Faith During Pain and Pleasure

 

Hello everyone! 

This week has honestly been the most stressful week I have had in a long time. I do have a couple cool stories though. We have been traveling all around the area looking for people. 

We have met a lot of new people to find and teach. Many hearts have changed since the missionaries last met these people. It has been great to see and I hope the best for Spencer. 

Angela is all set for baptism and has figured out a lot of challenges that stood in her way. We will go see her again Tuesday and figure out a baptism date. She has changed so much and I have loved to see how the gospel changes people. She has a lot more hope and peace now. I'm excited to see what happens next.  

We meet a lot of people you wouldn't normally meet here on the mission. There was one person we met yesterday named Adam. He is a biker raised in this area his entire life. He was interested in hearing more about the Book of Mormon. We talked with him and soon discovered his very crude and vulgar way of speaking. That's about the quickest I have seen the Holy Ghost driven from a lesson. 

He said he believes in Christ and knows the Bible very well, but doesn't go to church. He talked with him about how the Book of Mormon and Bible support each other. We asked what he would do if he found out the Book of Mormon was the word of God and he said he would give up. He believes he is already going to Hell and doesn't care anymore.

He actually liked us and invited us over for a cookout with his biker gang, so of course we accepted the invitation. This taught me that everyone deserves to hear the message of Jesus Christ and his gospel. No matter who they are or what they do, only they can chose to deny this message. 

I have something to share that may take a lot of people by surprise. These past few weeks and even months have been very difficult for me. They have been more difficult than I have talked about or even admitted to myself. 

In the best interest of my health and safety, I have chosen to return home early from the mission. This has not been an easy decision, but I know it is the right one. I know that I have given my best effort and it has been a great experience for me. 

I have learned a lot about myself and other people. I will be forever grateful for this opportunity. Thank you all for reading my emails these past few months. I hope to get back in contact with all of you when I return home.

I have one final thought I would like to share with all of you. I think about the idea of pressing forward in Christ that I have mentioned before. I know that through faith we can overcome hard things. Although, there is another side of faith. The faith to move forward even when things have not worked out. I don't know what the future will hold, but I am hopeful for what will happen next. I know can always find comfort in the idea of...

Move Forward with Confidence Regardless of Consequence 

Elder Oram