Super Powers?

How's it going??

It's been a pretty good week as far as missionary work is concerned. One of the more interesting things that happened was meeting a 20 year old or so kid named Anthony. We went over to his house to teach his mom, Rita, but she told us she was busy but that we could talk to her son. Anthony is, for lack of a better word, strange. It started off really well as we talked to him. He seemed to really love God, and was nothing but positive about how he has been blessed by Him throughout his life. Then we dug a little deeper.... apparently Anthony receives revelation in the form of visions to do the Lords work. He has the gift to travel at super speed, and can, on occasion fly and has just about any other power you can think of. Oh yeah, and he can read minds and "go through peoples memories". He also goes through "trials and tribulations" in his room at night and has to fight off shadow monsters. And the icing on the cake is that he is a resurrected being who has been on the earth for thousands of years. We gave him a Book of Mormon and left. I don't think were ever going back.

Right after we left, however, we were able to meet David. David is a 14 year old boy who is looking for a church to attend and seems interested in ours. We talked with him and challenged him to read the Book of Mormon. He is a good kid and says he enjoys church because it keeps him on track and out of trouble. Hopefully we can get him to come to church.

By far the best thing that happened this week was our lesson with Marcella. We had her over at a members house (the Archibalds; former Bishop and his wife) for dinner and then taught her about the Restoration. The spirit was extremely strong, and she said that she believed everything and would read the Book of Mormon. She is really positive and receptive to everything we teach her, and is definitely prepared. I fasted specifically for her yesterday, and I feel very strongly that she will be baptized.

This past week my companion and I have felt that we need to improve on our diligence and we want to strive to be better missionaries in every thing that we do. It can be easy to lose your focus and hard to stay motivated all the time and so evaluating your performance is vital to your success. The other missionaries in our apartment were up really late last night, trying to figure out a way to be the best missionaries. It was interesting that we were all going through the same thing, so in the morning we had an apartmentship study and came up with a plan to do better. The work in our Zone has been really taking off lately, and we have gotten the shout-out the last few times. President Bahr said that our Zone was about to explode with success. We just set a record for most baptisms in a month as a zone for the mission. So we have been doing really well, but we have the desire to do better. The first thing our Zone Leaders said this morning as we planned together was that they had been pondering on how we could be the best missionaries in the world. We came up with a plan and a way to keep each other motivated and to magnify our calling to the greatest extent so that we can be the most effective missionaries possible. I love living with amazing missionaries, all of whom have great desires to serve the Lord and to progress his work. As we give ourselves to the Lord and as we put him as our main focus in life, he will give us what we need to be successful.

I love missionary work. It is exactly what Christ would do if he was on the earth. It is the lifeblood of our church, and it's central purpose. When the church was first organized, missionaries could stand out on the street and preach to anyone who would listen. In the 20th century, missionaries would tract for hours at a time looking for people who would come unto Christ. But now and into the future, missionary work hangs on the balance of what the members do. Member work is vital to missionary work today. It is not only suggested, but expected, that everyone do their part to spread the Gospel. Everyone knows at least one person who the Lord has specifically placed in their paths so that they can be exposed to His Gospel. At the day of our judgement the Lord will ask "If ye are my disciple, who have ye brought unto me?" Don't be one of the ones who has no answer. Forget about yourself or what others think of you. Have courage, for the Lord is on your side. Those who give all they have to help build the Lords Kingdom will be blessed beyond comprehension. Always remember your purpose in life....

Love, Elder Tilley