Elder Jeffrey Hurst: Week 5

It feels like i just had P-day mostly beacuse i did! Not a lot has happened since the last p-day. On sunday we had really good devotials. One of the talks was by Bednar. It talked a lot about becoming Preach my gospel Missionaries. One thing that really stuck out to me was he said before we teach someone we need to 1. Observe 2. Listen 3. Discern and 4. Teach what the spirit tell us to say. This is somethings i have lacked in my lessons. I feel a lot of the time i just run my mouth without really knowing what im going to say and when i do this i dont really teach what the spirit tells me to stay. So that is something i have been working on in our lesson this week.

We had our last lesson with Maria on Monday. We taught her about temples. After our teachers told us that we need to be more general when we teach about temples in the field. It was a really good lesson other than that. The spirit was really strong and i think it was a perfect way to end things with her.

Elder Daniel Jensen left this monday. We spent a lot of time with him while we have bee here so it was sad to see him go. But its cool to see him begin his mission. We leave for the field in five days. It feels a little surreal. Up to this point i haven't exactly felt like a missionary. I have felt more like a student. We have been learning how to be missionaries, how the Lord wants us to teach the people his message. One thing i have learned is that we are the mouth pieces for God. He works through us. When we say something its not us saying it. Its the Lord saying it, and he can tell us what to say if we truly listen. I know in some of the lessons that we have given that there is no way i would know what to say if it werent for gods help. But to be a mouth piece of the Lord we have to be worthy of it. We cant just excpect the lord to put words in our mouth without working for it. We have to study the words of him. The more as i have been learning about the Savior the more i feel like i know him. That is my goal. To learn so much about him that i know him. And one way i think of doing this is walking a little in his shoes. I think thats what a mission is about. We get closer to christ as we teach people about him. We of course help people do the same. This is truly the lords work and we are instruments in his hand. None of this would be possible if it weren't for him. I know that Christ lived. I have felt his love for me and can't wait to go spread the word to the people in Texas in five days. I know that there is going to be hard times but when i rely on the lord i will be able to make it through anything.

I can't wait to tell you all about McAllen.

Love, Elder Hurst