3/6/17 Email:
So I have been thinking lately and I have come to the conclusion that I haven't sent a whole lot of spiritual things, which I thought was kind of odd for a missionary, so I figured for this email, I will focus on spiritual things.
But first I'd like to talk a little bit of the happenings of the week. We had Zone Conference this past Wednesday, and it was really good, Elder Hudak and I gave a training/roleplay on following up with our commitments we give out and it went well. It was my first Zone Conference, aside from the mission tour, and I was giving a training/roleplay. I don't think that President Adams or the AP's remembered that it was my first cuz they were surprised when I told them that. In interviews with President he was like, "Wow, really? I forgot about that. Well I hope it was a good experience." And it was. Everyone told us we did a good job and that they really enjoyed it so I am happy with it even though I was nervous out of my mind.
But anyway, Sunday was really good. It was a busy day, but aside from partaking of the Sacrament, Sunday School was one of my favorite things about Sunday. The teacher, Brother Tano, is just an amazing man and teacher. Everyone loves coming to his class. One of the things he talked about was commandments, and how the Gospel of Jesus Christ isn't a buffet where we can pick and choose what commandments we will or won't follow, like we pick and choose our food at a buffet. The gospel is a complete meal, and to get the best and most out of it you have to eat everything, you have to keep all the commandments. There is a reason that the scriptures say "Keep the Commandments" and not "Keep the easy commandments", or "Keep the commandments you like, and forget about the ones you don't like." Heavenly Father knows best, and for us to become the best we can be we have to do ALL He tells us to do, not just some. So that was a really good lesson.
Now I'd like to talk about a couple of the people we are teaching. The first is an investigator named Tina. She is a mom of 3 kids, I think, 2 of them are girls, Tiana and Tanaya. Anyway her two daughters got baptized last November, and around that time she had been searching for something like church to do because she had a belief in God and that He can help her. So we started teaching her at the beginning of this year, and I haven't seen anyone more ready to receive this gospel than her. She is just on fire with everything, she gets emotional with her prayers, she gets emotional just talking about certain subjects of the gospel because she knows it's true. But what truly amazes me about her is that she uses what we teach her and she applies it immediately. Especially when things get hard. She has been having a lot of family issues lately, and normally when investigators start experiencing bad things happening while taking the lessons (they think) that it is a sign that they should stop, but not her, she wholeheartedly takes what we teach her and she uses it as much as she can to get through her trials, and that is such an amazing testimony booster to me. Now she is getting baptized this weekend, and we are so so so excited for her!!
The next person I'd like to talk about is one of the less active/returning members we are teaching, her name is Shandiin. When I first met her, from the way she appeared, she seemed stressed, unhappy, tired, nervous, and just like there were a lot of other things in her life that she struggled handling. She told us that when she first started having the missionaries over she just did it to be nice, and she also told us that even though she grew up in church she didn't have a belief in Jesus Christ. So we have been working with her for a long time, we have been leaving her commitment after commitment, and for the longest time she wouldn't keep her commitments. Then we had a lesson with her about the importance of the commitments we give her and that they will help and bless her life. She finally came to the conclusion that she owed it to herself to actually try. So she started reading the scriptures, she started praying, she started coming back to church. The change that has come over her since she started doing those things is remarkable. There is a physical change in her countenance, she looks so calm and relaxed, things seemed to go so much better for her, and she noticed it too, and has seen the difference. She finally admitted to us that she is happy now. She is one of my favorite people ever now, and I will never forget the change that I have seen in her. An experience that she has had was when she took a trip to Reno, Nevada to visit her husband who is out working there, and that is kind of a long drive, and normally her son would have a fit the whole time because of being in the car, but this trip she decided that since she was driving she would listen to the scriptures instead. She doesn't remember anything she listened to but she did notice that her son was quiet and wasn't throwing a fit the whole drive.
I am so blessed to be here to be a part of their lives and to be able to help them change their lives to be happier and have more peace and comfort, I know that that is exactly what this Gospel can do, and I bear you my testimony of these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Love you all, and try to do everything that Heavenly Father has asked you to do, your lives will be so much better.
Love Elder Takis
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