Hey Everyone,
Crazy week! We have been doing a ton of tracting through some big apartment complexes in our area. It's been getting pretty hot as we go into summer which makes things harder but also more rewarding. We are working to know who lives behind every door in our area, which is a huge but doable task.
We also had two Elders move into our apartment the past week, Elder Aimes and Elder Lake. Both of them are amazing to work with, but due to them being the APs and us getting a new mission president, we haven't seen them around too much. We also had transfers last week and Elder Kirby and I will be staying together for another transfer! Working and learning from him has been great, and we were both runners in High School, so it works out well for exercising. We run about 5 miles a day.
We have been having a lot of success and our district has been working really well together. It's interesting how the gospel is reaching people from every land and tongue. We are teaching someone from India, and other members of our district are teaching people originally from China, Korea, Indonesia and Brazil.
Recently, I have been pondering and studying Charity, Love and the eternal nature of the atonement. In John 13, it says, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Before, I had just equated this scripture with a sacrifice of death, similar to taking a bullet for someone. But I have come to realize it's more than that. Our life is our time down here in mortality. So there is no greater love than when we lay down our time and our agency to God in service to others. I am grateful for the missionaries around me who have laid down two years of their lives for Christ. Through our callings and service we lay down our own lives with it's problems, concerns, challenges, and dreams to take upon ourselves God's will. We set down our own needs to serve those in greater need. Of course Christ was the best example of this. He did not just die for us, He lived for us and when it was His time to depart from this world, He came back to live for us again. We call this love, this moral quality, Charity. Through outward living, prayer and cultivating an attitude of selflessness, we cultivate this infinite power in our own lives. For all things fail except charity, so if there's one thing we need to cling to, that's it.
In Mosiah 2:17 it says, "When ye are in the service of your fellow being ye are only in the service of your God". Similarly in the Bible it says, "Even as you have done it unto the least of these ye have done it unto me". The way we treat others around us is a reflection of our attitude towards God. The service we extent is not just towards our God but towards people with the potential to become God. When we are serving our neighbors, we are serving our Brothers, our Sisters, and our Eternal family.
I feel so grateful to be surrounded by those who are trying to develop these incredible attributes in their lives every day. Through the eternal power of the atonement and charity I see people turn there lives around. I know this church is true, that Joseph Smith is a prophet and that there is no greater Joy than when people come unto Christ. He knows and loves us, He has chosen us, and we are His friends, His family forever.
Have an incredible week everyone!
Picture: A couple in the ward Jacob is serving in - He is a friend of Kaden’s from Washington.
