April 8, 2015

So this week was grand, The weather was beautiful for some of it, But WE GOT BIKES. My Quads are sore now, but it will get better, this whole area is hills so biking is hard but FUN.

This week was general Conference and as always there were great messages. I loved how much emphasis the Lord is putting on Families Right now it is absolutely amazing. I know the Lord is showing all of us the importance of marriage and families to help to warn us against the destructions and calamities the World has.

I desire to hear from all of you your favourite talks. 

I really enjoyed the talk by Elder Christofferson who talked about how Being sealed in the temple was so important and is actually A CRUCIAL part of God's plan of happiness for all of us that just made my desire of being married in the temple to be so much more  Stronger and To DO all I can to work to be able to be apart of that great blessing. I love the messages from Conference , I really Enjoyed David A Bednar's talk - On Godly Fear, It was neat. We also heard a good talk by the area authority over this part of the world Elder Teixiera, Who i have actually had address us a few times and met a few times, But he focused on Being Engaged in the gospel and Not being on our phones and being caught up in the world. I really loved all of conference this sunday we will be watching the Last session of conference as we didn't get to on Sunday.

This week hasn't been to eventful. We have done alot of finding and Tracting, So It wasn't super exciting but we have met a few people this week. 

One person we actually met just yesterday was neat we were chapping doors and we lended up Meeting a man named Alan, He was neat we Talked to him at first about the Family and as we talked with him , he showed an interest of the Family proclamation, we then found out he is from the church of Scotland, and he doesn't really attend but he has a family, Him his wife and his wee daughter and his wife has no belief. However he has many questions about several things, and the way he looks at life is amazing, He had one of his toes amputated because of a bone disease and He sometimes said he would think why is this happening to him but then he would think to himself well everything happens for a reason, He then expressed the question as to why there were so many churches out there and why they all have different beliefs, He said like if there is only one God shouldn't there be only one Church which is his church. He left with him a restoration pamphlet and will be seeing him on Monday, which we look forward to seeing. He is a very humble man and He knows God is there.

Other than that our week hasn't been too eventful, When knocking yesterday it was funny because at this one door this girl came and looked at the door, didn't do anything but because she didn't answer the door, the man who was in the shower had to come answer the door, so it was kind of funny. 

Not too much to report, But For the past week and a half leading up to conference I was focused really strongly on studying about relationships and Communication and Unity within them, and began to Speak kindly at all times even when frustrated and it was weird to see how much it changed where in the past I would slag someone for something, switching it with a compliment changed the whole atmosphere of the conversation.

To Be honest throughout different times on my mission It has been hard for me, It feels like with some companions it is hard not to Have confrontation, it just seems to be over everything, but This study helped me see more that What needs to be the focus is On Ourselves and building them up. Stopping and thinking and responding Uplifting ALWAYS. 

I am actually reading the manual for Marriage relations and strangely enough it is giving some great knowledge to me about Relationships in general. 

I also love a great talk in the February 2014 Ensign for communication it talks about Validating, Superficial and personal Conversations and what is necessary for healthy conversation. 

I love all of you, and I want you to know I am not perfect, I have shortcomings, a mission isn't Easy and it's not just full of Great times where it's a piece of cake, it is HARD work, You are tried more then you think you can bare, you see miracles all the time, and you change ALOT, 

Jeffrey R Holland says it best: " How could it be easy for you when it was never ever easy for him" and he also says that we can't understand the Atonement without Feeling a token of the pain Christ Felt. And for us to come unto Christ and be perfected we need to access the Atonement and Through Trials and Building opportunities I promis you that we will all come to greater knowledge of the Atonement. 

I want to invite all of You to remember the savior and when you are next going through a hard time, to think about how these struggles and pains will bring you closer to your Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ. Just think about that. 

I love you and thank all of you for Reading this message. God Bless 

Tune into youtube and watch BecauseHeLives. Or go to Helives.mormon.org To see the video which shows us things that are capable for all of us because of Christ. 

I love you all .

 

Elder James T Kirk Reece

Scotland/ Ireland Mission