Halloween 2010 in Woodward

Dear Family and Friends,
I had a new experience this past week: on the way back from our District Meeting, we got a ride with some less-active memebers and we got to pick cotton!!!! Cotton is really pokey! But it was cool and I have pictures that I will email next week (I forgot the card reader today). Cotton is really soft :) but it has lots of big pits like seeds in it too.


Remember how I told you I got bit by little dogs? We'll we were in the same area on our bikes and those same dogs chased me for FOUR blocks on my bike, and they were trying to bite my heels the entire time!!!

So Halloween was fun, but it was also kind of hard because we couldn't really track much of the 30th and the 31st because many people trick-or-treated on the 30th. But we went to the ward party and that was fun. We handed out pass-along cards with candy on it and told all the kids, and adults that we handed them to, that the candy was for them and the card was to give to a friend. So I was glad we were able to do something missionary related and not just waste 3 hours. Yep, more cool photos to follow from that too.

In the last few days as we have to been talking to both investigators and people we have tracted into, one thing that has been on my mind is the power of God and people not understanding that. I've talked to people who claim we don't need the Priesthood or people with the authority to act in God's name, because all knowledge that we gain can come from the Holy Ghost. But at the same time they want to base whether The Book of Mormon is true on historical evidence, and don't realize that any true witness of truth comes from God. Yesterday we talked to a man who asked us if we thought it was strange (I think he meant suspicious) that no one except Joseph Smith saw the vision of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and that very few saw the plates, and yet there was a lot of historical proof of the Bible and the events that happened in them.

I thought about his question later that night because I wanted to give his opinion it's fair chance. There were many times in the past that a prophet has seen visions that no one else did: Moses and the burning bush, Noah and the revelation to build the ark. I know that the vision given to Joseph Smith is very unique but it is also consistent with how God has worked in the past. Regarding historical evidence and The Book of Mormon I was thinking about how there are still people today who deny the Holocaust even though there is a mountain load of evidence for it. It all comes back to relying on God verses man. To get truth about spiritual things we shouldn't rely on our physical eyes or senses. We rely on our spiritual eyes and on God to give us an answer. I have seen many people who pray for strength or who pray for blessings, but I have come to realize that very few people pray for and expect answers to specific questions. I know that God does have the power to answer questions and that while we do need to study and prepare for an answer, God will always give us one.

Oh, I gave a talk in Sacrament yesterday about D&C 58:26-28. I centered my thoughts on three main topics, agency, the Holy Ghost, and diligence. There is a parable that Elder Bednar used in April 2010 GC about giving someone a fish versus teaching them how to fish and how this is so important when we are teaching children how to grow in the gospel. And it hit me when I was reading it that the Lord is trying to teach us how to fish with this scripture. In this scripture the Lord tells us that it is not good for Him to command in all things but that we should do many things of our own free will. He is teaching us to fish. He even shows his confidence in our ability to fish by saying "For the power is in them, where in they are agents unto themselves." This scripture isn't trying to get us to do more "things" but to become more and better. We have heard many times that this life is not a checklist of things to do but a chance to become like God, and that is what this scripture is encouraging us to do. The power we have to act is amazing, even though as a missionary the principle of agency gets frustrating when people don't choose to follow the Lord, it is a principle that has so much power.

I will end as I ended my talk, with D&C 123:12 "Therefore, dearly beloved bretheren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed."

~Sister Lila Jenson