"Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever." -Alma 26:12

Saturday, December 19, 2015

12/6/2015 Diligence


Hello everyone!

This week has been amazing, and has really strengthened my testimony of goal-setting and vision. Since we opened a new mission area in Kouchi a transfer and a half ago, we have steadily built up a teaching pool of investigators. We still have very few solid investigators, and we haven't ever been able to achieve the mission standard of excellency of teaching 20 lessons per week. We have planned, worked, and especially prayed a lot over these past few weeks, and it finally paid off this week! We worked especially hard to find people this last week, and when we finally counted up the lessons at the end of the week we had taught 24 lessons, doubling what we had been able to do just the week
before. I know that this was definitely a blessing from God, and that we would never have been able to achieve our goal without His help. He placed specific people in our path and prepared them to receive our message.

 One of those people that have been prepared by God is Yan san. I have talked about him before in my emails, but we are really excited for the progress he has made. He has received almost all the lessons, and his baptism is scheduled for this next Sunday. We are really hoping and praying that he will be able to be baptized this Sunday, but I know that even if he doesn't get baptized on Sunday, he definitely will be baptized someday. His faith is getting stronger all the time, and we can see the physical changes he is making in his life to follow the commandments of God and walk in the footsteps of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Christmas time is such a great time to be a representative of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, because we can share with everyone the true meaning of Christmas. Speaking of Christmas, the church just released the new Christmas video on their website, and it was really good! If you haven't had the opportunity to see it, I would invite all of you to do so (https://www.mormon.org/christmas). This Christmas season truly is an amazing time to ponder and learn more about the life of our Savior. Right now as a mission we are all reading the first four doctrines of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) along with chapters 11-30 in 3 Nephi of the Book of Mormon. We are reading with a focus on the Doctrine of Jesus Christ, (if you want a hint about what the doctrine of Christ is exactly, look in 2 Nephi 31) and how we can apply that doctrine to our lives. I would invite all of you to join with us in this study, reading each day and pondering on what Christmas means to you. I'd love to hear any insights that you are having as you read and apply the doctrine!
   
That's all from me, I love you all and hope you have a great Christmas season filled with family, friends, and charity!

Winegar長老よ (Elder Winegar)

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