October 25, 2010

Hello all!

 

Talk about a fast and furious week. I couldn't believe how fast it went by! But, I was able to learn some pretty awesome things. Here's the scoop.

 

We had our quarterly Zone Conferences this past week and we focused on Receiving Revelation through prayer. Even though we heard all the talks three times and sat through 3 days worth of practice teaching I still learned a lot. I just want to share a couple of insights I had and expound on them a little bit.

 

1-When we pray too much for guidance we are shirking away from our Personal responsibility to study it out in our mind. As a result our spiritual growth slows.

 

This idea was really interesting to me. Sister Beck taught us about Decision Prayers and Petition Prayers. Petition prayers are those where we ask for help (eg. "Please Bless..." or "Please help me to..."). In these prayers we are seeking for guidance and are depending on the Lord for him to help us. The second prayer, a Decision Prayer, is one that is offered Post-made decision. It is a prayer in which we go to the Lord with an answer and ask him to confirm or reject it by the Holy Ghost (See D&C 9:7-9). These are really important because they allow us to use our agency, grow by study and faith, and really understand how the Holy Ghost communicates with us.

 

2-Prayer is a process of trial an error. When we pray we have to have a certain level of humility in order to receive an answer. This also goes back to the decision prayer. We cannot be afraid that Heavenly Father will say no or we will not receive an answer, rather, we will not be in tune enough to recognize it. Elder Bruce R. McConkie (I think that's how you spell his name) said, "Revelation is the natural inheritance of the faithful. Are you listening?" As we begin to humble ourselves we become as the Savior in the Garden of Gethsemane. We are able to say, "Thy will be done."

 

These are just a couple of thoughts I've been pondering on over the past few days. I hope that they have enlightened your minds and have given you some insight.

 

The rest of our week was pretty fast and furious. We went on 4 separate Leadership exchanges this past week and worked all over the mission. I had the opportunity to go back and work in South Phoenix for the night. It was a great experience! All and all things are going well. We have an investigator with a baptismal date and have some good investigators that we are teaching right now. It's going to be a bit of a time/waiting/powerful lesson process for them but things are looking positive.

 

Well, I hope that you all enjoy the blog and have a great week. Know that each of you is a daughter and son of God and that he loves you very much. Also, doubt not, fear not. Open your mouth and share the blessings you have from the gospel with your neighbors. They want the happiness you have too!

 

Sincerely,

Elder Klemme