Charity

Hey all!

   This week was awesome!  I´ve got to be fairly quick in the E-mail today, but I´ll share a cool experience or two with you guys!

First, we met a really neat man named J. C. a couple days ago!  We were knocking doors, and one man answered from his window.  We hardly got a word out of our mouths before he started to bible bash with us.  He went on and on and on, and after several minutes it gets kind of annoying.  Usually I just let my Seniors do the heavy lifting in those situations, but after a few minutes I decided I´d give it a try.  Instead of bible bashing with him, I asked if we was familiar with the scripture in Ephesians that says that the church of Christ is built upon the foundation of prophets of and apostles, and he said yes.  I then testified of the restoration of these things, that we have 12 apostles and a prophet on the earth today that guide the chruch.  His attitude changed at this point and he began to show some interest.  He left the window and came to the gate and told us that he was testing us to see if we were persistent.  He then expressed some interest in our message and invited me to teach an English class to his students (he´s a teacher at a school nearby).  His interest in our message still remains to be proven, but he is a very neat, personable guy!

This week I´ve been thinking a lot about the role of charity in my work as a missionary, and really in everything that we do.  That really has to be our motivation.  I feel that if our motive is not charity for our brothers and sisters, we will not be powerfully led by the spirit.  As with all of the gifts of the spirit, charity is something that we need to seek diligently in our actions and in our prayers.  As we do so, it will distil upon our souls as the dews from heaven, to steal a phrase from the scriptures.  It was through charity that the greatest act in mankind´s history, the atonement of Jesus Christ, was accomplished (1 Nephi 19:9 if I remember right).  His charity for us empowered him to suffer our sins and forgive us for them, and it is through charity that we can be truly incredible servants of God.

"Ask me, I will respond, because I am God."

Got to go, but I love you all!  Have an incredible week and keep me up to date!

Love,

Elder Sweet