Hey everyone,
Here’s the blog of the week! I just want to start off with the importance of having a firm foundation in your testimony of Christ. Everything that he asks us to do is a blessing in our lives.
I was running this morning,
and I got bored, and decided to try and find a way to liken faith to a tree… IT was random at first, and it took me a little while, but a thought came to my head, that when a tree takes in water, the water doesn’t necessarily go to the leaves,but through the roots, and travels to the leaves, giving the tree it’s necessary nutrients. It knows what is most important, the roots that lie below the ground, unseen by the world. The power of the tree however, comes from the nourishment that the roots receive. How unstable would the foundation of the tree become, if all of it’s energy went into sustaining what it had made?
Without proper energy to the roots, the tree would soon fall, defeating the purpose of even receiving water in the first place. It’s important to remember, that as we seek after hidden
treasures and exercise our faith, that our ‘tree of life’ will grow and prosper. Faith precedes the miracle! Go for fat roots, not fat leaves. A man told me in Jacksonville once, in his booming preacher voice, “Man, people go into them buildings, and get FAT on the
word! They get FAT! The need to get out and EXERCISE their faith!”
Classic. Analogy of the day!
This week, we were able to see a great change in a man’s life. A less active member who came to church last week, came out to a dinner appointment, with these two sweet, wise, aged women. We talked about their conversion to the church, along with his recent coming back to church. One sister talked a great deal about love, and how that is the greatest gift that God
has given her, the ability to think of and serve others. He was definitely touched by the spirit, and has since been asking to take him back on these exchanges with us! He texted us that he’s been born of God. He really has come a long way from the first time I met him, and our next steps are going to be to help him ditch the cigarettes! ;) We’ll get there when we get there! Just goes to show that the best way that you can help anyone, is to show them love,
appreciation, and kindness. As told by many, it doesn’t matter what you know, until they know how much you care. Opening up the heart, and truly finding the understanding of these people, is what really makes the difference. Our purpose is to give the Holy Ghost that opportunity
to knock on the door to their heart, in a way that they have to accept or deny. It is the best opportunity of happiness that we can give to anyone.
Also, as we were teaching a little girl who was about 14 years old, we asked her how Christ had helped her through her life. She went on to relate some particularly hard trials that the average 14 year old hasn’t had to endure. We testified to her that Christ has suffered for all of our sins, and has felt all the negative feelings we’ve ever felt. She paused, and looked up and said, "Really? I didn’t know that…"
It was a great reminder of the power of this message that we share, that Jesus Is the Christ, and that He has gone down the paths of our lives. You can imagine how much walking He’s done… The hymn that comes into my head is, "‘I Stand All Amazed." Because of the paths that He’s walked, we get to be as Peter walking towards the Savior, seeing his loving call to come unto him, to live as he lived. We need to continue to live faithful so that when the waves of the sea come with the deep water and darkness of night, we will never drown out the faith that we
have. Faith works!
Also, I’d like to mention the wave that our ward has caught into missionary work! In our third hour at church, we had a combined meeting, and it was incredible! It was all about missionary work, and how everyone could share it in it’s many different forms. The 2nd counselor actually
brought in a tv, and got on facebook to email someone in the class! Missionary work is all over the place now! It’s gone completely viral and the members are really picking up on it.
Speaking of viral work, I’ve also had the chance to get back on my facebook here and there toWithout proper energy to the roots, the tree would soon fall, defeating the purpose of even receiving water in the first place. It’s important to remember, that as we seek after hidden
treasures and exercise our faith, that our ‘tree of life’ will grow and prosper. Faith precedes the miracle! Go for fat roots, not fat leaves. A man told me in Jacksonville once, in his booming preacher voice, “Man, people go into them buildings, and get FAT on the
word! They get FAT! The need to get out and EXERCISE their faith!”
Classic. Analogy of the day!
This week, we were able to see a great change in a man’s life. A less active member who came to church last week, came out to a dinner appointment, with these two sweet, wise, aged women. We talked about their conversion to the church, along with his recent coming back to church. One sister talked a great deal about love, and how that is the greatest gift that God
has given her, the ability to think of and serve others. He was definitely touched by the spirit, and has since been asking to take him back on these exchanges with us! He texted us that he’s been born of God. He really has come a long way from the first time I met him, and our next steps are going to be to help him ditch the cigarettes! ;) We’ll get there when we get there! Just goes to show that the best way that you can help anyone, is to show them love,
appreciation, and kindness. As told by many, it doesn’t matter what you know, until they know how much you care. Opening up the heart, and truly finding the understanding of these people, is what really makes the difference. Our purpose is to give the Holy Ghost that opportunity
to knock on the door to their heart, in a way that they have to accept or deny. It is the best opportunity of happiness that we can give to anyone.
Also, as we were teaching a little girl who was about 14 years old, we asked her how Christ had helped her through her life. She went on to relate some particularly hard trials that the average 14 year old hasn’t had to endure. We testified to her that Christ has suffered for all of our sins, and has felt all the negative feelings we’ve ever felt. She paused, and looked up and said, "Really? I didn’t know that…"
It was a great reminder of the power of this message that we share, that Jesus Is the Christ, and that He has gone down the paths of our lives. You can imagine how much walking He’s done… The hymn that comes into my head is, "‘I Stand All Amazed." Because of the paths that He’s walked, we get to be as Peter walking towards the Savior, seeing his loving call to come unto him, to live as he lived. We need to continue to live faithful so that when the waves of the sea come with the deep water and darkness of night, we will never drown out the faith that we
have. Faith works!
Also, I’d like to mention the wave that our ward has caught into missionary work! In our third hour at church, we had a combined meeting, and it was incredible! It was all about missionary work, and how everyone could share it in it’s many different forms. The 2nd counselor actually
brought in a tv, and got on facebook to email someone in the class! Missionary work is all over the place now! It’s gone completely viral and the members are really picking up on it.
do some online tracking. Going page to page, I found one of our workers at the history place in Morehead city. He would take us every week to go do service at the history center. He was always hesitant for the message, but recently, he’s requested to talk to me over face book. I can’t wait to see what possibilities are opened from it!
Ahhh! the blog time is always gone before we knew it. I love you all so much, and want you to know that I have such a powerful testimony of online/offline missionary work!! As we put forth all we can do, our efforts are lifted higher by our savior! (2 Nephi 25:23) Have a great week! Watch general conference and stay
Awake -_-
Love, Elder Langford
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