This was a pretty good week. We found 6 new investigators and taught 21 lessons, finally passing the 20 mark that's supposed to be the minimum for each week. And our goals for this week feel so inspired! We're pretty excited. We also have Specialized Training on Wednesday and it's going to be great. I have the feeling that things are going to really start rolling here in Merced if we'll just step it up and keep moving forward.
Earlier this week, we talked briefly to a man named J who said that he first met Mormon missionaries many years ago in Alabama. He said we could stop by on Saturday. So we knocked on his door and a woman named F answered. She said J was out of town and probably wouldn't be back until next week. We asked if we could say a prayer with her and she said yes. The Spirit was strong as we prayed and she thanked us for coming. I asked if their was anything we could do for her. After hesitating a bit, she confided to us that her husband had gotten deported the day before. We read a scripture in Alma 7 about the atonement with her and taught her how to pray and invited her to say a prayer. She did, and she invited us to come back the next day. She has a beautiful family of 6 kids, and I know that it was not coincidence that we were led to them during this difficult trial.
I've been thinking a lot about humility lately. I never used to get it. To avoid become proud and arrogant I would always beat myself up, emphasizing my faults and minimizing my strengths. Anytime that I would start feeling confident and good about myself, it always seemed to slip into arrogance and conceit. So I thought it was better to just be down on myself. However, I recognized that that wasn't really humility either. I just couldn't figure out why exactly.
I had my "Aha!" moment a few months ago when I read about humility in True to the Faith. It says, "To be humble is to recognize gratefully your dependence on the Lord." That is the key! Gratitude! It is not enough to see ourselves in our fallen state. If we recognize our dependence on the Lord, but resent it, we are proud. If we see the many blessings our Heavenly Father gives us but then say that we aren't deserving, we aren't worthy, then we are resenting those blessings, and we are showing pride, not humility.
So how do we develop humility? Expressing gratitude! As I have made more effort to express gratitude for my blessings, as I have tried to recognize the hand of the Lord in my life and then tell Him how thankful I am for it, I have not only come to realize that I cannot do this work without His help, I have also come to realize that with His help, I CAN do it! For in His strength, I can do all things.
I love you all so much!
Elder Lofthouse
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