I rejoice with you in the Gospel of Jesus Christ! I thank you so much for the things that you do to make this world a better place, but mostly I thank you so much for the Christlike people that you are! You make such a positive impact on my life.
This week has been really interesting. Some of the highlights include BBQ, Bible bash, and Super Studies!
This week we stopped by our good friends at the Jacksonville Firestone. This time with a car with a broken horn. Haha. I think I have seen them every 2-3 weeks the whole time I have been here. Its great - haha.
We also had dinner with an awesome member. He took us to Smokin Buns. It was such great BBQ. I had a 1 pound hamburger that was sent from Heaven. It was so amazing!
Smoking Buns is also where we had some good teaching experiences with some people. Our waitress has recently been getting back into religion and we first gave her a card of our Savior and it was really cool. Later we gave her a Book of Mormon and she said that she was going to read it.
The next experience at Smoking Buns was a bible bash. Normally, I don't like Bible bashing because the spirit leaves and the people don't listen to us. The thing that this man was trying to throw at us was Romans 9:9 where it says that if we but profess Christ with our lips then we are saved. I couldn't remember the reference at the moment, but we read in 1 James 2:17 that faith without works is dead. The entire chapter tells us about this principle. I left the bash angry because I didn't represent the Lord in the best way that I could. So I started studying more about how we must work out our Salvation with fear and trembling ( Philippians 2:12). I feel more equipment now that I have studied more about this.
Some other amazing things that I have studied is a book called "In Defense of Truth" and it is a mock court trial and it pits two LDS missionaries against all other religions. It lays out very logically how our church is true based only from the words of the Bible. It was so interesting. Before I came out I kind of thought the Bible was on a level less than the Book of Mormon. Boy am I wrong. The Bible is actually an amazing book with so much light and truth. One thing that really stood out to me is in Numbers 12: 6&8. In it we read what one of the qualifications of being a prophet of God are. The Lord must speak to his prophet and show himself in a vision. And in Deuteronomy 18:21-22 another qualification. When a Prophet speaks in the name of the Lord and prophesies an event it MUST come to pass. Joseph Smith prophesied that the civil war would happen more then 30 years before it did. He also prophesied that the saints would have to move to the rocky mountains. That also happened. In Heb. 9:16-17 we also learn that a Joseph had to seal his testimony with his blood so that it would stand as a witness to all of the reality and divinity of the Restoration.
I have a testimony of the reality of the Restoration. I know that Joseph saw God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. I know this to be true because the Holy Spirit has testified to me that it really happened. I have a firm testimony that my Savior knows my name. All scripture points to our Savior as our friend who is willing to go to great lengths to help us. He wants so desperately to help us. He looks for every reason to bless us and help us in our times of need.
I firmly believe that the reason why I came to the south was to learn about Grace and to increase my understanding of this amazing truth that we have. Grace from our Savior is the enabling power or strength that our Savior can and will give to us if we ask for help. He knows what we are going through, and he knows just what we need to make it through the crazy challenges of our life. Life is easy for none of us, we all need our Saviors Grace, as we like to say it down South, everyday, Everyday, EVERYDAY! My Dear family and friends please don't beat yourself up too bad. You are doing so much better then you thing you are and our Father in Heaven is so proud of you and the good things that you are trying to do. If you are struggling PLEASE Pray and ask for help. God wants to hear from his children. He loves it when we pray! He wants to hear our voice. He loves us and that love doesn't change no matter what we do.
Don't let Satan get ya down. Remember this truth. Discouragement, disapointment, depression, dispair. All these words start with a D and the Devil is the source of all these feelings. Joy comes from Jesus. Men are that they might have Joy!
I love you all so much! I pray for you daily and I plead that God will pour out his spirit to be with you all. I love you all and I will write to you again next week.
Elder Skyler Glen Larsen
PS. Please take a minute and watch this video - My companion shared it with me the other day and it is amazing. https://www.lds.org/media-
Christ is our Rock
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