Quest for Obedience

Well, well, well. Things are going amazing here in Thunder Bay! I'm loving it, as usual! I'm glad to hear of the blessings, it is very uplifting to me. :) I'm actually reading the Old Testament at the moment, and today I read about Jacob, the son of Isaac and Rebekah. (I'm studying the whole genealogical scheme to it as well.) He labored 20 years for Laman (the son of Nahor, who was the brother of Abraham) and 14 of those years were for his two wives Leah and Rachel. The last six was for himself and his family. During those years, Laman changed Jacob’s wages ten times. He said, okay, when the livestock give kids, you get the ones with speckles. And so when they gave kids, the many of them, if not all were speckled. So Laman would change Jacobs wage again, being displeased. "Okay Jacob, this time you get the ones with some white in them." The livestock gave birth to MANY kids with white in them. It went on and on and came to the point that Laman was beginning to despise Jacob because the Lord was with him and blessed him greatly. It was just a testament to me that when we remain faithful, the Lord will bless us in ways we can, or can't imagine.

About me changing, I hope I have grown, and it is my intention to continue to grow. At the moment, I feel like I'm "stuck." I have been having difficulty talking with everyone I see. I'm good at contacting, the problem is that I am afraid to sometimes. I know all the scriptures, the Lord is with us, and don't fear what men can do, but I still do fear, and I'm trying to eliminate that right now. And it comes with work. I am going to push myself even harder, and the thought came to me as I prayed last night that I need to think in the "eternal perspective." People may despise me or hate me or find me annoying in this life for trying to share the gospel, but they will be eternally grateful in the next life that I tried to share it with them.

So this next week I'm really going to be stepping up my game, I'm going to pray more, seek inspiration, and seek ways to be creative, and myself. I'm going to call the mall today to see if we can set up a booth in the mall. I will also be doing the same in a farmers market here in town, just for different finding ideas, and we're trying to throw a BBQ for the ward so they can introduce their friends to the church in a less threatening way. I really have the desire to buckle down and do work, I've always had the desire to do good, but I feel I often fail in the DOING part. So I will pray that the Lord will give me strength to succeed.

Still, Christina is doing well. Same with Herve. We didn't get to teach him this week on account of zone conference on Friday. We'll see him this week though, and read out of the Book of Mormon with him for the first time. Oh yeah.

Zone conference was so good! Sister Howell ALWAYS speaks on something I need to hear. I mean, so does President, but Sister Howell is a very gifted speaker I think. We talked about how we can stay encouraged, and they gave us a ton of quotes to get us energized. My personal favorite was from Ezra T. Benson: "when obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes our quest, in that moment, God will endow us with power." So, I will strive for that this week. More obedience. I hope to set an example for the other Elders too. So that's what's new this week. I'll send some photos your way soon.

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