May 4, 2009

Hello, hello.
Tommy bonked our appointment this week so we'll see him this Thursday hopefully and set the date with him. He told us last time that he'd have to do some "hard core prayin'" so hopefully he did that and now he's ready to go. Jeremy and Lisa are doing fine, but they're not really too into investigating the church. They just like talking about what we do in our church and what they do in theirs. He's a deacon for the Church of Christ. Linda is doing fine, she told us that she wouldn't ever convert, so then we started talking about the Spirit and I asked her if she felt that. She said that she did, then I explained that it was the Spirit and it was testifying to her that what we said was true. Then we asked her to pray about what we taught and if the Spirit told her it was right if she'd be baptized. Then she said yes and we left. So we're seeing her on Wednesday and might set a baptismal date with her. Also on Wednesday we're going to the Pentecostal church. We met two people at an A&W who worked there that invited us to their church on Wednesday so that'll be fun.

Now for the really cool story. We've been working with this guy named Matt Bess. His wife is an inactive member, they both smoke and are trying to make it big with a really mediocre screamo band. They had some 'in-between' jobs but now those have fallen through and they're running out of money. Neither of them were progressing at all, so last Thursday we decided to drop them. They've started coming back to church because they need financial support and the bishop told them that they needed to come in order to get it. I asked Matt last week if he'd like to be baptized and it really freaked him out and he said he never planned on getting baptized. So there's the background on him. Yesterday was our stake conference, it was, however, a special stake conference broadcast from Salt Lake, where the Area Seventy spoke, one of the General Young Mens presidency spoke, Elder Perry spoke, and President Monson spoke. It was really really good. It was mostly about provident living and dedication. Then President Monson talked about a World War I division known as the 'lost battalion' near some river in France. They broke through enemy lines on an assault, but their allies on either flank failed to break the line, so they were trapped behind enemy lines for several weeks. Then he spoke about how their allies engaged in what newspapers called a 'crusade of love.' They volunteered more willingly, fought more gallantly, and died more bravely until they broke the enemy lines and saved the lost battalion. He related that to our work as members of the church that need to go out and save those who live in our areas that are 'trapped behind enemy lines.' Being President Monson, he told several stories and quoted two poems as well. All in all it was a really good talk. After the meeting we talked with a non-member that showed up, but she wasn't really interested in taking the lessons yet. She just wanted to come to church, and we're okay with that. Then Matt came up to us after. He's really young and has a daughter that's just over a year old and he was holding her. He told us that he was really thinking about when we asked him to be baptized, and he wanted to know if that's what God wanted him to do. So for the first time ever he knelt down and prayed to ask if that was right. He didn't receive any answer. Then when "Brother Monson" spoke, he said that he really felt the spirit and a strong impression that he should take the lessons again and take it more seriously and probably be baptized. It was amazing!! So we're seeing him tonight and we'll set the solid date, so if he quits smoking then he'll be set to get baptized in a week. So that was pretty much fantastic.

Along the same lines as having so many temples on the earth today I was thinking when I saw President Monson sitting down when the broadcast started, "How incredible is it that we have a prophet today!" It's really sooo amazing! As members of the church, so many take it for granted. 'Oh yeah, he's a prophet. We hear from him twice a year when we watch church in our pajamas.' This is a prophet of God! It's so amazing!! Then I think about how in the Old Testament when someone needed guidance from the prophet they'd have to travel sometimes hundreds of miles to hear his voice, and here was I sitting comfortably in a chapel in middle Tennessee, and there he was sitting comfortably in a chair in a chapel in Salt Lake over 1,000 miles away, and I could hear his voice, and the Holy Spirit of Promise could testify to a man who said not even a week earlier, "I won't get baptized", that this was a prophet of God in a true and living church. The hymn rings loud and true, "We thank thee O God for a prophet, to guide us in these latter days."

Then I had another really amazing experience this week as well. Tuesday and Wednesday I was in McMinville on exchanges with our Zone Leader, Elder Geohagen (he trained Elder Hansen in Hendersonville so we had lots to talk about). We were working there and went to contact a referral from a member in their ward. The member was a doctor and she'd been working with this lady for about 7-8 months. She picked up a child on a school bus and now has a hernia-ish thing. It's a lump like a hernia but it moves around and causes almost constant pain to her. She's been in this pain for at least 7 months now and no treatment has worked for her. So her doctor talked to her about the priesthood and offered our assistance. We went over there and started talking to her, and she is one of the most humble, faithful people I've ever met. She felt as if God had forgotten about her. She had felt the Spirit in the past and knew he had answered so many of her prayers in the past, but it was like he wasn't there any more or he wasn't listening. So we talked to her about that, and shared some scriptures. The spirit was very strong. Then we offered to give the blessing and asked who she'd like to bless and who she'd like to anoint. She asked me to bless. There are very few occasions that I've felt the Spirit that powerfully. Her body was commanded to be healed. Prior to the blessing she couldn't even sit up. After the blessing she could sit, she could walk around, she felt lighter, she was healed. The first thing she asked us after marveling about this miracle was when does church start. We then asked her if the room felt different now than when we entered. She said yes, and that she thought that it was just her mind playing games. We explained that we also felt it, and that it was the Spirit of the Lord. I then felt prompted, or possibly shoved, to say, "Once you're baptized, you can receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and then you can have this feeling to be with you at all times." The light in her eyes was so bright, "Really!!?" she said as tears filled her eyes. We then asked if she'd be willing to be baptized on the 30th and she said yes. This was the very first time we met her. We didn't even spend an hour with her and now she's taking the lessons and preparing to be baptized because she wants so badly the gift of the Holy Ghost. There is no greater blessing than that of the restored gospel, and there is no greater joy than seeing the gospel bless the lives of others. I never knew that I could feel so much love for a complete stranger that I spoke with for 45 minutes and will probably never see again. The gospel in and of itself is an endowment, a gift that keeps on giving, a well springing up unto everlasting joy.

As for rules and obedience, I need to find this scripture, I think its in the Doctrine and Covenants, but it speaks about how when we attain Celestial glory we will glory in commandments and we will want more commandments, more rules, because these rules are how we grow and live and gain a true testimony. No one has ever gained a lasting testimony of the atonement who hasn't applied the atonement, no one has gained a lasting testimony of tithing without paying tithing. All blessings are given upon obedience to the law upon which they were predicated. The more laws we have to obey, the more blessings we can get, and what kind of loving Father wouldn't want to bless his children? Its a win for everyone. So that's what's been going on here. Love you guys a lot!!

Love,
Elder Carpenter