Week 53 - Repentance a Change of Mind

Monday 10/31/2016 Halloween 🎃

So early in the morning we went on a hike with Elder Sparacino/Lee. There were some issues with people being unreasonable to get it approved. So we had to resort to getting it approved by President. Sometimes we need to move past people when they lack reasoning. After our hike we had lunch at Cali tacos, then went shopping at Costco. The P Day schedule was revised do to Halloween resulting in no activity. We brought Elder Sparacino/Lee to the church so they could email then we dropped them off. We did some shopping before we brought Elder Sparacino/Lee to finish their shopping. We got back to the apartment complex by 6:00 to be in early. We hit up the zone leaders apartment and finished the night. 

Tuesday 

Our day after lunch consisted of mainly finding. We helped the Olsen's move a couch and a love seat into their home. We didn't have any great contacts before dinner with the Olsen's. After dinner we went and saw Daniel, we discussed the Ten Commandments with him. He has been able to cut his smoking and coffee consumption in half in a week already. We had to cut his lesson short so he could prepare for a test. We went back and prepared for an exchange with Elder Henderson/Durant. I stayed with Elder Durrant in the area. 

Wednesday  

After studies we did some walking and finding we got a couple return appointments for later in the week. After lunch we continued the finding. We met a inactive member that talked to us for a while about some interesting things like magical demon elves. We came to the conclusion that his mental state was not in the best condition. We had a lesson with Brother Manning later in the day. We are trying to help him build his faith since he is really struggling. We did more finding until dinner with the Green family. Then the finding continued till we exchanged back 

Thursday 

We had zone training in the morning. We focused on repentance and our focus as missionaries. One point that we were able to highlight during our practice was the opportunity for us to always strive to be better. We will always fall short because we are never perfect, but striving is putting your best effort in. After lunch we did finding till dinner at Bishop Poulson's. After dinner we went to see Daniel, but he is gone till Sunday night in the hospital. We were able to talk to Maria his mother and she was interested in hearing from us. We met a Hindu woman after, but she wasn't interested in learning more. 

Saturday 

After studies we headed over to Brother Larson's house for a correlation meeting. After the meeting we did finding until lunch. We headed over and picked up Elder Dodd/Barnett for the temple grounds walk. We got there and found out that the two people we had going decided to not come at the the last minute. When we were finished we went back to the mission and stopped by Joe's. After dinner we did finding and stopped by Al's house before the end of the night. We were lucky and caught him home. We invited him to church and talked about testimonies with him. If he is able to make it he will not be able to stay long. Then we went back in for the night. 

Sunday

Morning ward council meeting before church. The Wingers had a neighbor come to church with them. We were able to answer a lot of their questions and concerns. After church they seemed to have had a great experience. We tried some people we had scheduled to see but no answers. Our dinner was with the Werner family. After dinner we tried a few people then headed in. 

Repentance a Change of Mind 

The topic of repentance has been discussed a lot lately in our mission. 

When I think of repentance I always think of the Greek translation of the word which means a change of mind or something along those lines. Which is a great way to put it. A great thing is as we continue to exercise our faith in Jesus Christ and stay on the path it will bring a desire for us to repent. I have seen many times where when people begin to follow commandments they just begin to have that desire to change their mind towards God. So if we don't have that desire to continue to follow the commandments and change we might want to check ourselves. Ask What have I not been doing to exercise my faith? Have I been doing my scripture study, prayers and etc. ? Find what is stopping that change of mind. 

I'm also reminded of something that I resonated with recently. When your life is coming to an end. Do you want to say to yourself I wish I spent more time studying the scriptures, praying, spending time with my family and etc.. You probably will not say I wish I spent less time doing those things. 

Pictures from the Monday hike and some pajamas at a target I decided to put on.