the blessing which hath been bestowed upon us, that we have been made instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work. I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God. Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.” (Alma 26: 3, 11-12)
We are so grateful for each one of you, and pray that we may all go forth this week seeking to be instruments in the hands of God, reflecting his light and love to all we come in contact with, sharing His message of hope and feeling joy in His work. We could not be in a better place, than to be in His hands.
“And thus they were instruments in the hands of God in bringing many to the knowledge of the truth, yea, to the knowledge of their Redeemer. And how blessed are they! For they did publish peace; they did publish good tidings of good; and they did declare unto the people that the Lord reigneth.” (Mosiah 27: 36-37)
How grateful he must have been to have that mirror, and to know how to use it. And how fortunate that the mirror cooperated. “Suppose it hadn’t,” writes Lucado. “Suppose the mirror had resisted, pushed its own agenda. Rather than reflect a message from the sun, suppose it had opted to send its own?” What if it had been an insecure mirror? “What if I blow it? What if I send a dash when I’m supposed to send a dot? Besides, have you seen the blemishes on my surface? Self-doubt could paralyze a mirror. So could self-pity. Been crammed down in that pack, lugged through the jungles, and now, all of a sudden expected to face the bright sun and perform a crucial service? No way. Staying in the pack. Not getting any reflection out of me.” (from God’s Mirror, Max Lucado)
What a good thing that Tweed’s mirror didn’t act on its own! Instead, as an instrument in his hands, it was the critical means of his rescue. That mirror matches exactly what we do in our service as the Lord’s missionaries. As we let ourselves become “mirrors” in His hands, we reflect and share His message and we become the critical means in the saving and rescue of His children. And as such valuable instruments, we understand that we are on His errand, that we lose our life to find our life, and we know that it’s not about us; it’s all about Him.
It is both powerful and humbling to be an instrument in the hands of God. Ammon expressed this when he said, “And this is the blessing which hath been bestowed upon us, that we have been made instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work. I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God. Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.” (Alma 26: 3, 11-12)
We are so grateful for each one of you, and pray that we may all go forth this week seeking to be instruments in the hands of God, reflecting his light and love to all we come in contact with, sharing His message of hope and feeling joy in His work. We could not be in a better place, than to be in His hands.
“And thus they were instruments in the hands of God in bringing many to the knowledge of the truth, yea, to the knowledge of their Redeemer. And how blessed are they! For they did publish peace; they did publish good tidings of good; and they did declare unto the people that the Lord reigneth.” (Mosiah 27: 36-37)
