June 24,2013

Hold the phone missionary work is going VIRTUAL. The announcements were crazy. I honestly cannot believe that soon almost all of the missionaries in the world will be preaching the gospel by Facebook, Blogs, & Email. I really liked how they all talked about how every member a missionary. It is so true as missionaries it is super hard to just knock on someones door who is a reference or someone random. If you think about it would you just invite a stranger into your home. Working with members is extremely   important. We need to be a BEACON and a LIGHT to all the world. When we are on the Lords errand we are entitled to his help. I really liked the scripture reference they used, (Alma 26:7) "They are in the hands of the Lord's harvest, & they are his." They also spoke a lot on the importance of acting in/on faith. If we are anchored in the gospel, our homes will be stronger.

I also really liked what the said about how "good missionaries act on love."It's also  extremely   important for members of the church to learn to love the investigators as well, so they feel wanted. This is a huge problem in the area that I am currently serving in. The Bishop is not animated and the leaders are struggling. No one does their home teaching/visiting teaching. The ward is extremely disfunctional, there isn't a lot of unity, and super hard to work with. Sometimes we are almost afraid of bringing our investigators to church because we don't want to lose them (part of the reason why we left Antonio) The other night Elder King said, they might as well call us the Home Teachers of the ward. At times we feel like we are walking in circles - Talk by Pres. Uchtdorf (June ensign/liahona). But as President Monson said in his address to us. If we live the gospel and ACT IN FAITH, the Lord will help strengthen the area that we serve in. We need to act in Faith.

Compared to God we are nothing, But to God we are everything!

I know that this work is true and it could not be done without the help of the Lord in my life. I know that this is where I am needed and that my action will be as a pebble dropped into a pond they will ripple and spread through out the years. I am a servant in the Lords vineyard. I plant, I nurture, I harvest.

Elder Thorpe

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