Hey family I hope all is going well! Things here are great. I will be going to East Bakersfield tomorrow morning to be with my new companion. I am excited. I will be Zone Leader and District Leader. I am happy to be able to serve in a big city!! I am going to miss Shafter a lot. I have learned so much here and i have met so many wonderful p[eople. I was driving home last night after I said goodbye to some members, and I was filled with gratitude to the Lord for this opportunity to be on a mission. I am so grateful for the things I have learned and realized during this time. I cant imagine what I wouldve done without it. I have realized by pondering and thinking about the things that mean most to us, and as we ponder the blessings that we have recieved, we can be filled with gratitude. I know that it is key in our lives and is a way that we can strenghten faith and love in our Father in Heaven and give us a greater determination to serve him.
This past week we worked a lot with our investigator Adi, who is progressing well towards baptism. It really was a good week and we worked hard. This last transfer with Elder Manning was great. We made a goal at the beginning of the transfer to teach 100 lessons and yesterday as we added up our numbers from the transfer, we taught 100 exactly. It was awesome to see that we reached our goals for the transfer! The district had a good transfer as well. We as a district had 4 baptisms this past tranfer! We found a really cool investigator a couple weeks ago named Bill. He is 78 years old and is a korean war vet. He recieved the purple heart for hisbravery. He went in with a company of 145 men and only 3 survived. Him and 2 others, and 1 of the others he carried out to saftey. Pretty incredible! He came to church yesterday and loved it! It was sweet to see him there and he got along great with everyone. I am excited to see how things go withhim. I am so grayeful for you guys and I hope you are al doing awesome!! I love you guys so much. and am so grateful for all you do! Have a happy Easter and remember the true meaning of it! Here is a thiought from elder holland my president sent me,
An Easter thought from Elder Holland in April 2009 Conference:
“Now I speak very carefully, even reverently, of what may have been the most difficult moment in all of this solitary journey to Atonement. I speak of those final moments for which Jesus must have been prepared intellectually and physically but which He may not have fully anticipated emotionally and spiritually—that concluding descent into the paralyzing despair of divine withdrawal when He cries in ultimate loneliness, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
“The loss of mortal support He had anticipated, but apparently He had not comprehended this. Had He not said to His disciples, “Behold, the hour … is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me” and “The Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him”?
“With all the conviction of my soul I testify that He did please His Father perfectly and that a perfect Father did not forsake His Son in that hour. Indeed, it is my personal belief that in all of Christ’s mortal ministry the Father may never have been closer to His Son than in these agonizing final moments of suffering. Nevertheless, that the supreme sacrifice of His Son might be as complete as it was voluntary and solitary, the Father briefly withdrew from Jesus the comfort of His Spirit, the support of His personal presence. It was required, indeed it was central to the significance of the Atonement, that this perfect Son who had never spoken ill nor done wrong nor touched an unclean thing had to know how the rest of humankind—us, all of us—would feel when we did commit such sins. For His Atonement to be infinite and eternal, He had to feel what it was like to die not only physically but spiritually, to sense what it was like to have the divine Spirit withdraw, leaving one feeling totally, abjectly, hopelessly alone.
“But Jesus held on. He pressed on. The goodness in Him allowed faith to triumph even in a state of complete anguish. The trust He lived by told Him in spite of His feelings that divine compassion is never absent, that God is always faithful, that He never flees nor fails us. When the uttermost farthing had then been paid, when Christ’s determination to be faithful was as obvious as it was utterly invincible, finally and mercifully, it was “finished.” Against all odds and with none to help or uphold Him, Jesus of Nazareth, the living Son of the living God, restored physical life where death had held sway and brought joyful, spiritual redemption out of sin, hellish darkness, and despair. With faith in the God He knew was there, He could say in triumph, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.”
I invite you to focus time each day in your study this week to the Atonement–to the true meaning of Easter. I testify to you that Jesus Christ is indeed the Reason for this season of the year. He lives, our wise, kind heavenly Friend. He loves and loves us to the end.”
I hope you enjoyed your zone council meeting this past week and that its focus will continue to bless you as you continue your service in the CVM, whether you get a new companion tomorrow or whether you continue to serve with your current companion.
I love yiou guys so much!!!!!!!! Thanks for everything Love Elder Bills
“Now I speak very carefully, even reverently, of what may have been the most difficult moment in all of this solitary journey to Atonement. I speak of those final moments for which Jesus must have been prepared intellectually and physically but which He may not have fully anticipated emotionally and spiritually—that concluding descent into the paralyzing despair of divine withdrawal when He cries in ultimate loneliness, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
“The loss of mortal support He had anticipated, but apparently He had not comprehended this. Had He not said to His disciples, “Behold, the hour … is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me” and “The Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him”?
“With all the conviction of my soul I testify that He did please His Father perfectly and that a perfect Father did not forsake His Son in that hour. Indeed, it is my personal belief that in all of Christ’s mortal ministry the Father may never have been closer to His Son than in these agonizing final moments of suffering. Nevertheless, that the supreme sacrifice of His Son might be as complete as it was voluntary and solitary, the Father briefly withdrew from Jesus the comfort of His Spirit, the support of His personal presence. It was required, indeed it was central to the significance of the Atonement, that this perfect Son who had never spoken ill nor done wrong nor touched an unclean thing had to know how the rest of humankind—us, all of us—would feel when we did commit such sins. For His Atonement to be infinite and eternal, He had to feel what it was like to die not only physically but spiritually, to sense what it was like to have the divine Spirit withdraw, leaving one feeling totally, abjectly, hopelessly alone.
“But Jesus held on. He pressed on. The goodness in Him allowed faith to triumph even in a state of complete anguish. The trust He lived by told Him in spite of His feelings that divine compassion is never absent, that God is always faithful, that He never flees nor fails us. When the uttermost farthing had then been paid, when Christ’s determination to be faithful was as obvious as it was utterly invincible, finally and mercifully, it was “finished.” Against all odds and with none to help or uphold Him, Jesus of Nazareth, the living Son of the living God, restored physical life where death had held sway and brought joyful, spiritual redemption out of sin, hellish darkness, and despair. With faith in the God He knew was there, He could say in triumph, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.”
I invite you to focus time each day in your study this week to the Atonement–to the true meaning of Easter. I testify to you that Jesus Christ is indeed the Reason for this season of the year. He lives, our wise, kind heavenly Friend. He loves and loves us to the end.”
I hope you enjoyed your zone council meeting this past week and that its focus will continue to bless you as you continue your service in the CVM, whether you get a new companion tomorrow or whether you continue to serve with your current companion.
I love yiou guys so much!!!!!!!! Thanks for everything Love Elder Bills
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