Laramie Week 8

Whoot! Hello from good 'ole Laramie, Wyoming! I hope this email finds you well!

I am short on time but want to share one experience from the week and one thing I learned this week studying 'Faith' in the scriptures.

First, this is definitely the Lord's work and not mine. I am a teeny tiny cog in His masterpiece. That isn't to say I'm not important - all of us are extremely important to our Heavenly Father. It is just amazing that we didn't really have much going for us in terms of appointments with people that aren't members, and now we do. Seemingly out of nowhere four people that aren't members want to meet with us and learn about the Gospel. The most miraculous of which occurred last Sunday. In the 3rd hour of church of of the guys created a 20 min video (he spent 8 hrs putting it together) of a "best of General Conference." Essentially, he emailed lots of friends and family to send him the moments of General Conference that touched them the most. Wow. It was one of the best videos I had ever seen. He was trying to help us get prepared for the semi-annual General Conference of the church that is happening on the first weekend of April (the 5th and 6th). It is where all the the prophet, his 2 counselors, the 12 apostles, and other general authorities of the church deliver messages to the church. They basically call us to repentance and change our lives to be more in tune with what the Savior Jesus Christ asks of us. After this video, I met a girl in our ward and her nonmember boyfriend who during that video felt the Spirit and desired to be baptized this upcoming weekend! We have never met with him before - we will be shortly this evening. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he has already read 9 chapters of it since Sunday afternoon. I can definitely testify that nothing I did caused him to want to be baptized, but the Lord has had a hand in his life and he now wants to be baptized. I feel blessed that the Lord felt that my companion and I are obedient and responsible enough to teach Chris the Gospel. We are excited!

Now for what I learned in studies this week on faith in the scriptures. It was a great experience and I learned a lot. My favorite was a quote I heard the other day: "Faith has a short shelf life" - from President Henry B Eyring. I had never heard that before and it blew me away. What blew me more away was that he told us if we don't have a new favorite scripture every week, we are not increasing our faith and learning of the Gospel. That was humbling. My favorite scripture of this last week is a story in the Book of Mormon that demonstrates great faith to me. It is 1 Nephi 10:17-19 & 1 Nephi 11:1-6. They go together. Essentially what happens is that Nephi's father Lehi is the prophet of God at the time and receives a vision of "the tree of life." After hearning the vision he writes,"I, Nephi, was desirous also that I might see, and hear, and know of these things, by the power of the Holy Ghost, which is the gift of God unto all those who diligently seek him, as well in times of old as in the time that he should manifest himself unto the children of men. 18 For he is the same yesterday, today, and forever; and the way is prepared for all men from the foundation of the world, if it so be that they repent and come unto him.19 For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, as well in these times as in times of old, and as well in times of old as in times to come; wherefore, the course of the Lord is one eternal round."

Essentially, Nephi completely believes that his father is inspired by God and that God will reveal His mysteries to everyone who seeks. He believes what Jesus said in Matthew 7 to be true: "7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." He knows that God loves all of us individually and personally and chose to act on that faith. Ultimately he did receive the vision that his father saw - because of his faith. I wish it were another way, but the only way to receive witness that something is true is after you exercise great faith in Jesus Christ. God will not reveal His truths unto us if we do not reveal our faith in him by asking/seeking/knocking. I know that I have come to learn so much in just these first weeks on my mission here by exercising faith in Christ and studying the word of God in the Scriptures. If you are looking to do something different in your faith this week, dig into the Word of God more! It is truly amazing what I have learned from praying, listening to the Spirit, and reading from God's Word.

Have a great week!

Elder Jeffrey Campbell :)