Philly Skyline. I'm not sure why he thinks he has to look to be contemplating something. Mike being Mike I guess.
Hola Familia!!!! This week was SWEET! Transfer calls came, and Elder Wall and I will be staying here in Bridgeton, which is awesome!! Elder Wall is great and his Spanish is getting better day by day.
Ok, the highlight of my week.
On Friday, we had Elder Shane M. Bowen come to the mission. He did a mission
tour, and we went up from Bridgeton to Philly to hear him. Before the conference,
he had asked us to study the baptismal covenant, the Abrahamic covenant, the
oath and covenant of the priesthood, and the house of Israel. I did. It was a
great experience studying. I was also asked to play prelude for like 30
minutes before. I liked just playing around and doing my own little
arrangements with the hymns for a while. Elder Minnich is SUPER good on
the piano and arranging stuff and he taught me a couple little things to do to
arrange the hymns on the go.
Elder Bowen knows his stuff. He did some great comparisons. His method was not really to tell us to be obedient. He showed to us who we really are. We are all, of the house of Israel. We are the fulfillers of the Abrahamic covenant. We are literally entitled to the blessings of that covenant just like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were! What a blessing! Even if one is not a literal descendent of Abraham, they can be adopted into the covenant. God is not a respecter of persons. All are called but few are chosen. Elder Bowen replaced the word chosen with the word obedient. The obedient inherit the blessings. It made me want to change. There are some things that I need to improve. This conference made me want to change. Not because Élder Bowen told me to, rather that I understand the blessings that I would lose if I didn't keep my end of the covenant. We are the offspring of God Himself. He wants us to be like Him. If we do what He asks us to do, we can do it. Nothing is more important than that. We shouldn't let anything come between that. Do the half-obedient get to go sit down with Father Abraham? No they won't. Many are called, but few are chosen. If we keep our end of our covenants, we will be chosen. He also mentioned that the oath and covenant of the priesthood doesn't only apply to men. It applies to the couple. There are no single men or women in heaven. They have to take upon themselves the new and everlasting covenant to do so. He focused on that a lot too. It was a very enlightening conference. I liked his talks before, but now I feel like I know him a little better.
After the conference in Philly, we
missed the bus to go back to Bridgeton, so we stayed the night in Camden, New
Jersey, literally the most dangerous city in the United States. It was awesome.
We met up with the Camden Elders and slept on the hardwood floor of their
apartment, then got up at 6 am to catch the bus. 'Twas an excellent experience.
Plus I got to take an AWESOME picture of the Philly skyline at night.
We talked to Agusto yesterday. He is
a less-active that recently stopped going to church. He has a calling as
a branch-missionary and LOVES the missionaries. He is drawing
ridiculous conclusions about the members of the branch. According to him,
because some members don't live the Gospel perfectly, obviously they do not
believe in the Book of Mormon, he Bible, Doctrine and Covenants, etc. Not
living the Gospel perfectly means that some members didn't say hello
to him or offer food to him when they offered it to the missionaries.
He uses 2 John 10-11 as justification. He is frustrating me right now. I am
glad that my parents raised me in a way and that I have learned and become
converted to The Lord, not to the missionaries, a bishop, or anyone else.
We also me with Pablo and Yerani, they
are some new investigators that we found last week. They are awesome. The
expressed some doubts and concerns as we taught them the restoration of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ, but they are extremely open and willing to experiment
upon the word. It reminds me in Moroni 7 in the last verse of the
chapter where it says that God has given charity to all those who are true
followers of His Son. I see it in them. I hope and pray that they will read and
pray about the Book of Mormon. It is the key. We sang a couple hymns together
and they loved it. I can't wait to see how things go with them.
Well, that is my week. HAPPY
BIRTHDAY MARCUS!!!!! Holy fetch you're 13. That's super weird. HAPPY
BIRTHDAY GRANDMA DIAL!!!!! Not quite 13 but that's ok!
I love you all!!! This Gospel is
completely true. I love it more and more each day.
Elder Mike Dial
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