November 27, 2014 Email

The Atonement*

Hey Fam! Sorry for the letter situation. My iPads been glitching out with some things. It's great that Stockton and Parker got academics in cross country. Hopefully Parker keeps working on his sports, he's pretty good at them. And your right, it is important we build self-reliance in our spiritual lives. Several people will go off of others testimonies and not have one of their own. When we don't have a testimony for ourselves, we slowly start to loose that faith that we need in this life. That's why it's so important to build our own rather than on others.

This week was good for us here. Several times we met with our investigator, Gary, and he has been getting closer to baptism. He didn't show up to church yesterday, but he just needs to be at church one more time and he can get baptized. Some of our less-actives seem to be doing well but haven't shown to church yet. 

We've had several exchanges since Elder Briggs became a district leader. One time when we were on exchanges, me and another elder tried contacting a referral that has needed to be contacted for a while. When we got to the address, the owner of the house was outside and said the person we were looking for left a few weeks before. We started to talk to her and found out she recently had a death in the family. We talked with her on the the Atonement and how God is our loving Heavenly Father. She was open to hear what we had to say to the point of excepting a Book of Mormon. We hope to meet with her again and to start teaching her. 

Elder Briggs might be getting his visa here shortly, but some things have occurred that might change his waiting. Some calls gave us both some things to wonder about and to be aware about. 

Thanksgiving is going to odd this year. The whole zone will be cleaning the stake centers till the afternoon and then, instead of active proselytizing, we are going to go to members homes all through the day and turn in between 5-6. We will be doing our weekly planning while we are in for the remainder of the day. We do have some people who welcomed us to their dinners, so we'll be going to their houses for turkey and all other foods there. Yum!

I wish you all a great Thanksgiving and pray for you all the time. Best of wishes. 

Love,

Elder Smith

*As used in the scriptures, to atone is to suffer the penalty for sins, thereby removing the effects of sin from the repentant sinner and allowing him or her to be reconciled to God. Jesus Christ was the only one capable of carrying out the Atonement for all mankind. Because of His Atonement, all people will be resurrected, and those who obey His gospel will receive the gift of eternal life with God.