Week 59

Hello All

I wrote down some things this week so I can remember to share it with you. 

It was an amazing week. The most amazing part of it was when Elder Nielsen of the Area Presidency came to our Zone Conference. That man is truly amazing. We mainly focused on Alma 17-24 during the conference. We talked about helping people awake from a spiritual sleep through the Holy Ghost. As missionaries we help people awake from that sleep and remember their first lessons in the Pre earth life. We help them to wake up to the reality of the Saviors plan. 

Also, a fun fact of the day... We were talking about repentance at the conference. In Hebrew, the word for repentance is Shub. It means to turn from or to change. In Greek, in means Meta neoa. Which means to become a new Creature. That's where the work metamorphosis came form. So in the Bible when it talks about repentance, it merely means a change from something. When the Bible was translated into Latin, it was paenitentiam. That's where the word penitentiary came from, to mean like punish, or prison. Repentance is supposed to be joyful, it's not supposed to have the negative vibe to it as the word has today. When we repent, we become a new creature in Christ, just like when a caterpillar changes into a butterfly. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

We also had a fun experience door knocking. This street we knocked was probably the most prepared street I have ever knocked. We knocked in to at least 3 - 5 homes that had a family member pass away, and about 3 houses with new born babies. Each time we would knock into one of those houses, they would politely ask us to leave. It is rather sad that they weren't receptive to the very message that would give answers and help them in their situation. One lady lost a son and blames God for all her hardship and wonders why he didn't take her instead or why these things happen. We started to teach her the message but she kept cutting us off and won't allow us to answer her questions. We tried the best we could to answer her questions and give her an opportunity to learn. 

Another lady just had a baby, so I ask the question of " How did you feel when you were holding your new born?" I was expecting something like" I felt so close to God" or " It was a really precious moment for me to hold something so innocent", but instead we got " oh... it was nice. Look, I'm not interested, bye." Just a another day in Aussie land.

Love Elder Westbrook