I'm an investigator and the Holy Ghost is the missionary! Dec 17, 2012

Remember my thoughts on me as an investigator and the Holy Ghost as the missionary... Actually I don't know if I ever shared them before. I was studying in Preach My Gospel this week with this same thought process. I had gone on exchanges with Hermana M which by the way SHE is AMAZING!!! And the exchange really helped me learn a lot. I have been battling a little thing this transfer. I am the kind type of person that when I get around someone who is more outgoing I tend to let them take over and stay in the background. Hermana V is very outgoing! Which is really great! You should have seen her last night in our lesson with a less active member! It was incredible but because she is outgoing and bold I would normally let her take over. However, I have been battling not letting myself slide back to the background but to stay close to the front. It has been interesting. It has been pushing me to go beyond places I have not been before and I am doing... okay. I have been a lot better this week since the exchange. Okay that was a super sidetracked thought but I was with Hermana Marquez and she was telling me about Chapter 11 of Preach my gosple in our Companionship study. It motivated me to read it for my personal study and this is what I learned. First you have to read what Preach my gospel actually says which is this: "As a missionary you desire the salvation of souls (see Mosiah 28:3). You know that people can come unto Christ and be saved only on conditions of repentance (see D&C 18:10–16). One way to fulfill your desires is to cry repentance (see Alma 5:49; D&C 15:6; 16:6) and boldly invite people to exercise faith unto repentance, to be baptized by water and the Spirit, and to endure faithfully to the end (see 3 Nephi 27:16–20; Mormon 7:10)." "Commitment is an essential part of repentance. It is the act of obligating oneself to a course of action and then diligently following through on that decision. When people are genuinely committed, they have real intent, meaning that they fully intend to do what they have committed to do. They make an unwavering and earnest decision to change. They become devoted to Christ and dedicate themselves to His gospel. Keeping their commitment is how they “truly manifest by their works that they have received of the Spirit of Christ unto the remission of their sins” (D&C 20:37). When you ask for commitments as part of your teaching, you are inviting the investigator to repent." But I was thinking about me as the investigator and the Holy Ghost as my missionary so I changed some of the words in my Preach my gospel to say this: "As a the Holy Ghost, he desires the salvation of souls. He knows that I can come unto Christ and be saved only on the conditions of repentance. One way to fulfill his desires is to cry repentance and boldly invite me to exercise faith unto repentance, to be baptized by water and his Spirit, and to endure faithfully to the end." That first paragraph is a warm up this is the good stuff: "Commitment is an essential part of repentance. It is the act of obligating oneself to a course of action and then diligently following through on that decision. When I am genuinely committed, I have real intent, meaning that I fully intend to do what I have committed to do. I make an unwavering and earnest decision to change. I become devoted to Christ and dedicate myself to His gospel. Keeping the Holy Ghost commitment's is how I completely show by my works that I have received the Spirit of Christ unto the remission of my sins. When The Holy Ghost asks for commitments as part of his teaching, he is inviting the investigator (me) to repent." Isn't that cool? I have been thinking a lot about obedience and breaking habits that are not necessarily bad but I could be doing better for example saying "Como like" in Spanish. I have thought about what I, as a missionary am asking the people I teach to do. I am asking them to break habits and to keep commitments. It is interesting to see the changes that someone can make. For example in our lesson last night with this Less active member my companion flat out asked him a direct question. When we found out the answer was no we asked him to change and to start today making the answer become yes. I really hope it works out for them. I know Heavenly Father is just standing at the door waiting to bless them with an infinity amount of blessings all he needs to do is start moving. I was also studying repentance in True to the Faith along with this study session of Chapter 11 and I learned that... well it says this "Repentance is one of the first principles of the gospel (see Articles of Faith 1:4). It is essential to your happiness in this life and throughout eternity. Repentance is much more than just acknowledging wrongdoings. It is a change of mind and heart that gives you a fresh view about God, about yourself, and about the world. It includes turning away from sin and turning to God for forgiveness. It is motivated by love for God and the sincere desire to obey His commandments." I am really excited to have learned all this. It is amazing! As for stories this week we had a funny thing happen night. I was really... well last night we decided to go caroling. We went by a women's home we had found on Saturday and sand her 2 songs. We visited with her for a bit then went to the next home. When the man opened the door and we told him what we were doing and asked if we could sing a song he said "no we don't have time". We decided to sing to the little kids but half way through the song a lady came to the door said "we don't have time for this" then shut the door. I was really bugged. How can you shut the door on the carolers? Especially when it is freezing out side and raining! I am sure I will find it funny later but I am still little bugged. We went to the next house and they opened up and received us. The Elders are going back next week! Anyway please be kind of the Carolers especially if it is cold outside! Don't forget who we are celebrating this year! Think about what habits you can give up to be more Christlike. I love you all! -Hermana Fish