A Good Two Weeks

I am sorry that it has been a couple of weeks since I last emailed. We have been busy! I have had 2 exchanges this last week. Those are always good to get to know the other Elders better. I did one with Elder Hamblin and Yeboah. It seems like not a lot has happened these past two weeks. I guess feeling the the Spirit has become a normality. I feel it almost everyday. It doesn't mean that those days are easier. In fact I have had some pretty dark days this last week, but it does make it easier to know that you are seen, heard, and understood by your Heavenly Father. I am doing better. I guess we need to know the dark to better feel the light. We need to be brought low so the Lord can lift us higher. I think I will just share a few moments where I did feel that spirit. 

The first one just kind of shows how long I have been on mission. We were teaching about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ to someone named doris. It was going well when someone over heard us telling her that we believed that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true church on earth. He was a devout member and said, "I want to ask you two a question when you are done." This is code for, "I want to bash." I actually enjoy bashing, or having a conversation about why the church is true or not. I feel like I could make many pastors retire if they would just listen to me. I have found a lot of tricks to keep people from getting angry. Anyways we started going at it. I helped him find the scriptures he was looking for to try to say that what were saying wasn't true. I think he knew he was in trouble by that point. Of course we confounded the guy. He had nothing to say. As I bore my testimony I could feel the spirit confirm the truth of what we were saying. We have the truth. I know this offends a lot of people, but Jesus Christ offended a lot of people too. The truth can be a stepping stone or a stumbling block.

I just think there are very few things that can bring the spirit like the scriptures. If you are studying what the Lord wants you to study in the way He wants you to study, you should get a feeling in the heart and your mind should be enlightened most of the time. 

I have felt the spirit several times conducting baptismal interviews. I have done 7 so far. It is so exciting to hear how much people have learned and grown since meeting with the missionaries. It gives me a different perspective as I teach. A lot of Elders get caught up on the content of what we teach. They forget that the primary focus is to help others feel that spirit. You can tell who has felt the spirit and who has not. I hope that has never been the case for the people I have taught. 

I love you all! I hope everyone has a good week!

-Elder Garrison 

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