Hello Again!

Talk about a fantastic but crazy busy week this last week! When Elder Bingham and I finished our planning and our weekly numbers last night we sat back and realized we were simply exhausted. It was worth it though.

We had our zone conferences this past week as well as 4 consecutive afternoon exchanges we conducted. It is amazing what you can learn from other people.

In our zone conference we focused on the subject of "Finding the Lord's Will in our Planning and in Everything that We Do." We started off by focusing on the principles of receiving personal revelation, maintaining the spirit in our companionship inventory, as well as some focused instruction given by various stake presidents in our mission. In the afternoon Elder Bingham and I were given charge to conduct the afternoon portion of the meeting. We decided that we would address topic of "Our Personal Plan of Salvation."

We all know that we have a purpose in life. Part of our mortal experience is to make mistakes, learn grow... the list is quite extensive. We are all in the search for finding happiness and, eventually, obtaining eternal life living in the presence of God with our family. What is interesting, however, is that the major steps that one needs to take are the same. We each need to have faith, repent, by baptized by one holding the authority to do so, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end by obeying all the commandments that God has given us. This is known as following the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Even though the big steps are the same for each individual person, the smaller steps that comprise those of the larger are different and unique to each person. That is the principle that we wanted to get across to the missionaries in our mission. We cannot simply teach the same thing to every person and expect them to take the necessary steps. We need to identify those steps for each one of our investigators, find the principle of doctrine they need to know, make a plan, then teach it to their understanding. This is quite an extensive process but it is the only one that works in the Lord's work. 

So how does this principle apply to those who aren't missionaries? The Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ has the answers to life's questions. Many times we are faced with a decision and we aren't sure what choice we should take. Often times we are in a position where we are helping others make decisions (parents and teachers for example). What we need to realize is that each one of us can receive guidance from our Heavenly Father for those underneath our stewardship, or in other words, those who are our responsibility. Those people are God's children too. He loves them just as much as he loves you and me and he WANTS us to help them the best way possible. All he asks us to do is to work side by side with him to discover their needs and then address them so that both the teacher and the student are strengthened in the process. I know that as we actively seek the Lord's will he will help us along the way  and he will give us the guidance that we seek. We just have to be willing to put for the effort to find it.

By the end of this zone conference I had a whole different perspective of my calling. I have a strong testimony that this process works. We have been implementing it in our own personal area and the results have been incredible. It is the best feeling in the world to be able to go into a lesson, confident of what you are going to teach, and have to spirit present acting as the senior companion. I have found great joy in the work and know that as we continue to apply this principle in everything we do we will continue to see increased results and progress in each of our investigators.

Well, it's about time for me to sign off for the week. I pray that each of you has a safe and great week!

Sincerely,
Elder Klemme