Soul

Hello Friends and Family!                                  

This week has been great. As I’ve been reflecting over the many great experiences I’ve been able to see, I’m continually humbled by the amount of trust that the Lord places in His missionaries. I do know that this is the Lord’s work, and that this is His Church. There are three experiences that I thought I would like to share.

First, Elder Sieverts and I were praying one day about where to go knocking doors, and we both felt deeply impressed to go to a certain area near us. We had only knocked one door, and on the second one, a young woman answered. She came outside, and began visiting with us about religion, and the Book of Mormon. About halfway through her conversation, she said, “This is the craziest thing. Literally two minutes ago I was talking with my roommate about how I needed to get back into church. We had to stop our conversation because y’all knocked! That is just so crazy!” We felt the Spirit touch us that we had found who Heavenly Father wanted us to find on that particular day.

The second big miracle that happened to us was very humbling, and touching. As we were leaving the apartment, Elder Sieverts and I felt good about knocking doors in a particular area (if you can’t tell, we knock doors a lot). As we started driving down the road, I received the strongest impression to pull over, and pray again. The feeling overcame me so quickly, and so deeply, it would have been nearly impossible to miss. As I pulled over, Elder Sieverts said, “That’s weird, I was just feeing the same way.” We said a quick prayer, and within a few seconds we both felt a different area to go contacting in for the day. We adjusted our plans, and began driving again. The very next corner we came around, we saw a massive car accident that had just barely happened. It had happened so recently (within the past minute or so) that no emergency vehicles were even in sight. Luckily everybody was okay, but both cars were totaled, and metal was strewn everywhere. As we drove away from the accident scene, Elder Sieverts said, “Elder Robb, did you realize that if we wouldn’t have pulled over when we did, and prayed, that would have probably been us in that accident?” I hadn’t even realized this, and I felt the Spirit touch me very deeply. As we continued in our car ride for the next ten minutes or so, I just felt so overwhelmed at the true power of the Spirit, and how it has the ability to literally protect us from dangers. I was reminded of the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 84:88, “…I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.” I felt how true this scripture is from this experience, and how Heavenly Father not only cares about us spiritually, but physically. His Spirit will always be there to protect us, if we let Him in.

The last experience I wanted to share was about the Blair’s. They are the less-active couple we found about two weeks ago who felt they should go through the temple, and wanted to start coming back to Church again. We were able to meet with them this week, and had a fantastic lesson with them! We went over the Temples and Families pamphlet that the Church has out, and as we went through it with them, the Spirit was so strong. In the pamphlet, there is a picture of a temple sealing room. As we got to the page, Brother Blair just began to cry. We sat there in silence for a minute or so, and then he looked at us and said, “I want my family there [pointing to the picture of the sealing room].” As we turned the page, there was a picture of a Celestial Room. His wife spoke up and said, “Wow, what is this room?” We explained, and bore our testimonies of the power, safety, and security we find in the sacred Celestial Room, and throughout the rest of the Temple. The Spirit was so strong there, and it was a lesson that was truly led by the Spirit.

On Sunday, Elder Sieverts and I were standing and talking to a few members at church when I saw someone walking towards me. I looked up, and it was Brother Blair! He said, “Elders, I can feel the Spirit by just walking into this building. I can’t imagine what the temple is like. This morning I had forgotten where the Church was, but I said a prayer and felt that the car in front of me would lead me here. Sure enough, they pulled right into the Church parking lot. Elders, God literally led me here.” We had barely sat down as Sacrament Meeting started before he was just in tears again. As the sacrament came around, he hesitated when the bread tray got to him. He sat there, and when I looked over, I just saw tears coming down his face. He took a piece of bread, held it in his hand for a minute, and then ate it. It was one of the most spiritual sacrament meetings of my life. Elder Sieverts and I couldn’t help but feel the pure love and desire that emulated from him. I gained such a strong testimony of the sacrament right then and there. After the meeting was over, I looked at him and said, “What’d you think?” He smiled, looked at me, and said, “Wow. Where have I been for so long? It was incredible. I will for sure keep coming back each week.” He continued and stayed all three hours, and participated a lot. As he left, I couldn’t help but feel the power that the sacrament has, and the power that the Savior has to heal and allow us to become more than we currently are. As I have continued to think about my experience on Sunday, I have felt so blessed that the Spirit has been able to lead Elder Sieverts and I to three people that needed to come back to church (the Blair’s and Alyssa). The Lord lives, and never forgets His sheep.  

There is a certain phrase in the Sacrament prayers that has really stood out to me this week, “We ask thee in the name of thy son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this bread to the SOULS of all those who partake of it…”. For the first time in my life, I feel that I more fully understand what this means. As I watched Brother Blair, and how excited he was to take the Sacrament again, and how much thought and prayer he put into the action, I realized that he was taking it for his SOUL, not just for himself as a way of habit. I would pray that as we each take the Sacrament in the coming week that we may prepare ourselves to take of it with our souls, and not just to do it. I know that if we do this, it will give us added strength throughout the week.

I love you all so much. I love this Gospel more than I can ever describe. I know it’s true, and that there is a Savior. May we ever feel of His Love, Hope, and Security He brings to the World.

Until Next Week-

Elder Robb