Where’s the Evidence?

Had a lesson with our friend Eric, and he brought his friend Isaiah. Always love it when our friends bring friends to lessons, we couldn’t ask for anything better. Bonus points on the biblical name as well. Overall the lesson wasn’t bad, probably much of what you would expect for meeting at a Tim Horton’s. Every time we’ve met friends there, it usually results in a great quantity of questions about our beliefs. Both the individuals were very nice and sincere, and I commend them for taking the time to meet with us to learn more about our beliefs; deciding to meet with us rather than drawing conclusions upon what the internet has to say. We had a good discussion, the member who joined us did a wonderful job as well. We talked about continued revelation, the Book of Mormon, what happened to the plates, the witnesses, the true nature of the Godhead, and why we don’t hold to beliefs from creeds, etc.

People really do like their evidence, I really tried to share our point of view that reliable historical evidence is an amazing resource to find out things as they really were and as they really are. We embrace and actively use these discoveries to better understand the past and our place here right now. We could use the many reliable historical sources and history to prove the reality of the restoration of Jesus Christ’s church. Many first-hand accounts and writings can be found of both members and non-members alike about the events that took place and the evidence behind Joseph Smith’s prophetic calling. But that’s not the point, although these evidences are wonderful, that shouldn’t be the foundation of our testimonies, because that’s not how we can acquire Spiritual truth and that’s not how we put our faith in Jesus Christ. Not to take away or diminish our use of historical evidence, but that shouldn’t be our foundation. Our foundation must be upon Jesus Christ, and solely on him, not the historical evidence that points to him; those are welcome to be built on top of that foundation. Ultimately, I believe that a testimony of Jesus Christ should not be founded upon temporal evidence. Understanding that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior and Redeemer of the world is a spiritual truth. Spiritual truths can only be acquired spiritually.

We invited them to read some of the Book of Mormon and to sincerely ask God and acquire the spiritual truth for themselves from the source of all truth if the record is the word of God. They both agreed, and I pray that their hearts may be opened and that their faith may be strengthened.

Portuguese Branch

Over our weekly PMG Zoom call, President Gill shared that the brethren announced that the Portuguese group in the Surrey Stake will be turning into a branch. They also prophesied that there’s going to be multiple Stakes formed in that area in coming years, and we are seeing just the beginning of those fruits. Pretty exciting stuff! I’m actually surprised that the Hindi group wasn’t the one that’s gotten turned into a branch yet (I thought that it was larger than the Portuguese group, but I may be mistaken). The amount of growth that has occurred in the Surrey Stake since I first began my mission there (17 months ago) is pretty incredible!

Limiting the Social Media Work

I’ve continued trying to quickly push out video content for our mission page with my assignment. It’s been good, a bit frustrating seeing the social media sisters make bad decisions with the page, and continue in “traditions of their fathers.” Because that’s how it has always been done. Despite there being other more successful ways of doing things, we fear to do it because it’s contrary to what we’ve always done. I’ve counseled with them a bit about some of these things. They were willing to make a few minor changes, but they are mostly sticking to what we’ve done before. So I’ll just keep doing my best with what’s in my control. It’s kind of sad because the tech elder assignment has effectively fallen into the same plague. It seems like they are falling into the same patterns, doing the same trainings, and eventually falling into monotonous work that isn’t necessary anymore, but once was. All because that’s what we did before and it was effective, so we must keep doing it. I digress, the assignments are probably more necessary or effective than I can currently see it being.

I’m grateful for the assignment for content creation despite the limitations and challenges we’ve faced. My mind is brought to the account where Jesus Christ feeds the 5,000 with five loaves of bread and two fish. It’s pretty incredible how the Lord does impossible math, and with the offering that we give Him, He magnifies it and transforms it to much more than anything we could’ve imagined prior. With the video stuff, we’ve faced a great amount of difficulty with resources, things falling through, scheduling just not working out, bad weather, and deadlines. Despite the difficult circumstances, everything worked out. The Lord made it possible to film and edit videos in just one night. It’s been a miracle seeing the balancing between our area and friends, working with members, zone leadership responsibilities, Elder Blake’s Farsi work, and medical care. Even while bouncing between so many things, the acceleration in actually accomplishing each of those activities has greatly increased to compensate for the less time. I’m just so grateful, that everything has been coming together, it’s been a great test of faith, and my faith continues to build seeing God work mighty miracles in even just the smallest of things.