So... This week we met with a few investigators! It was the weirdest thing. Both of them had a background with the bible.... I've never had to teach out of the Bible! Certainly a test of my scriptural knowledge. More than that, learning to rely more on the Spirit to guide me to scriptures that I definitely could not remember otherwise.
One of them came from New Zealand. He has been meeting with the missionaries for a while, but loves the bible and isn't super interested in the Book of Mormon, though he is willing to read if we assign something. Best part is that he wants to be baptized! Unfortunately, he doesn't want to join a church. He feels it would separate him from other people of other religions. He pulled out the part of the Bible where Christ says those that aren't against us are for us, and basically said any Christian church is ok. Not sure how to help him see that there is truly one faith and one baptism... (Yes, I tried showing him that scripture).
The other has already been baptized, but not into our church, obviously. He doesn't see why he needs to be baptized again. He wasn't happy when I told him that his previous missionaries didn't have the priesthood, but we'll work with him to start reading the Book of Mormon. He's busy with work and school, but hopefully he can find
enough time to get an answer.
Now, the one thing that stood out to me from my study today was the importance of building on a firm foundation. I read from 3 Nephi 11 (in Japanese during language study, and I actually understood it decently!). It talks about how if we don't build on a firm foundation, when the floods come we will be washed away.
Later today, we were playing frisbee in the park (yes, Mom, I actually started taking p-days. And it does feel pretty good. I guess I have realized the importance of actually relaxing for a bit - especially when you have a companion. Haha). It rained this morning, so the ground could be pretty slippery. This was fine, as we were just standing and throwing the frisbee back and forth. However, I can't throw a frisbee to save my life, and my companion had to make a quick move to catch the frisbee... Which you can't do on slippery ground. He quickly fell and was unable to catch the frisbee.
Now, my companion is fine, and in reality, it was still plenty of fun. We moved to drier ground and continued. However, I was thinking that it is the same in life. Sometimes, we tell ourselves that we don't need a firm foundation. We choose to stand on slippery ground - after all, throwing a frisbee back and forth isn't that hard, right? But when the smallest thing happens, we fall. This is why even in good times, we MUST stand on good ground. You never know when I could be the one throwing the frisbee. ;) There is only way to guarantee no falls, and that is building our life, desires, and happiness on our Savior Jesus Christ.
So build on Christ this week!
Stay Awesome!
Elder O'Reilly
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| Visited this man this week! He is a rice farmer and has a HUGE 100 year old house! |
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| This shrine thing is IN his house!!! |
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| Niigata Zone Conference (taken from facebook... the mission president's wife is so great to post pictures and videos... I love to hear them sing! -- Thomas's mom) |
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