Well brothers and sisters, this week Elder Pilling goes to Simi Valley, Moorpark, and Ventura. Also has a baptism tonight at 8. Ate costco, poke, and hawaiin BBQ. Also it's 2 o'clock and I haven't eaten yet... And we ran this morning.... Struggle is real.
So t'was a busy week here in the CVM. Had quite a few exchanges. Tuesday I spent the day here in Oxnard with Elder Clark and followed the spirit. We were visiting this useless man who didn't understand the Godhead and contradicted himself about the trinity. Anyway next thing we knew, we were in a 100% Hispanic area, even though Oxnard is like 100% Hispanic hahaha. Anyway it was super good because I don't know any Spanish. But we knocked on this guy's door and it turns out that his mom is super sick and he doesn't know what's going to happen to her. We asked if we could sit down and share more. As soon as we sat down we quickly realized that his English was worse than he lead on hahaha so we quickly wrapped up so as not to confuse him more and we sent the Hermanas over hahaha. It sounded like it went well. But we followed the direction of the spirit and it all worked out.
Thursday we took the space ship down to Simi Valley and spent a 2 hours with some of the newer missionaries there, and then we went to Moorpark for the remainder of the day! I spent the day with Elder Griffin whose been out 5 months. I was pretty amazed at the people we met. Actually met some amazing people and I was so pleased with Elder Griffin's inspired planning. Moorpark is such a special place, I'm not even kidding.
Friday was when we booted up to Ventura and I was reminded how important it is to focus on, and work with the youth of the church. They have so many connections, most of their friends are non members (unlike the moms who only have members as friends) hahaha. We have a few recent convert youth but other than that the young men are pretty slim. "there is no problem you can't baptize your way out of" if you need more priesthood, baptize men. If you need a relief society president, baptize the women. It's kinda neat. Help them on the covenant path and then let the holy spirit guide.
Saturday was the final day and I spent it with Elder Barzee who was the assistant for 6 months so it was good to be with him and he could show me more of the ropes. We were both impressed again at how important questions are. There is a phrase in PMG that says we need to "liken" the gospel to other's lives. It's something I've really been pondering. It says,
"To “liken” is to create a mental bridge between understanding the doctrine and living the doctrine"
It's all about connecting the dots in our brains and their brains. As members of the church we are taught a lot. 2 hrs every Sunday, various meetings throughout the week, it all adds up but it doesn't do anything until you ponder and digest it.
For me I accomplish this through prayer and scripture study. We go on a lot of exchanges, and we do lots of training, and it comes very quickly at us and if we don't stop and liken what is going on, it becomes trash. So a week before anything I pray and ponder about the specific individual or training. I study with them in mind. And when I do this, the Lord helps liken everything for me. It becomes a beautiful thing. Particularly in the war chapters. Alma 51: 5,13-17, 21 all new to me in the way I read it. Moroni was urgent to fix what was wrong. I helped a young leader (and myself) feel the importance of this as well.
I invite you all to "liken" what you are being taught in your lives and the lives of your families. I know that prayer and scripture study will help connect the missing links. God lives, this is His church. Every knee shall bend and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ.
Adios hombres.
Elder P
It's all about connecting the dots in our brains and their brains. As members of the church we are taught a lot. 2 hrs every Sunday, various meetings throughout the week, it all adds up but it doesn't do anything until you ponder and digest it.
For me I accomplish this through prayer and scripture study. We go on a lot of exchanges, and we do lots of training, and it comes very quickly at us and if we don't stop and liken what is going on, it becomes trash. So a week before anything I pray and ponder about the specific individual or training. I study with them in mind. And when I do this, the Lord helps liken everything for me. It becomes a beautiful thing. Particularly in the war chapters. Alma 51: 5,13-17, 21 all new to me in the way I read it. Moroni was urgent to fix what was wrong. I helped a young leader (and myself) feel the importance of this as well.
I invite you all to "liken" what you are being taught in your lives and the lives of your families. I know that prayer and scripture study will help connect the missing links. God lives, this is His church. Every knee shall bend and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ.
Adios hombres.
Elder P
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