Hello!
What a great week it has been for tremendous spiritual growth! I have loved and enjoyed many experiences I have had, I know as your ponder and search dilligently while you read this e-mail the Spirit of God will touch your heart, it will help you make some changes that you are striving to make, but perhaps you might not even be aware of it. Here is where it all matters though, these promises are real, the Holy Ghost will touch you - but only if you allow it to. Don't get in the way of the Spirit.
On a much lighter note, Bolton is a promised land of sorts, in the scriptures and in various other places we are told "you are a people of inheritance" like any good parent he or she would want us to gain the most in this life. To gain what he/ she has and to become what he/ she is. Our Heavenly Father wants the same for us the attitude he has is "I want you to be who I am, do gain what I have, I want you to give you this power and ability but I can't I can show you how to gain who I am and what I have, but I cannot do it for you" It is an attitude of a great parent and a desire for us to achieve our full potential as Children of the Most High but we need to be Obedient. We need to be perfect like we are commanded to, however as human beings the only thing that we are perfect at is making mistakes.
That's why he is called the "finisher of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2) because we do all that we can and we trust in him to do the rest. Our trust in God dictates the blessings we receive, Hope in an abiding trust that we have that God will fulfill his promises to us. Proverbs 3:5 "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding." The amount of trust you have in him dictates the amount of success you will receive as a person in the world we live in.
If I could as a humble servant of Jesus Christ and as his representative exhort you all to do one thing, It would be to trust him, because he trusts us. It is something that has changed my mission, it is something that has helped me see the success I've experienced, trust is a powerful word, it presents the idea of a binding hope we have in a parent that loves us and give us the freedom to choose to make mistakes but to pick up ourselves when we do fall.
Something that I am guilty of myself is saying "I'm having a bad day" a bad day is only a perception that we have to decribe being in a state where we are the closest to God and being in a state where he is able to bless us. Thus consequently I don't have any more "Bad Days" I have Good days, and I have Great Days, Good is the enemy to Great. Somedays are hard and we frequently receive opposition by nature of this work, but we determine the promised blessings that will come only on how we "act" instead of "react" in those situations. Reacting takes away our agency, Acting unlimits our potential.
This week has been a tremendous week, I like to think I became more of a district leader this week, God qualifies those who he calls. I've truely experienced something fun, our efforts have been reflected in not only the Bolton Area but throughout the District, I spent a lot of time away from Bolton, but it was all worth it, in Whitefield they now have 2 people with Baptismal Dates.
I've become too much of a bold missionary recently. A few days ago I met some drunks and started talking to them, without hesitation I found myself asking them "why are you so ignorant?" "why are you so hard in your hearts?" questions that Jared Sapaden would have never asked, but questions that just flow naturally from Elder Sapaden. It's scary the confidence I've gained during my mission, it makes me feel nothing is impossible and that if the Holy Ghost prompts me to do anything - I will not hesitate to follow that prompting, when we get rid of our fears; faith is able to prevail. If the Holy Ghost told me to tell someone "why are you dragging your own soul to hell? repent and stop sinning - it's disgusting" I would. It's a strong feeling knowing that God is with you, those drunk people felt rebuked they left and they shrunk hopefully it touched their hearts and stopping in their own iniquity.
Although don't think I'm a trigger happy missionary, the Holy Ghost does not overide common sense and it certainly does not replace our ability to think to reason for ourselves. I'm not arrogant enough to say I am without fear, but it is a goal of mine by the end of my mission to have none, to be able to be a vessel that has the ability to do anything. Even if Jared tells me he is scared. A lesson that I have come to know so much is that when we limit ourselves, we limit our potential.
We are teaching many, we had an investigator at Church yesterday called Kakoko, we are still having great success and things that were once hard has become normal, I love growth! You look back at the journey you've made and it looks scenic at the height you've reached, you pick up a weight you felt was once heavy is now light. Growth is the reason we were put here, it is the whole reason to the plan, it is what we do and who we are. I am very aware that this is a longer e-mail than I usually send, please ponder, pray for the direction you need and he will give it to you, as long as you do not get in the way of that answer.
I love you all!
Elder Sapaden.