Well hi!
It has been a great week,
though long and a little difficult! Mostly, we just had a lot of people
from the crazy success last week who weren't as interested the second
visit. No big, it happens! But other than that, it was a very chill
week.
Thank you to Lizzie, Nicolle, Joy,
Blythe, Kailey, Crys, Neysa, Kaysi.... Thank you all dearly. You are
all wonderful. Kind of trips me out that school is ending for you guys
soon, huh?? Like.... I've been gone a long time. O.O 9 Months this Wednesday.... Well, still have a few more before it's all downhill. :D
Big
points of this week..... Well, we are working hard with a few people
that are pretty positive for baptism in the coming weeks, which is
always good news! They are all wonderful people and they are all
sincerely coming to know for themselves little by little.
Speaking
of that... That is actually what I want to write about today. What
conversion means, and why is it that THIS church is THE church. I only
can hope and pray that what I write comes out the way I wish it to.
It
is amazing to see what it does to people when they come to know that
what we teach is true for themselves. I know there are so many people
that have the restored gospel in their lives who still struggle so much
knowing if it's true. I have seen people fall away because of questions
that seem unanswered. And I don't claim to have all the answers
either, though I can always depend in part on the experiences that I've
had that brought me here. But even then, there's always that lingering
'what if'.
Okay, firstly... if anyone claims
that members of this church are uninformed or blinded, I can state with
total surety that generalizing an entire membership of a church is an
unstable and even less-informed stat to stand by. Now, I am also aware
that we ourselves also do this in regards to other churches,
generalizing and trying to categorize a belief system as 'a certain kind
of people', be it good or bad. So, before we get on that line, let me
state the doctrine behind this phenomenon, as far as I understand it:
The doctrine of Christ is perfect, but the people are NOT.
As far as I understand, that's kind of the point, isn't it?
So, with that said, I just want to present some of the strange things we apparently believe in a couple different ways.
If
someone was talking to another person who was less than cordially with
the church and our beliefs, they might say something like this (I take
this from personal experience):
So, you wanna know what
Mormons believe? Well, pretty much they believe that some kid was
visited by God and Jesus and they told him that every other church was
false and an abomination. Then, an angel showed him where a golden book
was hidden, and then he magically translated the book, because
obviously the language wouldn't exist today. And, apparently, if you
read the book and pray, you will feel good and then obviously know that
it's true, and thus, the LDS Church is the only true church on the world
today. There you go.
At that first glance,
you would probably think, 'Dang. these Mormons are freaking weird.'
And then from there, it would appear that we think ourselves better
than other religions. Then, as you get to know all of our commandments,
you would think we are really judgmental and probably pretty stuck up.
From there, you would probably think to yourselves, 'how could a church
that claims to be of Christ be so far from Him?'
Yeah,
I know. These were my exact thoughts for years. I never doubted God,
though I definitely doubted this religion called Mormonism. But, as the
years passed, and frankly, during my mission, I have come to see that
presentation is very important - and the most important point I can
focus on is the Doctrine connected to the belief or event. Let me
explain, but in different words. (Doctrine will be highlighted in
parenthesis.)
You wanna know what Mormons
believe? They believe that a young boy who was very lost in a growingly
confusing world was concerned with the truths of salvation, and
therefore decided to ask the only person who could tell him the truth -
thus, he asked God (Personal Revelation - Trust in God, Not in Man). In
this simple prayer (Power Of Prayer), he had an experience - we know
that God can answer in many ways - one of which is through visions
(Spiritual Gifts). In this moment, Mormons believe that God and Christ
themselves visited this young boy, and simply told him that the creeds
of these hundred different churches were not following after the pure
doctrine. After years of the original church of Christ being divided
into several sects, the apostles had a difficult time keeping the
doctrine from changing - and when truths are changed, truth is lost.
After this experience, Mormons believe that this young boy was called as
a prophet (Prophets, Old and Modern). They also strongly believe in
the Bible, and that as the scriptures say, for their fruits ye shall know
them (The Bible). So, although it is next to impossible to describe
the whole story in a little blog, Mormons believe that God by a
messenger revealed a book that contains the story of people and prophets
in the Americas (God Reveals His Word To All His Children). By the
power and gift of God that is given to All His Prophets (God is the
Same, Yesterday, Today and Forever), this modern prophet translated the
book. All Mormons now, as imperfect as they may be, invite everyone to
read the book for themselves (Scriptures - Modern Revelation), and then
the same as this young boy, ask of God and He can reveal the truth by
the power of the Holy Ghost (The Holy Ghost). If one does so, they will
know that the heavens are not closed, and that Jesus Christ himself
(Jesus Christ) is still guiding His church, as this book testifies of
Him.
Doesn't seem as rough, doesn't it? If
you want to get a general idea of what Mormons believe, just say
'Mormons believe in....' and then read one of the phrases in
parenthesis.
I have more to write still.... But
my time is short. I will continue next week. Until then, I love you
guys. I'm seriously not done. Get there next week. Talk to you soon!
Elder Kristian Huff
