Hi Mom,
Well, this week has been as faith filled as the last. Let me share the prevailing thoughts
from this last week. Gunner
D.(this name is changed for privacy sake) is doing amazing! He is finding the truth of the Gospel. He has accepted it and we are now moving
into other areas of his life to help him prepare for baptism. My most amazing realization out of this whole
experience of teaching him has been that ‘truth has a more powerful effect on
the heart of a person than does anything else.’ However, in his process of discovery he has been met by
others of a different religion trying to persuade him another way. But simply, we have just taught truth,
and the rest is in the hands of the Lord.
So, another prevailing thing this week is the insane interactions with
people bent on destroying the faith of these two young servants of the Lord...
I’m not kidding! While we were
passing out materials at the market Saturday morning we met a lady by the name
of Katie. She was insistent on
teaching us the truth and invited us to her home that night. After a flurry of calls asking if we
were coming over, we eventually decided to go for the visit as it was dark and
we had no appointments. We were
also simply entertained by what she had planned for us. So, as we sat and listened to her
slander the points of doctrine that make up our faith, and as she played us
audio recordings and videos of so called "reliable resources" spewing
out the "truth" about Joseph Smith and other things (I say ‘spew,’
because it was only filth) the funniest thing happened. She was playing a recording of this guy
who was quoting a talk supposedly given by Joseph Smith junior in 1855 where he
said... wait... 1855? Joseph Smith was martyred in 1844. Sorry, try again. Well, it was an overall good experience
because we were backed up to the wall of testimony, and it was there that we
took a stand. I kind of felt like
Peter or John before the chief priests saying "You ought to obey God rather
than men..." (Acts 5: 29-33)… Except, we were bearing testimony of Jesus Christ,
the restoration, the Bible, and the Book of Mormon.
Anyway, that was one example of about five or six encounters this week where
we have met people of a similar mission.
As I have stated, “Truth will stand!”
I love you all,
Elder Gold
August 19, 2013
Hi Mom!
So, this week was also
another week of miracles. I don’t
know if I have mentioned this to you but, as part of our finding process, we
have been putting up a table in front of stores and passing out free DVD cards
and pamphlets. We have had great
success in doing this and have been able to meet quite a few people on a more
personal level. Many individuals
take our materials and call later for the DVDs. This past week we responded to a DVD referral from a man
named Gunner D. (once again, this name is changed for privacy sake). When we took the DVD to his home on
Tuesday we were quite surprised to find him in deep study of the restoration
pamphlet. As we commenced with our
lesson he began to explain, with tears in his eyes, just how amazing it was for
him to know that there is a living prophet on the earth, that God has revealed
more scripture, and that there is a true restored church. We were surprised that he had come to
such a deep understanding through the pamphlet; however, his understanding was
pure and genuine. He cried when we
gave him the Book of Mormon. He
has begun feasting upon its writings and diligently comparing it to the
bible. Also, he has accepted our
challenge of baptism and currently is working to overcome a few things in his
life in preparation for the covenants he plans to make.
This experience was such a confirmation to me that the Lord is preparing
people here in Margate, and He is leading us to them. Gustav is one person out of five, this
week alone, whom we have been led to who are, on there own accord, just as
prepared.
Let me also share something else amazing that I’ve seen this week. The hours we have worked and the energy
we have put in would have kicked my butt so very bad if I were not on a mission;
but despite the fact that we get up at 6:00 AM and run a 5k, study for three
hours, go out finding, teaching and proclaiming the gospel until 9:00 PM (with
no breaks in-between), come back home and for an hour plan and take a record of
the work we did that day, then write in our journals and go back to bed...
despite all that, I feel a renewal of my body. The only explanation is found D&C 84:33.
I love this work. I
love you all.
Elder Gold
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