Hey y'all,
How's everyone doing today? Before we get started... everyone stop and sing "I'm a Child of God" to themselves. If you don't know the words... no worries! Go Google them and get singing :)
So.... this last week has been nuts!!! I was transfered... I'm not in Douglasville in the Ensign West area. I'm also the new District leader for the Ensign District. I have a new companion... his name is Elder Welch. He's a great guy... it's been interesting getting adjusted to a new companion after all Elder Schlesinger and I went through... but it's a good growing experience :) We've also been tasked with absorbing another area so we're getting adjusted to smashing two area books together... so we've have had a jam-packed week of work and fun so far :) Y'all will have to get my new address from my Mom if you still feel like sending me letters :)
It's been raining like crazy here lately!!! Yesterday, we went out tracting in a down-pour for 2 hours... and it was a blast!!! One problem though, my backpack isn't water-proof, so everything got soaked!!! Even my rain jacket got so wet that it soaked through... I felt like I was running around a water park there was so much rain coming down... just about every house had waterfalls coming off their roof... but I loved it. I seriously LOVE tracting in the rain, it's my favorite time to go!!! Some other notes about whats been going on this week... Elder Welch and and I (my new companion) get the amazing opportunity to teach morning seminary to the youth out here on Thursday mornings. I was able to teach my first morning here and that was a blast!! The new area is great... a lot different than PTC but I'm loving the change already. Much more the way I thought Georiga would be than PTC was haha. For sure "feels" more like Georgia if you know what I mean ;) One cool thing about coming home at night here... the sounds! Racoons, frogs, etc... everything!! Even the mice running around our apartment (don't worry Mom, we're taking care of it). Elder Welch had his first baptism this last Saturday so that was fun to plan and be a part of... baptisms are always amazing and great experiences and Elder Welch was pretty excited to have his first chance to actually perform the baptism. So yup... been busy, busy, busy!!! I've met some incredible people here in this new area too... the people here are so nice!! One lady chased us down in the rain after we knocked on her door and had left her a blessing/resortation pamplet... she gave us all (we were with a member) a big bag of grapes. Everyone here is so loving... and they all have such strong beliefs. You get to hear some pretty "interesting" things from people too about our beliefs and church haha. I won't go into detail about those... but its fun to hear :)
So something I wanted to talk about today with y'all is something I learned during my personal studies... this is actually what I taught/talked about in the seminary class I talked about earlier. In 1 Nephi 16... it talks about how the Liahona is guiding and directing Lehi/Nephi and their families in the wilderness according to their faith and obedience to the Lord's commandments. They're out there being led by the Liahona... and they come to find out that by only being faithful and following the commandments will the Liahona work. So imagine the situation for a moment... if you're out in the wilderness, being led by a compass that only works according to your faith and obedience to the Lord's commandments... how well would you follow those commandments and how much would you work on incresing your faith? Further imagine this... knowing that this compass is the ONLY way to be led to exactly where you need to go (the promised land/eternal life) and knowing even if it's off by just 1 degree that you could be sent off course and into dangers and harm... wouldn't you be doing everything in your power to follow ALL the commandments and have EXTREMELY strong faith? Well, I would sure hope so :) I know that I wouldn't be too happy to know that I missed out on the promised land because I was only 1 degree off in my faith or in my obedience to the Lords commandments... so how can we make sure that we're not veering off course by that 1 degree? Luckily, the answer is provided in that very same chapter... Lehi/Nephi figured it out and said this "...and thus we see that by small and simple means the Lord can bring about great things.". Now, I know I said I would talk about something different this week but I just can't help myself... it's by the SMALL and SIMPLE means that we gain enteral life and happiness. It's by those small and simple things we do each and every day of our lives that will help make sure that we're exactly on course to go to where the Lord wants and needs us to go... it was by doing those small and simple things each day that made the Liahona work... and it's by doing those small and simple things each day that we've been taught to do that will lead us, our families and our friends to more joy and happiness than we can possibly imagine.
Ok, so I'm out of time and I'm sorry for not expanding on that further or writing more interesting things and for rushing through with my writing... but I just want y'all to know that I love you SO MUCH!!!!!!!!! I know the Lord knows exactly what each of you are facing in life and I know He's right there to help you out. Just keep doing those small and simple things and He'll keep giving you those much needed blessings and help. I know He is the Savior of the world... I know that only through Him can we be fully healed and led to eternal life. His hand is always outstretched to us to grasp... and He will always love you (and everyone). Keep following Him... and keep your foundation of faith in Him fortified and edified. He will always forgive and He will always help.
I love each and everyone one of you. Have a blessed day.
-Elder Wahlen
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