Sanderson
Family,
8/26/2013
Stacie
and Megan, thanks so much for your letters :) That is so cool that you are all
going off to school all ready haha crazy how fast time is flying!
This week
nothing crazy happened haha it was pretty mellow. We found a few families that
we are going to work with, but all week it was raining so we were not allowed
to work (new mission rule). So I just did a lot of studies haha I am almost
through El Libro de Mormon in Spanish again. For some reason its not as cool as
in English but reading it out-loud really helps my accent. Some day I will
sound Latino :) Oh by the way I am going to stay and Elder Killpack is going to
Santa Gertrudis in Kingsville. Its pretty cool because that was my first area.
He is going to do great! I don't know who my next companion will be because I
might be training or something so I don't know.
Ok so Dad
in response to your letter I think the lack of Home Teaching or anyone
fulfilling a church calling stems from faulty discipleship. Those who fail to
fulfill callings have the attitude of "my will" instead of "thy
will" be done. That is "lukewarm" discipleship and that type of
commitment cannot save us at the last day. It is a form of pride, and condemned
of the Lord. In Moses 1:39 we learn the vision or will that our Heavenly Father
has for us. The Prophet Joseph Smith caught this vision when he said in D&C
18:10 that the "worth of souls is great in the sight of the Lord",
and they are! "Every soul is precious, so precious that our Savior would
descend from his throne to willfully die for them. If they are worth that much
to the Lord, those precious souls deserve all our energies. They deserve our
love, our service, and our best. We are the Lord's hands here on this earth. We
have taken upon us his name in this last fight against the adversary. Those
precious souls in which the Lord has entrusted to our care need our all. They
need to know there is a way back, a way back to our Father in Heaven. No matter
what they have done in the past or if they feel if life has passed them by,
they need our message. They need the spiritual support that only we can
provide. Something that we are trying to do down here is really focusing on the
Plan of Salvation because this is really why we do Home Teaching. The Plan is
at the center of all we do, and as our knowledge of The Plan grows, our desire
will grow to help our brothers and sisters.
We live in a critical time in the world’s history. As you know, Satan
and his forces are busy. They are doing all they can in an attempt to thwart
this work. They tempt our loved
ones. They deceive them. They put fear and doubts into their hearts
and minds. Our day today is not totally
unlike that time when we, as captains of tens and fifties, helped spread the
gospel message of hope and joy to our Father’s spirit children, our
brothers and sisters. We used The Plan
to conquer those fears and doubts. We
used The Plan to help our brothers and sisters to see through the lies and
deceptions that Satan used in the pre-mortal life. Christ was and is at the center of The
Plan. We raised the banners of The Plan
high as we marched forth and bore witness of its beauty, simplicity, and power
to redeem! We must now raise the banner
of The Plan again more courageously and more faithfully my dear friends. It was and is our message. It was and is our hope in Christ! This is the
vision that our Father in Heaven has for his precious children."
I am convinced
that if we do not do all we can to fulfill this calling we will stand stained
and ashamed before the judgment bar off God. We will be ashamed that we allowed
Satan to blind us from what was truly important. I believe it was President
Kimball who said that "if in this life all we do is build an earthy
kingdom that is all we will inherit in the life to come". The Lord wants
and expects so much more from us. This is a labor of love and the only work
that aligns us with the will of our Fathers :)
I love
you all :)
Elder
Sanderson
McAllen
Texas Mission
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