Yes it is true that God would provide for Abraham His sacrifice in the form of the atonement of the Lamb of God or Jesus Christ. As a result of God's love, Christ offered the only sacrifice that would offer salvation from sin. The offering we make are acts of gratitude that come from charity; the pure love of Christ. In essence when we do things in Jesus' name, we express God's love for his children. All glory be to God, Our Father, and His Son Jesus Christ. If we love Jesus then we will keep His commandments. His atonement was an infinite sacrifice that no man or woman can offer. Charity, the pure love of Christ, is a gift from God to those who repent and follow Christ.
May 19, 2014
Dear Parents, Mom and Dad/Dad and Mom,
I thought I was so sneaky about the reference (Fire Nation in last letter: Avatar, the Last Airbender which is disliked by my parents).
I love the pictures. Our poor signs have been hit many times, haven't they? Remember the other sign that we had that got hit at night? Surprisingly, I do, because I laugh at the fact that none of us heard it. (The street sign in front of my house in Lemoore, CA.)
I am glad that the Internet issues have happened while I have been out on the mission, not while I was worrying about tests and school. While I understand your pain, I am just glad I do not have to worry about it. (We lost the internet service at 9:00 PM Saturday night before Mother's Day; one of two days a year when missionaries can Skype home. Luckily 20 minutes before we were to Skype my parents had the internet fixed,)
I am not too surprised with the weatherin Lemoore. (Hot, triple digits and 90's) I do not miss it. It got cold at night the past two nights. I actually wore a coat. It was the strangest thing to think about: it is May and I am wearing a coat.
This week was a bit better. Monday, it was P-day, I had relaxed for once. I sent out letters to a few people. That night, one of our less actives needed our help and we mowed her lawn. She is the wife of the inactive who had his leg broken and since then, knee replaced. That inactive, the husband, is actually improving since he went to the nursing home. However, the wife vented her feelings to us the next night when she wanted to read scriptures. We helped her progress along.
Tuesday, we helped with the food bank; it was fairly busy. We talked to another of our less actives, the one who is blind. We did some tracting, but nothing really did come out of it. Wednesday, we had district meeting. My companion's GPS took us on an adventure to get there. It was odd, but, his GPS is seven years old. District meeting was different compared to the previous district. It was quiet; the assigned people did their trainings and there was nothing much else. I will have to get used to it. And that day, I was on exchanges with one of the zone leaders. After having lunch with the elders of the district, we headed off to our area. We tried finding some people, but we had no success. We ended up at the wrong house. It was a good thing, though. We found an elderly African American who is active as can be. She loves God, she loves learning, and she loves to work. We set up a return appointment. Then, we found the house we were looking for. Creepy as all can be. Stuff in the yard. Creepy ghouls (one scared the zone leader). Nobody answered. There were lots of no trespassing signs. Then, we tracted around a referral. We found a less active that nobody knew where she lived and everybody thought she was a do not contact. I did not know this and thought she was the nice person and a great potential. Little did I know, we found a few more potentials and then left to go to dinner. Had a wonderful dinner, then scurried off to choir practice. (Oh, by the way, I am in the ward choir. Any missionary that has the potential to sing is included in the ward (ward=congregation) choir. In other words, the ward choir needs singers, so we are invited to join.) Came home to find ants. Mean little suckers. By then, it was too late at night to get ant killer. Luckily, the next day, I was able to get some to kill them.
I was able to express my thoughts to the zone leader on the change of zones. It seemed that I was understood.
Thursday, I killed the pests and I cleaned it up. Then, the food pantry was forced to move, so we helped move the food pantry to a new area. That included moving the refrigerators (which I did not do), moving food, moving tables, etc. I was able to offer my wrench to help in some things. I still oddly carry it around, despite not being on bike. It is a bit cramped, but it works. A member afterwards needed help and we helped him. He fed us. And so, it ended a day. We were exhausted.
Friday, we planned and made phone calls. We saw a less active, who we have seen several times before. I have no idea how to describe him (and there was not much to mention) until now. He had dyed half of his hair blonde and left the other black. What was my first thought? Two-Face, which his father joked with him about. If it was white, I would have thought of Cruella. He is very crude and has a hard time focusing. We tried the less active that I thought was a potential, but she was not there. Still we have progress.
Saturday, we saw the elderly woman who loves God. She was happy to see us. We talked with her, explained the Restoration, helped keep the conversation on the main topic. I would say she is all there. She accepted the Book of Mormon and said to us that she was comfortable with us as we agreed with what she believed. She is very happy and it was a lot of fun talking to her. We helped answer her questions that she had. She has not been to church in a while, because her preacher could not give her an answer to something, which devastated her. Then, we tried our on date investigator. He is avoiding us. We talked with a member, who is trying to keep everything together. He is going through a lot of tough times at this moment. There is nothing much we could do.
Sunday, we had church and we again tried to find people. I love hunting down less actives and working with less actives. For me, it is a puzzle and in sorts, like detective work. It is a puzzle trying to figure out how to help them. It is detective work trying to know their story.
My companion reminded of something. It was only a year, or going to be, ago that I graduated. Holy cow! I am getting old. But, speaking of graduation, may you please wish my congratulations to this class that is graduating this year. I know many of them and I just want to wish my congrats.
I plan on sending pictures. I have some dating when back when.
All is well!
Love,
Elder S. Todd
Elder S. Todd
