Not knowing beforehand the things which I should do
Hello, everyone!
This week has been pretty great so far in Mallig. Rosalinda, Rosemarie, Rossgray got baptized last Monday and got confirmed in sacrament meeting yesterday and are doing awesome; the ministering efforts continue to become stronger and more untied, a little bit at a time, we've been helping some inactive members and part-member families come to church; Renalyn agreed to be baptized on April 22 (she's the 9-year old daughter of someone baptized almost two years ago, and she would always say no to baptism up until now); and we've scheduled a priesthood fireside for this upcoming Saturday, which should be awesome, we're inviting everyone we can to it.
As usual, I'm running out of time to write this haha, but the title of this email (1 Nephi 4:6) is something I've learned a lot about in the past few weeks. For much of my mission, it has been difficult to just open my mouth and talk to people and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, but, with the help of some videos/devotionals from Elder Bednar over the past couple of months haha, I've been able to learn a bit more about trusting in the Spirit of God and how it will guide me in my missionary work (and just anything, really). To paraphrase Elder Bednar, we can't be paralyzed wondering if a prompting to do something good is coming from God; we need to get to work. We need to quit worrying about it, be a good boy/girl, keep our covenants and the commandments of God, and get to work, and He will guide us every step of the way (yes, that's what he has said multiple times haha). As the story of Nephi goes in the title of my email, he had no idea how he was going to fulfill the commandments of God and obtain the brass plates. However, just because he didn't know what was going to happen, he didn't wait around for the Spirit to tell him exactly what he would do and what would happen. What he did instead was get to work, trusting that God would guide him, and it was then after his experience that he recognized the Spirit guiding his footsteps. Did he know that he was being guided in the moment? Probably not, he was probably just worrying about trying to find a way through Jerusalem to get the brass plates haha. But because of his faith, his willingness to trust in God and then act is what enabled the Spirit to guide him and his actions, and it was then after the fact that he was able to recognize that he was indeed guided throughout that whole experience. It's taken a while for me to learn this lesson haha, but as I've gone around doing good, trying my best to fulfill my covenants and calling as a missionary, and trusting that God would help me (yes, even in talking to random people I just met on the street), I've seen so many more miracles than when I just acted like I had to sit around and wait for the lightning strike of revelation to hit me before I acted. We receive the guidance, the revelation, and the miracles we need in the action, not before, and we often won't recognize the divine intervention and guidance until after the fact. That's my testimony to you: that God and His Spirit are real and that you will receive the guidance and miracles you need for whatever it is in your life as you keep your covenants, obey God's commandments, keeping being a good boy and good girl, and then press forward with faith, even if you don't know beforehand the things which you should do.
I hope you all have a fantastic week!
Elder Enger
1-2 - Just some random selfies from the week haha, sorry, not many photos this week
3-4 - A couple baptism pictures from last Monday
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