Dear Everyone,

Many things have been learned this past week. One experience that I'll mention is when Elder Samuela and I were teaching a new investigator about the Book of Mormon. The spirit was there and ever sweet. Both Elder Samuea, who is a zone leader and we were on trade-offs, and I felt that spirit and we know that the man, Dave, felt it too. He was very excited to receive the Book of Mormon. That day with the zone leader testified to me how if we work hard and give our all, we have the spirit with us. With that spirit comes joy and guidance. Who doesn't want that?

We also had the privilege of going to a conference for hearing from Elder Bednar. In advance, he had us study talks he'd given on a few occasions. The talks focused on putting action with our prayers and action with our faith. True prayer should be exercising faith in Him, and exercising our faith in Him through action. That same thing occurs with learning by faith. We must act in accordance to correct principles and must show the Lord that we are acting on the gospel and the things we know and desire to know. Then he'll bless us with knowledge. The best way to gain a testimony is to share that which we have. When we give that which we have, we receive it back and more. I also learned that we are agents, and so our learning and growth must be based upon that. We must act on our faith, and experiment with the word of God. Missionary work is an example.

It was remarkable to have Elder Bednar come to our area, and I will most assuredly act upon those things we learned. He didn't even speak the whole time of his portion given. He had the congregation of missionaries get involved. The answers came as he gave us agency with our learning, by letting us participate and act in accordance to our desires to learn. At the end it was open question for Him and the four other quorum of the seventy in attendance. A great opportunity and lots of inspired questions with inspired answers. The spirit was there. I gained a greater testimony that we have living apostles today, and that they are inspired in their duties and also that we can receive great revelation if we act - for we act in faith, and then are empowered. The mission has been wonderful thus far and I'll be enjoying the final quarter I have left. Love you all!

Love,

Elder J. Cederlof
 
P.S. By the way, an Elder asked Elder Bednar how he could know what questions to ask God in prayer. The invitation by Elder Bednar to the missionary was to go through all of the standard works and mark the questions asked by the Godhead and those of God, including prophets and angels. Study the circumstance and why they asked the question, and then you'll gain understanding of asking the right questions in prayer.

 

 

Justin & Elder Gardner stuck in an elevator for an hour!