The Price of Spirituality

Hello again,

      Another week has gone by and It’s strange to think that it’s getting cold on that side.  I’m so accustomed to our seasons here.  We are rolling into summer, which means 80 to 90 degrees, and sometimes going over 100 with huge thunder and lightning storms, and a bounteous harvest of fruit.  The litchis, mangoes, grapes, melons, and a vast variety of other fruits and veggies are all in season.

      So, our trip down to Ladysmith was fantastic.  We left Bloem at 4:00 in the morning.  We

drove the open country and watched the sun rise over springing fields of corn and sunflowers.  After we got to Bethlehem and met with the Lesotho Zone leaders, we then went off to Ladysmith.  We arrived just after 9:00 AM.  Our meeting was with the Assistants to the Mission President, the Mission President himself along with his wife, and three other zone leaders.

      The meeting was one of the highlights of the week.  I know I told you last week that the conference with Elder Bednar was a spiritual out pouring, but I will have to say that our little council was filled with the spirit.  As we discussed the vision of the mission and what we are trying to become as well as what we are trying to accomplish, the spirit directed each member there to the points the Lord wanted us to see, and we all got a better idea of what to take back to our zones to help them become more spiritual creatures.

      One of the big things that have been on my mind lately is the price of spirituality.  I don’t know if you guys have ever thought of what prices we must pay to have the spirit guide us with greater influence, but it has been enlightening as Elder Stengile and I have been studying this thing.  When Elder Bednar was here a few elders asked him several questions as to how they can become better in certain areas.  His response to them was: A challenge to take a paper back copy of the Book Of Mormon, and read it from cover to cover with their question or topic in mind, looking and marking only those things which pertain to their question.  He then said to write a very short one page summary on the topic, fold it and put it in the book, and finally to mark the topic on the outside cover.  He then said that, when we get to his age we will have hundreds of paper back copies with topics written on the sides of things which we had sought out in the scriptures.  The purpose with looking back to the statement was to recognize how much time these spiritually giant men sacrifice to studies of the word and what bounteous rewards they yield for it.  I guess what I’m tying to say is that one of the great prices of spirituality (among hundreds) is a constant flow of study from the standard works.

      Also, I have really seen the blessings of the Lord as we served in our area this week.  I can see that, with the limited time we have in our area, the Lord is helping with our investigators and leading us to more and more people.  Isabel (as we will call her) is doing outstanding!   We have decided she will be baptized in Lesotho (where she is from) when she goes back for holiday so she can have the experience with her family.

      I think that above all things, I can say I feel the spirit in great abundances everyday.  I feel that I am living in the spirit.  I feel the strength of the Lord with me.  I'll tell you, even though it’s this way, the voice is still quiet.  It still is a still small voice.

      I love you guys.  Stay blessed!

Elder Gold