Whattup whattup whattup!
So it turns out that our whole zone's schedule got changed for some reason which makes our P-Days on Thursday and a whole bunch of other stuff, but as far as District 23-B is concerned we only have 11 more days left!!! So the exciting news for the week...Flight Plans!!! I thought it was way funny getting that letter from Hunter about his flight plans home and tonight we'll find out for sure when I'm cruising out del CCM!!!
We also got to be "Hosts" for the new missionaries this week and it made me think about when I reported. but it was way fun to welcome all the new Elders and Sisters and get them comfortable here. The crazy part was that out of the 400 new missionaries reporting about 130 of them were Sisters! Its crazy to see how much more involved the Sisters are getting in missionary work and is totally awesome to know that they made this choice without even being expected to! So to all the Young Womens leaders out there...way to go!!!
One of my favorite parts of this week was for sure our Devotional. This last Tuesday we got the opportunity to hear from Elder Russell M. Nelson. So in the 8 weeks I've been here we've heard from a third of the Quorom of the Twelve! The cool part about hearing from him is the fact that he is the Apostle that is the acting President of Missionary Work and instead of using teleprompters or having a written speech, he got up with his scriptures and spoke to us for about 40 minutes or so. Out of all the Apostles we heard from, his talk was definately my favorite because of the message he shared with us about "The Doctrine." I could seriously go on for hours about what he said, but what I figured I would share with you guys is something that became crystal clear for me early on in the MTC when it was a little more cloudy than it should have been in my teenage years.
I remember one of the first weeks we learned about the "Doctrine Pyramid" and how to explain Doctrine to our Investigators. In Preach My Gospel, President Boyd K. Packer is quoted saying, "Teaching Doctrine changes behavior better than teaching behavior changes behavior." What we learned was that at the foundation of the pyramid was the "Doctrine" or "why" we do what we do. In the middle was the "Principle" or the "what". At the top and smallest part is the "Application" or the "how". As a teenager I have seen the "Application" part take the role in our minds as the "Doctrine", and have seen here that it is crucial that everyone understands the difference. I remember many times when people would say "Is it true that you guys can't watch R rated movies" or "is it true that you guys can't drink caffeine" or "is it true that you guys can't do anything on Sunday." I would say yes to all those things and when they ask why, we normally give the answer "because our Prophet said so" or "because it's good for us", which is a dead giveaway that most of the youth only see what they "can't do" instead of the blessings of their actions. I know that what I'm saying is probably not super clear so I figured I would put it in an analogy that made it all of the sudden make sense to me. Trying to convert people to the Church is like trying to get someone who has no knowledge about school, to go to school. Too many times we get caught saying, "Well what you are supposed to do is wake up at 7 every morning for 5 days a week at about 9 months out of the year. It normally lasts for about 7 hours a day and on top of that, you get work to do at home once you are finished. We take tests and if you don't do well on them, you have to do everything over again. If you do good on them, it feels awesome and we get to do even more school at a higher level." If that is your pitch and is all that people will know about school, do you think we are going to be able to get them to go? That conversation will turn into an awfully short street contact. If you tell them that it is a way to gain knowledge which will eventually lead to more fully qualifying you for a job which will be a way for you to provide for your family, your crowd will be a little more interested.
I feel like in our church, we as members talk too much about what we do and feel like we need to more fully understand the "why". I remember seeing everything start to click in our Investigators mind when we were explaining the commandment of "Dia de Reposo" of "Keep the Sabbath Day Holy." If I were to have taught this when I was 15, I would have said it is a day where "we don't do things we would have done any other day to show our respect for the Lord and use it as a day to remember him." When we explained it to our investigator, we started off by talking with her about how busy our lives are and all of the distractions that we have. We shared Heleman 5:30 with her...a verse that explained the still small voice that the Spirit speaks in. She came to the conclusion that her life was, to say the least, a little hectic and it was difficult for her to hear the spirit. Then we followed with explaining the law of Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy and how as we set aside daily activities and distractions, we are given an opportunity to feel the Spirit and have it help us in our lives. So the point that I am trying to get across is that when we share the gospel with others, we need to explain the Doctrine, Principle, and then Application instead of the Application, Principle, and then Doctrine. I feel like this is such an import lesson that became crystal clear to me here and I hope that others will learn from it, especially the youth in preparation for thier missions and opportunities to share what we believe in their constantly social atmosphere. I sure do miss you guys but I'm way stoked to be out here especially at this time where I'm almost leaving out to the field!!!
Les Quiero Mucho!!!
Elder Justin Wilson
Dallas or Bust!!!
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