Week 18

Last P-day we went to the mall with the Vashon and Burien Elders!  It was fun, picked a pretty bad week to do so though.  We are all pretty broke towards the end of the month.  Today we're all going to Buffalo Wild Wings and then we'll play basketball.

Later last Monday we had an awesome meal/FHE with a member.  They were trying to teach their son how to bare his testimony so we just each stood at the front of the room and shared a simple testimony.  It was fun!  After that we met with P, his wife H was sick but he invited us in to talk!  He had quests for us and we ended up teaching him about God's plan of salvation.  He says he really likes talking with us.  We also gave him a children's Book of Mormon for his kids, I hope they read it!

We had a good opportunity to do service this week.  We did lots of raking for people in the neighborhood and some members.  We were lucky enough to have the Bishop come out with us for some visits this week.  We had planned to see C, but that fell through.  We visited with a few other people in the neighborhood but nothing too solid.  Nonetheless, it was fun to be with the Bishop, he's always really motivational to us.

We had lost contact with A until the end of the week, we were really worried!  All is well though, he hasn't been able to give up smoking, he really wants to though.  He even gave us his last cigarettes last time we saw him.  He told us at church yesterday that he slipped up again, but that's okay!  He's made a lot of progress in cutting back in just the two months that we've been in West Seattle.

On Friday we had a district meeting where Elder Follett asked me to give another training on having a testimony of the Book of Mormon.  It went well.  I was terrified of giving trainings/talks when I first go here but it's gotten pretty easy.

We had a little miracle happen at church yesterday!!  Someone just showed up because one of her friends gave her the address to our church.  The testimonies we heard during sacrament meeting were great and she loved it.

Just one thought I wanted to leave with you all.  I was reading a speech by Jeffrey R. Holland this week as I was studying the attribute of charity.  He said, "I like Mormon and Paul's language that says one who truly loves is not "puffed up."  Puffed up!  Isn't that a great image?  Haven't you ever been with someone who was so conceited, so full of themselves that they seemed like the Pillsbury Doughboy?  Fred Allen said once that he saw such a fellow walking down Lovers' Lane holding his own hand.  True love blooms when we care more about another person than we care about ourselves.  That is Christ's great atoning example for us, and it ought to be more evident in the kindness we show, the respect we give, and the selflessness and courtesy we employ in our personal relationships."

This is the type of love we need to strive to have in our own lives.  As we selflessly give, we will make God happy and we will change into what he wants us to become.

Hope you have a good week!
Ben