Monday, September 23, 2013

Mowing Lawns & the Atonement, Christmas in September & Many Mini Miracles!

Hello  everybody! 
This was a great week! We had a lot of success and hard work accomplished!
We had a nice Friday, serving a member’s non member aunt by mowing her lawn, and then running to an investigator’s house to mow his lawn as well. Somewhat of a miracle happened, and I combined it into an analogy… as we were mowing this difficult lawn, with a push mower that wasn’t working too well with the tall grass, this random lawn mowing company pulled up, saw that we were volunteers.  They told us that they’d be finishing the lawn for us!  IT was great and quite the relief to see!
In life too,  after all we do, (and all of our labor on the lawn), even if we feel our work isn’t sufficient, Christ's grace truly is, and as we give our broken heart and a contrite spirit to him, He always finishes the lawn, making all of the difference towards our small performance.  (If only we could’ve used the same people for the second lawn)!!  The second lawn was even bigger and even longer! It took us a good while to cut it down. However, their friend that was living with them was curious about the message that we share, and noticed that we had a little dvd in our car. All we had was, "Joy To the World'l but hey they watched it, and enjoyed it! We’re now teaching the people that live there!  We’ll be shifting the focus back to the restoration and touch on the Christmas section a little later…!!

Those people, though we haven’t been able to meet with them, are already part way through Alma in the Book of Mormon! They read almost everyday, and have really enjoyed it so far! We can’t wait to meet with them to share more and help them see the increased benefits and truths that come from the Book of Mormon. It just goes to show that you never know who will be placed in your path to receive the restored
gospel of Christ. You never really know and IT’s incredible to see and that's why it’s important to give your best (be an example), to everyone you meet, allowing them the full opportunity to accept the message of the gospel!

We were also teaching a less active member on his porch, and he was talking about how he never really had a testimony, how he never really cared and was baptized into the church because his parents told him to and just kind of went with the flow.  We had the great opportunity to tell him that he did in fact have a testimony, that as he kept reading and praying to find that it was true for himself, that he’d be able to
see it grow. It’s always touching to see how the spirit works with everyone in different ways. He was touched, and I know that if he reads and prays, that he’ll find that answer that he so desires. Whenever the feeling comes that we don’t have a testimony, or it feels weakened, that’s a great time to remember that you do have one, that you are a child of God, and that he truly does love and care about you. The best way to maintain truth, is to act upon it, giving great power to your words.

We also had another neat little miracle.  We were doing a little survey for our general authority (Elder Baxter), coming in November, and the computer for some reason in the library wouldn’t work, and we had to leave eventually.. As we walked out, we ran into a recent convert who had just moved into the ward, and hadn’t had his records put in yet…..
the Lord puts you where he wants you!

Also on Saturday, we were making some calls to some less active members, and one of them consequentially, was doing some mulching! So we got to head on down and do some good ol’ mulching w/ them. She completely reminded me of my mother! She was talking about how she sent her son to military school because he got bad grades… (glad I got good grades!!)  They were really nice, but sadly, didn’t feel the need to head back to church because of "this and that" and other reasons here and there… It's sad how so many people can find a reason to say no… there’s thousands of them no doubt, but the reason to say yes trumps all of them every time.  Eternal Life’s in the balance for these great people, and It’s sad how Satan  has swayed them to see things such as the sacrament as a thing of naught.  Hopefully with the new building we're getting soon, they’ll head on back along with a group of other people as well.

ALSO, we were at a dinner with some members, and they happened to
mention that there was a less active family that lived close by to us
that we should go stop by. As we were biking off from our home thatsame day, we saw them out of the corner of our eyes walking back in. We talked to them, and got a dinner appointment set-up! They were Phillipino , and boy was their food delicious! I’m converted. You never know what could happen in North Carolina.

I love you all and know that you’re continually progressing closer to Christ!  Keep up the good work! Y'all need to know that I have a firm testimony of our Savior  Jesus Christ. He is the only one that can truly bring us the aid that we need so desperately on a day to day basis. He truly cares for us, and wants us to be happier, and strives to make many opportunities for us on a daily basis. I pray that we'll act upon these many tender mercies that we have been given in our lives. There is no greater work than that of bringing people to a greater knowledge and understanding of the gospel of Christ!!  As we live the commandments, we experience happiness.
Well, that’s it for today! Hope that y’all are having a wonderful week
and that all’s going well out there!! 
Love, Elder Langford

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