Another Week In Paradise

March 13, 2018

Another Week In Paradise

Like the subject line says, it was a great week!

Nothing too crazy happened this week but here we go;

Tuesday we got a call from President Dalton informing us that out investigator who was waiting on approval from THE FIRST PRESIDENCY to be baptized was actually approved to be baptized!!!! That doesn’t happen too often, and Ed understands that and is very thankful. We’re working on the logistics with him as to when he wants to do it.

Wednesday we did our usual service at Sean's. This past week he finally got his horses in, and so far the fence we built is working! We had the privilege to dig a hole for a waterfall pond he was wanting to install. While we were digging he asked us “So, what’s the process for someone wanting to be baptized?” We told him that someone would need to take all the missionary lessons, come to church, be interviewed, etc. We also told him that we had 3 people preparing for April 7th. After we said that he told us “Well, you can add another to that list!” Haha Elder Laris and I were thrilled! He’s come a long way from being Agnostic to where he is now. The gospel is great.

On Monday we taught an investigator who wants to be baptized 4.7.18 but has struggles with the word of wisdom. We talked some about it on Monday and then we realized after our lesson we kinda just told him that he needs to quit, this is the time line, get to it sorta thing and we felt bad so when we met with him on Thursday we decided we’d talk about some options he had on to how we could help him quit. What came of that was 3 things. 1) We blended the rest of his Cigarettes with some milk to make a cigarette milk shake... He drank it. 2) We soaked a Cigarettes in milk and told him that that was his last one ever 3) probably the most effective thing was we gave him a blessing to overcome. We have an appointment tonight with him, so we will see how things are going! :D

Lastly on Friday I got to go on exchanges with an Elder from Lehi, Ut named Elder Macedone. He was actually my Trainees MTC companion! It was a great exchange. The highlight was we were invited to a Friday night Bible study with some non-denominational. We had pizza and a good study. They asked us tons of questions and we set a few rumors straight. I.E they knew we were coming so they bought us caffeine free soda’s to drink, bless their hearts . For the first time ever I got to feel what it was like to be an “investigator”. I was in a place unfamiliar to me, with people I didn’t know, who sang songs that I didn’t know the lyrics too, and who had their own slang/culture. It was weird haha but now I know how to better help Investigators when they come to our church!

To leave you with something spiritual here’s a quote from Tad. R. Callister:

“Suppose for a moment someone told you these three facts about a New Testament personality and nothing more: first, the Savior said of this man, “O thou of little faith” (Matthew 14:31); second, this man, in a moment of anger, cut off an ear of the high priest’s servant; and third, this man denied knowing who the Savior was on three occasions, even though he had walked with Him daily. If that is all you knew or focused upon, you might have thought this man a scoundrel or a no-good, but in the process you would have failed to come to know one of the greatest men who ever walked the earth: Peter the Apostle. Similarly, attempts have been made by some to focus upon or magnify some minor weaknesses of the Prophet Joseph Smith, but in that process they too have missed the mark, the man, and his mission. Joseph Smith was the Lord’s anointed to restore Christ’s Church to the earth...

Sorrowfully, on occasion, some are willing to set aside the precious gospel truths restored by Joseph Smith because they get diverted on some historical issue or some scientific hypothesis not central to their exaltation, and in so doing they trade their spiritual birthright for a mess of pottage. They exchange the absolute certainty of the Restoration for a doubt, and in that process they fall into the trap of losing faith in the many things they do know because of a few things they do not know. There will always be some seemingly intellectual crisis looming on the horizon as long as faith is required and our minds are finite, but likewise there will always be the sure and solid doctrines of the Restoration to cling to, which will provide the rock foundation upon which our testimonies may be built.”

On occasion I get asked if I’d ever consider converting to another faith. My response to these inquirers is always the same, “If you have the fullness of the everlasting Gospel of Jesus Christ, why settle for anything less?”. My testimony to y’all is Jesus Christ’s Church has been restored to the earth for these latter-days through Joseph Smith. We have today a Prophet, and Apostles who are literally special witness’ of Jesus Christ. If you don’t have this testimony yet, simply read and pray about the Book of Mormon and you will get the confirmation from God this is real.

Love y’all, thank you for the support!

Elder Bridger Hyatt