Dear Family and Friends,
The
first part of my letter just got moved to the last part. It's just a
thought process that really influenced the way that I look at things and
I felt I should share it. First and foremost though, I though I'd say
I'm doing Great! I have had some pretty interesting experiences this
week. One in particular, we were talking to a member of out Branch as we
filled up our cooler with fresh water when a modern day "Nehor" came
and engaged us in conversation (or condescension more like). He
introduced himself as a preacher and a missionary. He then proceeded to
take every single point of doctrine that he could think of and began to
contradict it so as to inflict doubt and fear in us and the member (whom
he obviously was not aware that she was a member.) Admittedly, I was
taken aback, hoping initially to have a reasonable and uplifting
conversation about Christ. Instead we were barraged with an onslaught of
accusations and implications that we had been "deceived" and that God
is a spirit and so many other things. At a moment that seemed as though
he would let up, the member we were with voiced her bold declaration
that she was a "Mormon" and she didn't appreciate his telling any of us
how to believe and anything else that he had said. My thoughts were
"YES! WHAT A CHAMP!" and my words were simply that we would love to
continue to discus the topic but in a civilized manner. This was a very
eye opening experience and I was so proud of that member who proudly
stood up and said that she knew what she believed was true. What a
testimony builder for her and her sister. This experience illustrated a
principle that our mission president had endeavored to instill by
inviting us to study a talk by Lynn G Robins on "Tasting the Light of
Christ" The idea is that as we compare light and truth with it's
opposite we can gain a greater illumination of what we know to be true.
How true that is. My God is an eternal being of Flesh and Blood and
Jesus Christ is his Son. Jesus Christ the first born in spirit making
him my eldest brother in the family of God and the Only Begotten of the
father in the flesh, from whence his divine son ship is complete and his
power is endless and encompassing. The spirit of God is the third
member of that perfectly unified Godhead and they in unity are the very
eternal head of this gospel and universe.
In other news we have a few baptisms to mention. On Oct. 2
we will have a baptism for Kymelia who is so excited! She is 8 and her
love for the Book of Mormon is so refreshing! Angela and Marvin are
still progressing well. Overall the work is progressing and I am loving
my time here in the Alamo :) One note of humor, my companion is being
trained In Alamo, and the only other elder in the mission that was
trained here called himself the last air-bender. He is an AP and he'll
be going home before too long which means, I will be the Trainer and
mission father of the last air-bender!! Ok ok I know that's kind of
nerdy but it's kind of cool too :) This next one is my thought for the
week, but it's kind of long so enter at your own accord. Otherwise, I
love you all and hope you have a great week!
Endeavoring
to establish a more perfect union, my learning and growth this week has
been focused on self-mastery. There are so many times that people will
say, "That is what the Gospel is all about." Well I think that there are
many things that could be tagged with that statement, probably Love as
being the most common. I think that Love is the most frequent result of
living the Gospel. It is also the motivating force Behind a true
commitment to follow the teaching of the gospel "...press forward with a
steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a
love of God and of All men..." (2 Nephi 31:20) For me I have become
aware of SO many things that I could do to be better, and SO many habits
that I would like to develop, and so many traits that I would like to
have as a person. But I just get lost trying to keep track of them let
alone even trying to apply them in my life. This is why The one and ONLY
way is to Believe in Christ and to follow his teachings. Within that
realm there are only a very few specific things that we are able given
strict command to do or not to do. For most things though we are allowed
to Choose, agency, and we are just left to our own devices with the
guidance of the spirit to become the best that we can be. I have
realized that the two choices in all that we do, good or bad, are really
better interpreted as spiritually beneficial or temporally beneficial.
Our natural senses are constantly striving to be satisfied, and
appeased. Our senses feel pleasure and the consequence is a good feeling
right now. Before I get all theoretical and stuff I'll wrap this up. I
guess the biggest thing that I realized is that every choice we make is
are we doing this as an appeasement of our natural senses, or is this
truly going to guide me to be my very best self? Self-mastery is the
opposite of carnal mindedness, sensuality, and ultimately the Natural
man. Seeking for self mastery is a life long pursuit and the Gospel is
the way that we are able to be totally freed from guilt and suffering.
Jesus was the perfect and willing sacrifice that gave his life for us.
He is also the Son of God. As we sacrifice the things in this life that
are not in alignment with God's eternal plan for us then we will feel of
the truth and power of his love. That is repentance and the path to
self-mastery.
That's my thought, hopefully it made sense! Take... Luck :)
Ayoo'Aniinishni
Elder McGarry
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| It's hard to climb in Dress shoes... This is Box Canyon :) |
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| Another view, with a cave :) |
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