April 21, 2014

Dear family,

 

It's been another great week!  We were able to do a lot of service this week.  We helped several people move and we also helped a non member pick the grapefruit off their grapefruit tree.  We also had one of the expanded zone conferences this week.  It was really amazing!  They had videos, recent converts speak, a chance for the members to role play, and showed how to invite people to meet with the missionaries.  The recent converts had some amazing stories of how they were invited to meet with the missionaries and how they were converted.  I'm excited for the two expanded zone conferences that are happening this week. 

 

It has been a great week with Easter.  You have probably seen the video on facebook already, but it's called Because of Him.  It was a video that the church put out this week for Easter.  It has been a great way for members to share it with their friends.  There is one member in the ward that as soon as she saw it she ran over to her non member friend's apartment and showed it to her friends.  I think she almost started knocking on doors to show it to people.  Missionary work is a really exciting work!  We were able to take another person to the Easter pageant this week and while we were there I saw someone we taught in my last area.  He was baptized at the end of March and you can tell he is so happy.  It was great to see him again!

 

So yesterday I was able to give a talk in church.  I'm grateful that I was able to study for the talk and learn more about the atonement.  I thought a lot about how we show our gratitude for the atonement.  One way is to share it with others.  Pres. Howard W. Hunter said, "Any time we experience the blessings of the Atonement in our lives, we cannot help but have a concern for the welfare of others..."  I also learned while preparing my talk how useful Preach My Gospel is when you give a talk.  It's an awesome resource!  I'm reminded of that everytime I read it.  That quote can be found on pg 13 of Preach My Gospel.

 

It's been a great week and we have a lot of things going on this week!  I'm excited for the lessons that we have set up and the potentials we have to visit. 

 

Thank you for all of your prayers.  I love you all so much!

 

Love,

 

Elder Joshua Gandy

 

P.S. How many wards do the missionaries in our ward cover?  Sometimes it can be hard to find things to do when you have a small area.  I would find out their names and include them in your prayers also.