Maraschino Cherry Ice Cream on the Beach & Goal Setting for Eternity!
Elder Jeffrey Langford's Update: March 18, 2013
HEEEELLLLLLOOOOO!!!!
I was so bad this
week... I didn't write down anything to send.... but a lot
happened, so I'll do my best to explain it all and get it in!
Tennis was fun today! The bishop was
getting after me for the backspin ;) heh heh. Well, in this week as
you know, 4 more sisters came into the district, so it's been a
little busy getting them in and situated, but they've been doing
really good and have opened up the area like it was nothing! The
members have taken them in very quickly and they've been wrapped up
in all the sisters of the ward's arms. There goes allllll of our meal
appointments ;) haha just kidding.... hopefully. They've already found an
investigator, and have really caught fire!!! Both of the
companionships are training 19 yr. Old sisters! Crazzzzy.
I got to go to Harker's Island on
an exchange this week as well. That's such a small, little out there on
it's own, by itself, island!! The members there are almost all
related... it's crazy! It's beautiful though, and we had a dinner at
a member's house right on the beach, watching the sun set on the
sound, eating maraschino cherry ice cream! We got a little spoiled to
say the least!
I don't know if I've talked much about Brother King, but he's this amazing member that is the perfect example of who
I want to be when I'm an older man. Hahahaha he's the funniest and
most humble/ready to serve man we know! He gave us both these army
jackets and these big trench coats that make me feel like I'm in "Law
and Order! Anyway, I need to send a picture home of Brother King,
he's incredible.
We've also been teaching this lady for
a while that's had some health problems. She's the one that's a
member formerly of the reformed LDS church, and she's getting
baptized on Saturday! Elder Packard is baptizing her! It's been a
great success in this area these last couple weeks, and we're seeing
a lot of fruits for our efforts right now.
This week I also finished the Book of
Mormon challenge finally! The President gave us a challenge to read
the whole Book of Mormon, and to mark every time Jesus Christ is
mentioned, when he speaks, his attributes, his doctrine, and calls to
repentance. Finally done with that! That felt good to finally finish!
I've got to say too that the Book of Mormon is something that I sadly
think a lot of us really take for granted... I was studying in it
today and just thought of the differences of physical strength,
mental strength, and spiritual
strength, and how we're able to notice
when they're strong, and when they're weak. It makes a huge
difference spiritually when you read the Book of Mormon, pondering a
question through thoughtful prayer. I can honestly say in the days I
have and in the days I haven't, there has been a very apparent
difference in everything I do that day. Perhaps not the things I do,
but just the perspective and my take on things. We always hope for
better, and in a sense, always hope for eternal Life! But, sometimes
that's where it stays, as just a hope... hope is great, but without
faith, that hope is not fulfilled. It must be acted upon. When in
Harker's Island, we talked a lot about how setting goals before you plan
is so
important, and how they shouldn't just be indicators of how the day
went, but faithful pushes, as to what you want to actually see from
your day. Something great that I gathered from that, is the power of
not just goal setting, but sub-goal setting. If for example, you have
a goal of finding a new investigator tomorrow, that's great! How are
you going to measure that? How are you going to find that? We talked
about how you can set a goal that is more measurable, but within
accomplishing the same purpose. For example, a number of doors to
knock, people to actually talk to, areas where you won't leave until
you've prayerfully decided you've done purpose in them, and so on.
Everything we do is a plan to accomplish some sort of goal, be it the
actually goal, or a sub-goal to accomplish it. The reason we have #'s
in the mission field is to have ambitious driven sub-goals, in order
to bring about the bigger picture, of bringing people to Christ,
through the reception of the Holy Ghost. Even our purpose on earth!
Our purpose on earth is to Live the gospel of Jesus Christ, so that
we can obtain the mercy offered through the atonement to pay for our
sins. Obviously you can't just walk out the door saying “hmmm I'm
gonna give this a shot today!” but it takes sub-goals of
reading, praying daily, church attendance, renewing of promises we
make to truly live the gospel, and things such as that. Think about
some thing in your life that you struggle at. No matter what it is,
through setting smaller, measurable goals, you can obtain whatever
you're trying to get at! Accounting daily with yourself, and finding
measurable sub-goals for our specific needs, is how we focus on the
goal of showing faith, which leads to repentance, and to a renewal of
our goals set at baptism. This accomplishes the goal of having the
Holy Ghost, which, overall, if we choose to follow it's promptings,
keeps us pressing steadfastly towards Christ, holding firm to the
Iron Rod, which in the end, allows us the ultimate goal of Eternal
life. So it starts with recognizing whatever thing you'd like to
change, and then setting even the smallest reachable goals to make it
better, measuring them daily, and progressively setting higher and
higher goals, until you've reached your desired outcome! Haha sorry
rant, but that's been the thought process that's been going through
my mind lately.
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