It has only been a couple of days since I last wrote, but it feels like a lot longer. Hermana Jones and I are enjoying working together, and I am loving introducing her to all the people (many of them very crazy) that we know. She is an English major, and wants to write books, so she is getting tons of ideas for characters. We laugh every night as we discuss our daily adventures and interactions with people.
One of our investigators, Mike, has progressed so much recently. Yesterday, he finally admitted that he pretty much knows the church is true... and he should by now... he's reading the Book of Mormon for the second time, and is also almost done with Doctrine & Covenants. Anyway, we have been inviting him to be baptized, but he said he feels he needs to stay at his church, and that maybe God just wants him to be an ally to the LDS Church from the outside. For some reason we can't get him to understand that if this really is the Lord's church, he needs to be a part of it.
We talked about how this is a missionary church and how he can be an ally to it even from within, and can (and should) help people as he says he wants to do. We used several analogies to try to get through to him, and one of them I really like was from a training we had with our mission president, President Howes. We were talking about our purpose as missionaries to "invite others to come unto Christ". I also recently read in 2 Nephi 25:23 how we "labor diligently to... persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ..." This is really what we do... all day every day. Anyway, President Howes put it this way:
Imagine you are planning an incredible party but as you start inviting people to it you tell them how awesome it will be, but then say you're actually not going to be there. "You should go to this party, I hear there will be great food and music, but I don't really want to go". How much stronger is the invitation when you say "I am having a party and it's going to be great and I and all my friends will be there so you should come too!!"... much more credible.
Brothers and Sisters, the gospel is the party! And you are all invited! And you are encouraged to invite others, but you have to be willing to come too! We have been called to invite people to the gospel of Jesus Christ but we have to be willing to live it ourselves. Our friends and family around us will have very little desire to accept the gospel, if they can not see that we are excited about it and have received many blessings because of it.
Maybe you are afraid to invite people to the party is because you're not sure of the details... what time it starts, where it's going to be held, etc. I think one of the reasons we are sometimes are hesitant to share the gospel is because we are afraid we don't know enough, or that we won't be able to answer people's questions. But that should not stop you from inviting people... take the opportunity to do what you need to to find out... study, research, ask! I promise the answers are there, and the more we understand, the more excited we become.
The scriptures invite us all the time with "Come unto Him" and we need to invite others to do the same. Hopefully Mike will soon understand this, and I'm sure as we continue to help him resolve his doubts he will want to "come". Make sure you are in the right place to be able to invite others, and I know you will enjoy the party even more :) The closer we are to Christ, the happier we are, and the greater influence we can have to help others come unto Him.
Love you all,
Hermana Richelle Ouellette
PICTURE CAPTION - On the left is Becca, whose parents will not let her "come to the party". She is awesome, and we have had a great time teaching her with lots of her friends (one of them, Holly, is on the right). She is leaving for college this week, but has promised to continue meeting with missionaries there, and I know that when the time is right she will be baptized.
No comments:
Post a Comment