5 MONTHS!

Tomorrow will have been 5 months since I arrived at the MTC!! Boy does it fly by fast.

Every week is an awesome week as a missionary. This week was super hard because our car was in the shop from Monday to Saturday but we still got to teach a ton of lessons. Not having a car was a great motivation to invite members to come with us all the time this week and so we had multiple members every day coming out teaching with us or even just giving us rides. People here are so generous.

We also had an awesome Zone Conference with President Murdock and his first counselor President Atkinson. They are both so great. We talked a ton about finding new people and having the faith to do it. Our area has been so blessed with new investigators every week even though we've only knocked doors once because we've been so busy teaching. Now that we're in a "tripanionship" every time we bring a member we teach double the lessons because we can go on splits so we're seeing everybody as frequently as would be possible and running out of things to do! We're going to have to start walking and knocking doors again and finding every day. Another awesome stress was to invite EVERYONE to read the Book of Mormon. People can learn a lot from us but they will have their own spiritual experiences in finding answers for themselves as they read the Book of Mormon and that is when the Spirit will help them change their lives for the better.

An awesome scripture I found in the Book of Mormon this week was in Alma 3:26-27.

26 And in one year were thousands and tens of thousands of souls sent to the eternal world, that they might reap their rewards according to their works, whether they were good or whether they were bad, to reap eternal happiness or eternal misery, according to the spirit which they listed to obey, whether it be a good spirit or a bad one.
27 For every man receiveth wages of him whom he listeth to obey, and this according to the words of the spirit of prophecy;

I think it captures such a true principle that whichever spirit we choose to obey will guide us to either happiness or misery. If we submit to temptation the devil will reward us, but if we submit our will to God then Christ will reward us. I love the influence that this has had on my life and getting to share this with others.

~Elder Della-Piana