Everything seems to land on the same week, and you know this was one of those weeks. But I am incredibly grateful to meet all of the legendary missionaries in the Nanaimo & Victoria Zones over the course of this weekend. I gotta say President Gill has lined up some of the best missionaries (not including me haha) on the Island.

Zone Conference

Zone Conference was very different from what I expected it to be. The Gill’s absolutely knocked it out of the park with their presentation. They shared about understanding the true character of Christ. They began by focusing on how the Savior often introduces himself by his obedience. This first law in heaven was the very first principle he would share to help the people understand his divine identity and mission. This leads into the next topic, understanding and synergizing the justice and mercy of His character. I believe that this spurred from the remarkable address from President Jeffrey R. Holland in his most recent general conference address.

“Yet down through history many have simplified, even trivialized our image of Him and His witness of who He was. They have reduced His righteousness to mere prudishness, His justice to mere anger, His mercy to mere permissiveness. We must not be guilty of such simplistic versions of Him that conveniently ignore teachings we find uncomfortable. This “dumbing down” has been true even regarding His ultimate defining virtue, His love.”

They shared two contrasting images of the Savior. One image depicts the Savior’s loving and merciful characteristic with children, and the other of Him riding a white horse with a crown, and an army behind him, characterizing his justice. Many more ancient orthodox paintings were shared depicting his justice. Often this was characterized by His sword of justice.

“Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.” (Matt. 10:34)

They shared many quotes from President Holland, these consist of: “Hold firmly to what Jesus Christ actually said,” “We must not be guilty of defining Jesus.”

There’s this wonderful BYU Study titled “The Resurrection and Recovering from Disillusionment”, it’s incredible, I recommend reading it. Much of what was discussed at Zone Conference really brought me back to this study and I believe it’s something all members of the church need to better come to grips with (including myself). The article throws you in the crux of Jerusalem and helps you begin to understand the culture of those that eagerly awaited for the anticipated Messiah. These people are actively looking for the “one special individual who will redeem Israel.” The Messiah was characterized as one that would “have dominion over all earthy kingdoms,” he would be “worshiped by all people,” “overthrow his enemies,” and he would “establish an everlasting kingdom.” They were looking for the successor of King David “who would throw off the terrible yoke of Roman oppression and bondage.” These people come to know Jesus of Nazareth and through his ministry and many mighty miracles. They are convinced this is the Messiah that they’ve been waiting for. It was only a matter of time that he was going to deliver Israel and overthrow the Roman government, right? It was devastating, despairing, and faith crushing to everything they have believed of the Messiah as they saw him bruised, whipped, scourged. A Messiah that didn’t fight back, didn’t conquer the kingdom, and suffered even until death being mocked with a crown of thorns. Even Jesus Christ’s very Apostles were left in disillusionment, after Jesus warns them and puts forth the things that will come regarding his death and resurrection. Some even outright denied it, the very thought wasn’t perceivable to them. Anyways, you guys know the history, he rose again, and this new understanding of the true character of the Messiah now began to be realized. The principle behind all of this is, not getting caught up in the traditions of our fathers. Don’t let that hinder you from coming to grips with divine and eternal truth. We must align our will with the Father’s.

The Gills concluded by sharing the purpose of the Book of Mormon is for Christ to manifest himself to all nations. Much of this was shared from a scholar, (they noted that they don’t normally do this) and unfortunately I don’t have the link to their work, but I’m sure you can find it.

There are three manifestations of Christ:

1. The Justice of Christ
2. The Mercy of Christ
3. A God who gives us a choice.

Without Justice and mercy, there is no choice, there is no freedom. Where there is no freedom, there is no growth. President Gill expressed that even though the scholar outlined these manifestations as though they are separate, he believes that both the justice and mercy are always present and that together characterizes Jesus the Christ.

Stake Conference

Stake Conference was incredible! It definitely surpassed my expectations. Elder Peter M. Johnson came to speak and with every session he introduced himself with, “I came to speak by way of assignment from an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, President Jeffrey R. Holland.” He established that the words that he shares with us are not from him, but from the Apostles and the Prophet; he is just sharing them on their behalf. We received an invitation from Elder Johnson to participate in the leadership session of the conference as well, so we got to see all the sessions. They sure made use of us being their haha; Elder Cockx and I were given handheld mics and our job was to run around and give them to all those that share their comments. This session highlighted the importance of love, share, and invite. Elder Johnson shared that as members of the church, we are doing a really great job with the love part, but not so much on the inviting part. He focused on the ministering of Jesus Christ to the Nephites and talked about the importance of ministering one by one. In ward council, just find one individual, one family that we can focus on to minister to.

The evening session of this conference was particularly powerful. He took time to learn as many people’s names as he could. For a guy like me that is so bad with names, it was incredible to see how well he remembered everyone’s names. It was like he already knew everyone there. During the hymns he would approach different parts of the congregation, shake people’s hands, and give them hugs. His testimony was so pure and powerful, he often was overcome with emotion that he struggled to get the words out. He often talked about the why behind everything, to the point where we get to the very striking core of eternal truth, such as why does Jesus love us?

The Trial of Faith

Tyler was interviewed for baptism, and he’s ready! We are incredibly excited for him, he’s such an amazing guy. When we reviewed the interview questions with him he told us that he listened to fifty sections of the Doctrine & Covenants. I also noticed that he has a Jesus wallpaper on his phone, so yeah he’s progressing super fast.

Now this is the hardest part. The baptism is a green light, he’s ready to go, and the adversary is doing everything within his power to stop him. He’s already been having a rough time at home with his family situation, but now it’s amped up to new heights. This is probably the hardest part of being a missionary, is watching people having to grow through the mist of darkness. If you can keep Tyler in your prayers, that would be very much appreciated.