Week 28

Hey everyone!!

Honestly I've kinda lost track of the week numbers at this point but I'm like 90% sure last week was week 27... I don't know, correct me if I'm wrong. 

We got transfer calls today, looks like I'm gonna be staying at least one more in Williston with Elder Garner! So I'm excited about that, we've got a lot of good stuff going and we were really hoping nobody would leave. The rest of the zone is all changing though, we were the only companionship that survived transfers! My old ZL in Pierre, Elder Barlow, is coming up to Watford to be our district leader, so that's pretty sweet. It'll be good to see him again.

As far as the work goes, not a ton to report. We picked up a new investigator this week, this dude named Kendrick. He's from Mississippi and his dad just died, so he's been going through a tough time, but he works for a member who referred him to us. So we met with him this last Friday and explained how the Plan of Salvation works, especially how it's centered on families, and he really wants to learn more and is thinking about getting baptized. Other than that, we've had a couple other lessons with investigators we already had, and all those went really well. Hyrum is still looking at getting baptized on August 18th, pretty much the only challenge is his crazy schedule. But that's the way it is with everyone up here, we're used to it and we work around it as well as we can!

I've been going through the Old Testament for the past few months; I try to read a chapter a day and I have since like the MTC and I'm only up to Exodus 37 😂 it's definitely not the funnest thing sometimes, but there are a lot of good lessons to learn from the stories it tells. In Exodus 35, right after the Lord has given Moses all the instructions in how to build the ark of the covenant (and there's a LOT of them), Moses goes to the Israelites and asks them to donate their skills and possessions to the Lord in order to build the ark; but only if they're willing to do it! He makes it clear to them that the Lord only desires their help if they are ready and eager to give it. We are admonished many times in the scriptures to avoid giving gifts with a bitter heart, particularly in Moroni 7:8-11. A bitter fountain cannot bring forth good water, and that is what truly corrupted the Jews' practicing of the Law of Moses during the time of Jesus' ministry in the flesh. Yes, He came to fulfill the law in the first place, but many times He chastised the Pharisees for the ways in which they kept the law even before it was fulfilled. They did it for their own glorification and the pleasing of the people, not to honor or praise God. Are we rotely practicing the rituals of the Church in our day to day lives, or do we remember the true meaning of what we do as we do our best to engage in daily scripture study and prayer and partake of the sacrament every Sunday? Do we keep the law of chastity and the Word of Wisdom because we feel like we have to or because we desire the blessings they will bring into our lives? Why do we do what we do? Why we do it is just as or more important than what we do! Just some thoughts I've had this week as I've read through some of the more boring chapters in Exodus 😂

Hope everyone has a good week!

Elder Hart



We were supposed to find a way to use our talents to share the gospel and Elder Garner is kinda good at Photoshopping stuff... so there you go 😂