Sunday, October 6, 2013

Another great week in Gwangyang


Hello everyone!
This has been a good week. We had a hard time setting up appointments with a few of our investigators so we spent a lot of long tired days trying to find more appointments. A couple of our investigators we've had for a long time, 김지웅 & 김홍기 have been progressing SO slow, but this week they read the Book of Mormon more and had some pretty thoughtful questions, so hopefully if they can keep it up, their hearts will soften enough to be willing to start making more changes in their lives.
We also saw a pretty neat miracle this week. It was maybe the third day or so that we weren't able to set any appointment or that our appointments canceled and so we had spent a bulk of the day walking, talking, and trying to find new investigators. That being the case, we were getting pretty tired and we could both feel we didn't quite have the enthusiasm that we needed to keep being effective. It was maybe 8:20 when we stopped for a second, re-evaluated, and decided we could most effectively finish off the night by visiting a couple people near our apartment. Just before we took a turn to head towards home, I thought that we'd probably be just a bit too early, so I decided we'd walk around the block one more time and do our best to give out least one Book of Mormon. So we were walking and the first guy we saw coming the other way we stopped and began to teach about the Book of Mormon. The crazy part is that he stopped and listened! We were able to teach a quick lesson about the Book of Mormon, give him a copy, and get his number. Feeling incredible blessed and pretty fulfilled, we started to keep walking when suddenly we hear someone yell out from a few yards behind us, "Hey, are you the Mormons?" We enthusiastically turned around and said "Yes!" She said that she was a little late going home and so she didn't have time right then, but said she wanted to learn about our church and asked if it was ok to get our number and call us later. So we exchanged numbers and went our ways. It all happened in just a minute or so, but I was so touched by a simple yet powerful testimony from God that he was aware of our situation, that He knew we were trying to do His work, and that He is always always ready to reach out His hand in love to the eternal benefit of His beloved children.
I know that this is God's work and that when we rely on Him, His power is manifest. If we rely solely on ourselves, we are "left unto [our]selves" and can only draw upon our personal talent or power. But as we lay our pride down and in humility seek God first and His will, we gain access to the powers of Heaven to pour out God's promised blessings upon us and those we serve. I was impressed again as I ready Ether 12 about the importance of faith preceding the power of God in our lives. If you get a chance, read it again and think what you might be able to change or improve to more readily allow God to be an active part of your life!
Have a wonderful week!
Love, Elder Tolman
PS: a fun fact of the week. I heard Korea just had it's 4400th birthday!! Crazy!

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