Monday, January 20, 2014

Hello All,

This week was sloooooooow. We had a tough time finding people at home and stuff like that. It was still a good week though. We worked real hard. We ate a lot of food. Usual stuff. But really, we had a sweet lesson with Tony and Tai. We still have no clue if Tony is a member or not. It's leaning more towards he is. I hope he either isn't a member (As bad as it sounds) or (more realistically) he accepts the fact that he can't just be baptized again because he wants to. He was baptized when he was like 12 and he doesn't remember very much so he wants to do it again...If only that's how it works Tony..Regardless, they're both doing awesome and as soon as we can get their situation figured out they'll be baptized. We taught them the end of the Plan of Salvation and the whole Gospel of Jesus Christ. They had a really cool experience. They both play in tennis leagues. They have matches on Sundays pretty often. They decided that they need to go to church so they prayed that they're matches wouldn't be on Sundays anymore. They just got their schedule for next month and NO SUNDAY MATCHES! How awesome is that? Now they have testimonies of prayer and the importance of church. I know that because they told us that themselves. The Lord prepares people Ladies and Gents. We can find them. I'm talking to all of you not just the missionaries. 

All of Southern California had Stake Conference yesterday. There was a special broadcast which President Eyring presided at. Elder Anderson was there too. They talked about Hastening the Work of Salvation. They especially focused on the importance of bring back members who have fallen away. Which in my opinion is one of the most important duties that members of the church have. 

Bringing people in to the church is just as important but allowing people to slip between the cracks should never happen. Every soul is numbered and everyone is known by our Heavenly Father. He knows exactly where they are. We might not, but we sure as heck better never let people get lost. The worth of souls is great in the sight of God. If they aren't great enough in our own eyes to go out and search for them then we have so serious rethinking to do. Never allow the attitude of "They won't come back" or "They've made their choices already" even penetrate your minds. Those ideas are just as dangerous as thoughts like "Just once" or "it's not that bad". You might notice that all 4 of those thoughts have one thing in common, they come from Satan. Of course he doesn't want us to worry about those who have fallen off the path. He wants to keep them there. You have the power to bring them back. So do it! Pray for miracles. I promise they'll come. Nobody should be left behind. Don't let it happen.

I hope you all have good weeks. I love all of you and I pray for you. I try my best to pray by name but sometimes that doesn't happen. I'll do better.

Keep it real!

Alofa
Elder Sanderson