Hey Everybody,

Time is definitely speeding up. I am coming on my six months left mark, and it really makes the missionary work more urgent. Time has gone by so fast, and there is just so much to do with finding people, teaching, and working with members, and helping the ward, and strengthening the members. Sometimes I feel like there needs to be more of me than just one, but that just means that the work needs to be done in line with the Lord's will and the goals set with the area presidency and ward. We had an area presidency broadcast which talked about the goals for the Pacific area, and the goals that they had for the wards and stakes. It was great because the focus was on the temple and family history work. One of those things was the "Family History: 15 in 15" which is having four generations on family history with all of their temple work done by the end of 2015. Family history is a great work, and it is missionary work, and the greatest of joy comes with missionary work. That is for certain. Missionary work is evidence of love, which the Lord is eager to change into charity. A great quote that our mission president told us on his weekly letter is: “the measuring stick of your love of the Savior and our Heavenly Father is the same measurement of your love of your fellow men". Not completely quoted right but the idea is there - how much you love your fellow men is how much you truly love God. And charity never fails, so we are ever empowered when we have charity. Charity is the motive of God, and so when we develop Charity, we can begin to see more of God's will, for we can understand the why more. "For God so loves the world that he gave his Only Begotten Son.” and there are far more examples of His love for us, being why He does what He does. The more love we have, the greater we can understand Him. Love is so important. When we focus on other people we accomplish greater things than we thought we could and we are empowered. When one reaches out to others, not thinking of one's self, they overcome fears and worries because they aren't focused on such emotions, for that would be focusing on the self. Selflessness is self-empowerment. Charity is power, and pure.

 

This past week was great because we had a baptism on Saturday, an investigator of our wonderful sister missionaries in our ward. It was wonderful to see him take on the covenant of baptism, especially since I got to know him from church since he's been coming so many times. There was a sense of joy in the meeting, especially after he was baptized, and that was a witness to me of the greatness of missionary work and a motivator for me to keep ploughing on and doing all I can to serve the Lord fully.  

 
Well, you all are wonderful, and it will be an amazing day when we come to realize who we really are and just how precious we truly are. Love you all, and take care.
 
Love,
 
Elder J. Cederlof