Monday December 22, 2014

So, This week I have only an hour of e-mailing with it being Christmas and out of that time I have 15 minutes left So I will write as much as I can.

So this week has been I think the best week we have had since being here in LeavenMouth area, so many miracles and so much of the Lord's hand in all the work. I don't have too much time so I won't write about my studies but I will next week as I am focusing on Doing a massive Study on Christs life this week and his teachings, But this week in general has been amazing.

So this week started off on Monday, Monday was great, We went to visit a friend named John and as we went to see him he had two of his friends there and his friends asked what we did, and He was courageous enough to tell his friends that we were Mormons and so was he, and he invited them to Learn the lessons and meet with us and they accepted, On the first Visit they asked about Opposition and why it is necessary, so we shared 2Nephi2 with them, and it was able to encourage that discovery. So we taught them again later in the week, about the Book of Mormon and why we have it and the lesson was recieved very well. It was a strong lesson. We then were able to celebrate  us staying together with the Bakers and It was a fun night, All centered on Christ which was awesome.

Tuesday we were able to Teach Thomas again and the lesson went really , He is starting to understand that God the Father and Jesus Christ are seperate but are one in purpose. There was a strong spirit there. We then taught Lewis, It was an incredible lesson, He was able to share some personal experiences with us that really helped us know about him, and he is at the point in his conversion where he knows the BOM is true and that God is there and Loves him, It is so exciting to see people come to this realization and to see the change that begins to happen as we are able to Allow the Spirit to strengthen them in their lives. He is now preparing for Baptism and it is something he desires, which is so cool seeing how 3 months ago he was a stern Atheist, It just goes to show how the Lord can soften anyone's hearts and has been a light in the darkness, because as we go finding we meet so many Atheists and If it is possible for an Atheist to come to know God it shows so much more hope for all the other Atheists around. 

Lewis was also able to attend church for the first time this week, and had a great time, He wants to come back.

Well Time is up but This week has definately been a very strong spiritual Week. I wish I could write more but Have to go. I will follow up from this week next week.

Love you all

Merry Christmas

#ShareTheGift

Love you, 

Keep always in Remembrance the Savior of the World and the Gift he has given to all of us

Thank you for all who support and love me :) 

Stay Safe

  

- Elder James Reece

Monday December 15, 2014

So This week is moves, and the question is what is happening, well For Levenmouth Nothing is changing which is exciting, I will get to spend Christmas with Elder Parry, Be in my second 4 and a half month area and have my first 4 and a half month companion. But All is well, we get on very well, I am really excited about it. This week has gone well, I have alot to do though to get myself prepared for this coming transfer with Creating plans of improvement and such so My e-mail may not be the longest this week and next week we only get an hour to E-mail so that one won't be too long either but I will share what My goals are for this move and christmas season

So, As you all know my focus has been consecration these past few weeks and is going very well, seeing alot of growth and change happening and feeling the spirit work through me much more powerfully. It has been an incredible experience. 

So my plans are:

1. Conduct another 40 day fast focusing on anything that pokes fun of the spirit and stops it from being as strong as it could be. Which also includes a list of things I will start doing as well, They arwe not massive things but just those little changes that cause so much change. As illustrated in the book of Mormon " by small and simple things, are great things brought to pass" And that is exactly what I plan on doing, 

2. Consecrating myself to the Lord this Christmas season by Not Watching movies or any such sort and dedicating the time off to Studying the life of the Savior. (  If you don't know, missionaries, at least where I serve, Are given permission to watch movies Christmas, Boxing Day, New Years Day at member's homes, they are aloud to watch PG or U rated movies, including Disney movies. ) My focus is to not partake of those and to consecrate my performance unto the Lord. 

I know how difficult both of these things will be but I know to become a consecrated missionary and to reach my full potential that the Lord has for me is I need top fight SUPER hard. 

As a companionship as well we are consecrating our work and being more exact in following ALL the mission rules and in being Strictly obedient

As many of you know the work has been slow recently, however It has been beginning to stir once again, and we have some things that look quite promising. The Kirkcaldy ward itself is doing well as a whole ward of 6 missionaries, the ward has one baptism tomorrow and all three sets have potential people working towards baptism.

So stories from the Week, Since I didn't bring my study Journal which is my bad,

Well Gavin is super excited for The Temple in a few weeks and he has already gotten 5 names to take with him to the temple so that is super Exciting. 

Lewis is doing great we had a very powerful lesson with him the other day. We had a lesson with Lewis where we watched the Prophet of The Restoration Joseph Smith, and then we were talking about baptism, However in the Promised blessings I felt prompted to promise him increase of health and other things that can not be recorded and the spirit was just so powerful. It was such a cool experience I had no clue what I was saying but the Lord knew.

John is doing well in his desire to get to the Temple, The Lord is strengthening him alot and the Lord has guided our footsteps to find people

We recieved one new person this week named Thomas, he is a born again, which is really cool and he is looking for Christ's true church he knows it is on the earth but doesn't know which church it is.

And we have a new man we found using the Christmas initiative, we will be meeting with him on Wednesday to teach him and his family about the Gift of Christ :)

It is AMAZING

The Lord has blessings in store to all who are obedient,

I love all of you, 

Merry Christmas.

Love

- Elder James Reece

Monday December 8, 2014 - He teaches us not to compare!

So As you know another week has come to a close. And My studies this week ave been intense, As I think I stated last week my focus is Consecration this month, To CONSECRATE myself and learn how to do so. It is a Major task and it will take many sacrifices but I am so greatful to be able to study deeper these things and become purified and sanctified unto the Lord. 

This week in my studies I have Focused on Consecration which I have several talks I am going through. But before I get into those, I wanted to share my new study technique that I have begun. 

So in my study Journal before I used to write down inspirations and revelations with everything now I have started to keep the Left Margin blank and when I recieve personal revelation on how I can improve or things I can do I write them there, which thus differentiates the two pieces of information. 

So this week in my study one talk I love reading and has helped me alot is "As Many as I love, I rebuke and Chasten- Elder Christofferson." 

This talk is great and I find it very interesting that the fact is that as I was planning on studying that talk a Mormon message came out about the Refiner's fire, If you have not seen it et it is really good and great imagery, But the basis of this talk at least for me is about LOVE. God Chastens us, corrects us and Reprimands us when we do wrong because he Loves us. God Loves us and because he is our father he must reprove us if not we wouldn't learn, and this is alot like us and our parents. When you were a Child, and you did something wrong, your parents disciplined you for doing it and because of that you didn't usually persist in doing it, think about it what would happen if your parents did not discipline you, you wouldn't have known and therefore wouldn't have learned. In Ether 12:27 it talks about how with God we can make our weaknesses become strengths right, how do you think that happens?

I know for myself When I recieve correction or I recieve things I can improve on I listen and hearken to them because usually it's things you don't see and just like in that case as we Hearken to the Lord and his counsel, he tells us those things we don't see in ourselves that could improve. 

How much more Potential can you then have my fixing these things and growing in your teaching, in your understanding and your Knowledge. All throughout the Standard works It talks about how we must endure chastening and if we don't we will not be counted worthy to stand before God at the Last Day. Think about that.......... It may be hard to have someone correct you and in D&C 121:41? it tells us that we must reprove betimes with sharpness when moved upon by the holy ghost, then showing forth an increase of love for those that you reproved lest he esteem thee as his enemy" This verse tells us that we are supposed to help one another know our weaknesses to change to become anew, And one of the biggest and most important is to take counsel from our heavenly father through the holy scriptures. It is very important that we hearken unto him and to remember the promise we have and in both The New Testament and the Book of Mormon we are given the instruction to be therefore perfect even as I or my father is perfect. and when we ask what manner of men we must be the savior tells us, "Even As I am"

That is a big TASK, and I don't know about you but I know I cannot make it on my own. NO WAY. I need corrrection, I hunger for it and so should you because it's through that that we BECOME what we NEED to become. 

I also Studied about Personal Time Management and it ties into diligence and as I was going through Preach My gospel, I saw that Everything in the book EVERYTHING, ties into Consecrating your all to the Lord. EVERYTHING. And with Personal time management it was talking about how we don't have more time we can't stretch time or slow down time, Time is a constant everybody has the same amount of time each day, Everybody and it is all about how well you manage your time, through Discipline. There's that word again Discipline, and that truly is the root of being a disciple of God and Of Christ, Discipline, and it is a major major tool in becoming Consecrated. Discipline allows you to be diligent, Discipline allows for the spirit to be with you and direct your paths and time management gives you a tool to discipline yourself too. For example.. Missionary has 45 Minutes at max to teach a lesson to someone, they must discipline themselves to teach within that time period because if you go past that the Spirit is not there as much, I can attest to that. The spirit is strongest during the lesson and when It's the strongest is when You should be commiting others and leaving so they can feel of that spirit which requires discipline and knowing that it is the Lord's way and not yours.

One other Talk I read this week was, According to the desires of your heart. I have talked about this one a few months back but It is so good, Because it talks about Disciplining and Training your desires. Any bad desires you have dissolve them, get rid of them, but it also means strengthening those righteous desires such as Being a good parent, Magnifying your calling, Seeing your family, all of these things.

I unfortunately don't have much time to talk about all that has happened this week but wanted to share something with you. 

I n our mission during Christmas and Easter the mission has a missionary choir that goes around and sings, it is comprised completely of missionaries, and For myself I like the traditional ways of missionary work but this is genious. I had the priviledge of going on Wednesdayto it and the spirit was so powerful and the Lord was definately watching, and I have come to kow that the Lord expects us to think outside of the box, whether you are a missionary or a Ward Leader or anything all of our callings have potential for great revelation and as we incorporate the Lord in everything he will show us what to Do.

Well this week has been fun,had stake conference yesterday which focused very strongly on Prayer and that relationship as well as NOT COMPARING YOURSELF to others  When you do this you compare your WORST self to their best self so you will ALWAS feel rubbish in comparison.

I am going to try something new this week I am leaving you a Direct Invitation, you can take it or leave it

I invite you if you do find yourself comparing yourself to anyone else, 

Sit down,

1. Open with Prayer

2. Ask the Lord what Are your Strengths. 

3. Ponder for 5 - 10 minutes

4. Record what they are 

5. Confirm with the Lord

6. Thank him for them.

Then read John 15:16 and Doctrine and Covenants 121: 39 I think.  About being Chosen and Ponder that in your heart

I leave these things with you and Bear witness to all of you that God Lives, He is the chosen Redeemer of the World, He loves Me and He Loves you, He knows your potential, You are not here by accident, you are here because he has chosen you and things you have are needed at this time. I know that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ EVERYTHING can be made right, and we can BECOME like Christ, 

and I leave these things in the name of the only begotten of the Father the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen

I love all of you, And want you to know that and that there is always more to learn ALWAYS.

Merry Christmas, be safe. Moves call on Sunday which is scary but Love you Alll

Live Long and Prosper

Elder Reece Out.

- Elder James Reece