Week 49, July 3, 2017

Faith to See Miracles Howdy Yall! So first of all "we" had a great week here in belleview. I say "we" but mean elder Lunt. I was on exchanges on wednesday and missed Five lessons. When you only get 6 in a week missing 5 of those cause they were all on the same day is kinda lame. But I got to go to Columbine! Most of you should remember I was there about 6 months ago. So I had a good time. Felt good to be in the area again. I also got to see Susie Harrison and the Duersts while I was in columbine. Susie was an amazing lady that I got to begin teaching. I loved working with her and loved being able to see her again. The Duerst were an amazing family that I got to know while in columbine. They were the ones who hosted us while we taught Susie. The best part was they recognized me! They were confused for a moment because I have changed my haircut and have changed a bit, but I was still super flattered that they remembered me! Other than that I spent most of the week trying to help less actives which often times is frustrating because we have no idea when they will be home so most times when we just try by they aren't home. So that makes things harder. But we won't give up! So now onto my thought of the week. This week I got into a bit of a disagreement with my companion. Elder Lunt is a wonderful guy and I love him but often we see the world in different ways which can lead to disagreements. Although we never argue. Just don't always agree. Anyway that's not the point. The point is that we disagreed whether or not having more faith will lead to seeing people be baptized. My argument being that we cannot change other's choices by being more faithful. His argument is that if we were more faithful and hardworking we will find those who will choose to be baptized. Now truthfully I was being more stubborn than usual and it took me a while to kinda figure out why. Yesterday though I feel I came to my answer. Elder Lunt is right (oh how that pains me to say that, his ego's gonna swell so bad.😉) If we are more faithful we will not change people or their choices, but we will however align ourselves more with God's will and therefore be able to find those who are willing to make the choices that will lead them to be baptized. Now the reason I feel I was being more stubborn is because I am lazy. And not in the traditional sense mind you. I like to work hard. Give me some good old manual labor any day. I like getting down and dirty and trust me I have the callouses to prove it. But being more faithful and building our faith isn't something that requires a one time effort. When you cut down a tree you don't have to wake up and cut that same tree down the next day. But with faith that is exactly what you have to do! We have to choose to be obedient. We have to make that choice every day and every hour and quite frankly that is a LOT harder than deciding I am going to do my laundry or I am going to go chop down the tree I have been meaning to get rid of. Things like that are pretty easy to decide and do. When you decide to be faithful, to follow all the rules, to work hard, to talk to everyone you can, then you have to make a whole bunch of little decisions every day that will affect whether or not you will stand true to the decisions you have made. That is why it is so hard to be a Mormon or any other religion. It is so easy to just give in to peer pressure and lower your standards to what the world would have you do. It's certainly not easy to decide each week to go to church for three hours or go to church period. It is not easy to stand up and say "I believe in God" or "I believe God ordained marriage to be between a man and a women." The world says that we shouldn't say these things. That we should lower our standards and do whatever is popular. Now that is not to say we should be offensive or rude in our beliefs. After all they are just that. OUR beliefs. Others are free to use the agency God gave them to believe whatever they want. I will love everyone regardless. But at the same time we must be bold in declaring and defending what we believe to be right. Standing faithful and not letting the world tell us what to do. And that is not easy. But it is so worth it. I testify that it's all so worthwhile to stand true to what we believe. To choose to act in faith instead of doing what's easy or popular. I know that this was probably rather lengthy but I want you all to know that I have decided to choose to act in faith, instead of doing what is easy. I love you all. I want you to know that I have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He suffered the Atonement so that we can be free of sin and so that we can overcome our weaknesses. He loves us and knows exactly how we feel and knows best how to help us overcome our challenges. I love my Savior. I know He lives and heads this church. I will follow him even when it's hard. I hope you all have an amazing 4th of July. I love you all! Sincerely Elder Nathan Lindh