Friday, March 25, 2011

Hey there everyone!

It has been yet another great week at the MTC! We got a new district in our zone last week, and they are some great elders! In fact, there's one elder in particular who straight up reminds me of Kristian. It is so funny! We have had our teaching week this week. Our district goal is 100 from Monday morning until this Sunday night. So far I think we are at 76 or so. So we're ahead of the game abit. Elder Clark and I have been teaching 5 or 6 lessons a day. It is great. It is so easy when you just let the Spirit guide your lessons. No doubt. If you just go into the lesson with the intent of helping the investigator to really come unto Christ, it is incredible. Spanish is coming along great! I know that as I focus on teaching the investigator, and not the lesson in Spanish, then the investigator can really be taught by the Spirit.

I have really come to LOVE the scriptures this week! In particular, the Book of Mormon. Although I was reading in Luke yesterday and just got so caught up in reading about the Atonement that Elder Clark and I almost missed a teaching appointment. Haha there is so much truth and great knowledge in the scriptures. Whenever I am reading the scriptures, the Holy Ghost testifies to me the truthfulness of the words I am reading. I know that the scriptures are true. The prophets in the Book of Mormon were really prophets of God. Their writings are meant to help US. They didn't have the compilation of the Book of Mormon in their time, the book was buried in the ground for hundreds of years! I know that our Heavenly Father brought forth the Book of Mormon for us in these Latter Days. For these really are the latter days. I know that through reading the criptures, we can all become so much closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ, and we can return to live with our Father in Heaven again. I will share with you some of my favorite scriptures this week and my thoughts on them as well. Please, study these words, pray to know they are true, and act on the knowledge that you receive concerning them.

2 Nephi 32:3-5
Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, bfeast upon the cwords of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will dtell you all things what ye should do.
4  Wherefore, now after I have spoken these words, if ye cannot understand them it will be because ye aask not, neither do ye knock; wherefore, ye are not brought into the light, but must perish in the dark.
5  For behold, again I say unto you that if ye will enter in by the way, and receive the Holy Ghost, it will ashow unto you all things what ye should do.

**When it says ask, it means study and pray. When it says knock, it means obey. We must study and pray to gain help and guidance in this life. We cannot get by on prayer alone, I'm sorry. But you must demonstrate your desire to know these things by searching for them. And its really easy, because I can tell you that the place you can find the answer to every one of your questions is in the scriptures. Particularly the Book of Mormon. And then after reading, pray to know that the things are true. And after receiving the confirmation of the truth of these things, you must ACT on them! Again. you must demonstrate your desire to follow God. Demonstrate your love for Him through your obedience to His commandments. It is so easy. He will prepare a way for us to do anything as long as we keep His commandments and remain obedient and faithful. One thing I remember from Institute is, "God will prepare a way for His saints to do ANYTHING without breaking a single commandment. It is not necessary for us to break His commandments to fulfill His work. That is foolishness." Study the scriptures. Ponder in your heart the things that you read. Pray to know they are true. And obey, act on the answer that you receive.
Next is from the Doctrine and Covenants, Section 131
6  It is impossible for a man to be asaved in bignorance.

**I knew this was true the second my eyes were drawn to it on the page. Ignorance is NOT bliss. I know this. I know it with all my heart! Ignorance is an excuse. How great will it be when we meet with God after this life, and He expresses His happiness and joy for us. His joy from us doing our best, trying to find more ways to serve Him. The more we do right, the more blessing He will send down on us. If we want to demonstrate our true faith in Him, and our love for Him, we will be obedient. Even more so, He will bless us for our obedience. We should be finding more ways to be obedient. I find alot of missionaries do not read the missionary handbook enough, and they break rules without even knowing it. Sure, they are naive, they do not know that what they are doing is wrong. But at the same time, they are missing out on SOO many blessing our Heavenly Father has for us when we are obedient. Be the very best you can be. No. Strive to be even better than you expect yourself to be. You will receive countless blessing, I promise. I promise.

One more thing. It it so important that we love one another. Christ has love for all of us. An infinite love in fact. Who are we to deny this love? Why don't we show it to others more often? Who are we to act as if we have never felt it before? It is selfish to be so loved, and love others. I know that as we love others more, search for things that we love in people instead of dwelling on their mistakes. Look for ways to display the love of Christ towards others. As you love others more, and let them know it. You will feel His love more and more every day. I promise this.

I know that my Heavenly Father loves me. He loves every one of you. As we keep the commandments he blesses us so much.  Love one another! Jesus is the Christ! Serve others without expecting anything back! I love you all so much! Never forget it. Until next week!

Elder Trevor Knight

Friday, March 18, 2011

My Family!

My family!

       Another week has gone by, and I can confidently say I still love the MTC! =) Teaching is definitely one of my favorite things! I mean, everyone who I have taught so far is already a member. But when they hear the gospel as an investigator, I can see the spark in their eyes. I can feel their genuine interest to learn more about the gospel. And I have the wonderful pleasure of being the one to teach them about it, this beautiful gospel of our brother, Jesus Christ. How much better can life get?
       I am so blessed to have such a great district. I know that Heavenly Father knows all of us, and put us here together for a reason. They are all such great examples to me in so many ways. I mean, none of us are perfect, but we are all truly striving to do the very best we can. Elder Bahr and Elder Martin are still here! Not so great for Elder Bahr, Elder Martin is fine with it though. And great for me! I love them so much, like brothers already. Nobody likes teaching Elder Bahr in practice discussions because he always tries to be a tough investigator. But I was teaching him about how we can strengthen families yesterday and reading through scriptures with him, and it felt like I broke right through the character he was trying to be. And I know that it was because of the Spirit that was there in our discussion. It is usually pretty hard for me to role-play with our zone because I know they're all my friends, and its weird for me when they're acting like they don't know much. But when I tried to be serious last night and teach Elder Bahr with the Spirit, the Lord worked through me to help him understand what we were reading in the scriptures. He later told me that he, obviously, doesn't even have a family of his own yet, but he felt like he learned so much about how he needs to treat them when he does. It was a great experience.
       Elder Clark and I are going to try and teach in the TRC more often from now on. It is such a great place to practice teaching investigators discussions. I feel the Spirit more than ever while I'm teaching the gospel. And I know it's because I'm doing what our Heavenly Father wants me to do. To help others to come unto Jesus Christ. To help them find their way to return back to Him after this life. I know that the most effective way to get to an investigator is through loving them. I know this with all my heart. Whenever you teach in the TRC, you are given feedback from the 'investigator' after the lesson. And everytime Elder Clark and I teach in the TRC, they always tell us how much they felt our true love for them. And how because they felt that love, they desired to feel it, and they knew that the love they felt was that of Jesus Christ, who loves all of us. I know that love is a powerful tool in the conversion of a soul to come unto Christ. And when I say love, I mean the pure love of Christ. Pure. Whole. Neverending. I feel I have been so blessed in this life to witness this true love of Christ, not only for myself, but in the love Christ has for others. I have seen the love Christ has for all of us, and how great it is. You can just be looking at somebody for a minute or so, and thinking about what life is like for them. Who knows what they're going through? Who knows what problems they have? Whether you know or not, you need to be kind to them. Show them that love that our Savior showed you, by sacrificing himself for our salvation.As you do this, for me it was just a split second, you will see that great love that Christ has for them. And why not love them also? Don't even try to answer that question. We should love everyone. Show them that you love them, no matter who they are or what they do.  do this because it is the right thing to do. It is a commandment. It is a great service. It is what Jesus Christ would do.
       I hope all of you are doing great! I love your letters. I'd like to write everyone, so send me your addresses please! I'm praying for all of you each and every one of you every day. Please know that God loves you SO much. And He wants us all to come back to Him. ALL of us. So why not share this beautiful gospel with al you come in contact with? Share that great light you have inside of you. Do not be selfish. Give of yourself and the knowledge you have of our Savior. He will bless you, and those that you share it with, for eternity. I love you all, don't you ever forget. My favorite hymn of the week, again: "Be still my soul"

Elder Trevor Knight