Actitude and Rejoicing in Christ

This week was pretty cool!  We went on exchanges with some elders that were struggling a little bit, and it was very interesting to see the impact an attitude can have on your work!  Technically the "magic word" of the mission is attitude, or actitude in Spanish, and we found some amazing things when we were working with a good attitude! One thing I learned, is that if we really trust in the Lord, our life is so much easier!  We don't have to feel fearful, or worry about what to say, we just say what comes into our mind, and it all works out!!  We found a family of potters, and they were so nice and open, and even showed us how they make pots, which was so easy to tie into the gospel!  It was incredible!  And then we did a Zone attack the next day (where the whole zone goes to one area for a time,) and I walked up to a door, and said, "We are going to baptize this contact."  He was so cool!  He said, "Oh, do you guys want to come in and talk?"  It was literally like a gift from heaven!! It was our third door in this attack, and that has not happened in all my mission!

"The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." (Rev. 19:10)

This month we as a mission are focusing on strengthening our faith in Jesus Christ, and it's been really interesting to see the changes in myself!  Part of having faith is having a correct understanding of Jesus Christ and God the Father, and so I have been learning a lot about them, from talks on LDS.org, and the scriptures and Jesus the Christ, but I found something really interesting.  I was listening to a BYU speech by Bruce R. McConkie, Where is the Lord God of Joseph Smith
and it was so interesting, and really re-centered me on the "trunk of the tree" as says Joseph Smith, quoted by Truman G. Madson, in Joseph Smith the Prophet [1].  It was so cool!  So I began to study more the basic things so I could really understand the "arithmetic" of the Gospel.  I was studying the Divine Sonship of Jesus Christ, in the Topical Guide, and I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.  I know without a shadow of a doubt that this is true!  This is such an incredible, all-encompassing, gospel that changes the lives of people forever!!

I love you all!  Keep loving what you do, and rejoicing in Christ!!

--Dallin

P.S.  Today we went on a hike!!!  It was so much fun, and we got to see veins of quartz in the mountain, and be so far from the rest of the people, it was incredible!!

[1] "Oral tradition attributes another wise maxim to the Prophet: 'Don’t climb to the extreme branches of the tree, for there is danger of falling: cling close to the trunk.' One translation: Avoid the vain mysteries and the discussion of them. Avoid imaginative speculation. But Joseph Smith, one must quickly add, made a distinction between the mysteries of godliness-that is, the deeper things that can only be known by revelation to the soul on the how of living a godly life-and the speculative pursuit of matters that are without profit to the soul. 'I advise all to go on to perfection,' he said, 'and search deeper and deeper into the mysteries of Godliness.' The vain mysteries are those of which we know nothing and need not know anything-- whether, for example, the pearly gates swing or roll, or what is the ultimate destiny of the sons of perdition. “Cling close to the trunk.” Truman G. Madsen, Joseph Smith the Prophet (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1989), 104.