February 7, 2011

Dear Family and Friends (and mummy),

Oh how happy and glad I am to be in the wonderful country of England. This mission thing is the greatest in the WORLD!! I am learning so many great things and I am thrilled that I have 18 months left to learn thousands of more things. This has been a great week where I have been able to stop and smell the roses. I was writing in my journal on Wednesday and realised that I was going to fast and not slowing down and thinking. I felt like I had my head down and was just walking straight ahead. I was missing the most important things. I kept thinking that we weren't having much success because everyone this week said no. 

BUT!!! Jackie passed her baptismal interview and everything is rolling. How grrrreat is that??? She gets to make a covenant to always have the spirit to be with her. She only has to remember Jesus Christ and keep His commandments. We get the better side of the deal. Having the spirit always with us is the best strength we could ever have. It is the Comforter that God gave to us when Jesus Christ was going to leave. "If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever." (John 14:15-16) It is the thing that the Nephites prayed for most fervently in 3 Nephi 18 and 19. It is a key help that I believe is very underutilized. We should all be dependent on the Holy Ghost to show us where to go, what to do and what to say. We should always remember Him, and one of the best ways to do that is to read the Scriptures and to Pray. It seems so simple. As we read the Book of Mormon, we read about the life and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We remember Him, and we desire to keep the commandments He has given us. AND if we do that... we will always have the spirit to be with us. It will guide our life. 

How grateful I am to be a member of this church and to be able to offer people this wonderful gift. I have been thinking so much about being grateful. How important it truly is and how we must live with gratitude. I was thinking about prayer and how we do not pray to Jesus Christ, and why we don't pray to Jesus Christ. Everything that we do on this Earth seems to be through Christ... so why not prayer? We are forgiven through Christ, and redeemed through Christ. As I was praying and asking God about it... two thoughts came to my mind that answered what I had been studying and searching about. One, Prayer is through Jesus Christ. We do it in His name. How important that phrase truly is... I believe it is sometimes not truly understood. To do things in His name means to do it as He would do it. As we pray through Jesus Christ, he hears our prayer and through his atoning sacrifice we are forgiven, and understood. We are comforted and strengthened. 

The second was clear "quit worrying about it Elder Krebs and be thankful". That hit me like a load of bricks. I realised how ungrateful for prayer I was being. As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are his children), then at once prayer should become natural and instinctive on our part (Matt. 7:7–11 and B.D.) As we understand that God truly is our Father and created us... then we would die to talk to Him. Ask and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you. How much more grateful can we be? President Monson said "My brothers and sisters, to express gratitude is gracious and honorable, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live with gratitude ever in our hearts is to touch heaven." Let us all strive to touch heaven :)

There I go again... soap boxing it up again. No one here listens to us, and you kind of have to listen to me. You're stuck. Mwahahaha. Yesterday we went out tracking with Tasmin and her 7 year old little sister Danielle. It was the best hour of tracting ever. Danielle is the cheekiest little girl ever. She was starting to get angry at people for shutting the door and started quoting Homer Simpson. People would start shutting the door and she would stick her arm in the way and give them a card. She was so excited and kept telling us to hurry up :) During the Sacrament yesterday, she didn't take the bread but took the water. I asked her why she did that and she whispered in my ear... "I don't like brown bread". I love this family. We absolutely love going over there and talking and having a good time with them. It brings me complete joy. 

Please keep Jackie Southon in your prayers. She is being strong in not drinking tea, and we are very excited for Saturday at 11:00. She has asked me to baptise her and that is a great honour. I knocked on her door, taught her and will not help her enter into the gates of Heaven. I just pray and plead she stays on the straight and narrow. I love you all. More than going to the American Base and getting to do shopping and eat Taco Bell :)

 

Love,

Elder Krebs