1. Zone Conference! This week we had an incredible Zone Conference where President Guffey introduced quite a few new things! It was focused on repentance and the spirit was sooooo strong. We learned a lot. It was a long day but good :)
2.
General Conference was so good this past weekend! We had a party of
missionaries at the stake center and President Eyring gave Albuquerque a shout
out! That made us all pretty happy-haha :) My favorite talk was the one by
Elder Nattress.
3.
It's Balloon Fiesta time in New Mexico! We have the best view and every morning
we go running we see tons of them!
4.
We found the coolest investigator this week! His name is Arlington and he has
family who are members. He called us after conference and left us a voicemail
of how much he LOVED it! We will see him again tomorrow.
5.
We started teaching a former this week named Pam. She is so prepared! We asked
her if she had a Book of Mormon and she pulled it out and it had been given to
her by a member with their testimony in it. She called us throughout the week
asking really good questions about what she had been reading. She is trying to
quit smoking, so pray for her!
Down
Low, 2 Slow.
1.
Sue will not read :( We kept pushing her date back but now she is going out of
town for a few weeks so we will take a break and check up on her when she gets
home :(
2.
David called us this week and dropped us. Ahh! His family is pulling him away
from this. BUT Michael is getting baptized next weekend and we are super
excited!
Too
often, we hear people say that all they need to do to be saved is say they
accept Jesus, or some form of that. This is what we call the "easy
Jesus" theory. There has not been a time in history where God has not
required something of men. Where much is given, much is required. I'd say the
Atonement was much that was given! We have to keep the commandments. If we love
God and truly do accept Jesus as our Savior, we will do something about
it.
One
of my favorite examples of this is the story of Peter. Christ asks him 3 times,
"Peter, do you love me?" Elder Holland offers commentary on
this in a previous General Conference talk titled, The First Great
Commandment. “Then Peter, why are you here? Why are we back on this
same shore, by these same nets, having this same conversation? Wasn’t it
obvious then and isn’t it obvious now that if I want fish, I can get fish? What
I need, Peter, are disciples—and I need them forever. I need someone to feed my
sheep and save my lambs. I need someone to preach my gospel and defend my
faith. I need someone who loves me, truly, truly loves me, and loves what our
Father in Heaven has commissioned me to do. Ours is not a feeble message. It is
not a fleeting task. It is not hapless; it is not hopeless; it is not to be
consigned to the ash heap of history. It is the work of Almighty God, and it is
to change the world. So, Peter, for the second and presumably the last time, I
am asking you to leave all this and to go teach and testify, labor and serve
loyally until the day in which they will do to you exactly what they did to
me.”
There
is no "easy Jesus". We have a life of devoted discipleship to
give in demonstrating our love of the Lord. Leave your "nets" of sin,
doubt, fear, and anything else holding you back from being a disciple of Him
who has given you so much.
God
speed!
Love,
Sister Bowen
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