19 February 2018 WEEK 87

From page 7 of Preach My Gospel, “The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ is convincing evidence that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored. It is the keystone of our religion, the most powerful resource for teaching this message.” 

In Alma 32, the prophet Alma teaches us about faith, and how if we would experiment upon his words (he mentions experimenting 3 times), that we would find his words to be good. When I connect this sermon on faith with Moroni’s challenge in Moroni 10: 3-5, I think that Moroni is asking us to “experiment” upon his word. Now, most of you know that I have a scientific background and thus have done lots of experiments. The basis of any experiment is to have carefully controlled conditions. Then if you follow the procedure, you will obtain a certain result and it will be the same result every time!

Alma says to, “exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than to desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.”

Moroni tells us to, “Ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

When we challenge an investigator to experiment upon the word, if they come up with any other result except that the BOM is true, and is the word of God, they did the experiment wrong! Let’s help them learn to listen to the Spirit, and to exercise a particle of faith. Let’s help them to pray, not just to pray as they always have, but with a sincere heart and with real intent, meaning that they intend to change according to the answer they receive. Certainly, only they can open their heart and sincerely yearn for truth. So, if they did not obtain the correct result in their experiment, they did not control the conditions of the experiment as set forth by Alma and Moroni. 

This week we received our transfer calls and Elder Fua and I will be staying together for another transfer! Crazy to think that I only have three left. I hope that Everyone was able to have a great Valentines day as we as missionaries were able to. We had the privilege to be waitors at our valentines party at the branch here in Sav. We spent the night serving others and just being goofy haha. 

A  next thing that happened this week was we had 3 baptisms!!! Most stressful planning of my life so far haha. Because one of the parents backed out of letting her son be baptized but we were able to set some goals with her and she gave him permission so we took him haha. Dante was baptized and it was so awesome:)

We also had Zone Conference this week and it was so nice to be able to see some good friends. I love being able to interact with previous companions or even missionaries that I have served around. It fills you with so much joy. 

-- 

-Elder Gibbons-

Keep Trying. Keep Pushing. Keep Believing. Keep Growing. Heaven is Cheering You on Today, Tomorrow, and Forever

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12 February 2018 WEEK 86 600- Days!

So this week we have been working really hard to get Dante prepared for baptism. He will be interviewed this week, so lets pray for him. 

Also we had the opportunity to have district conference on Sunday. We took the long travel of 4 hours on a bus, knee to knee. It was so awesome though, I had a whole lot of fun. It was so good to be able to see all the missionaries from my last couple areas and get to see them. I got to see Elder Miller again which was awesome as usual. The main teaching was focused on having a Book of Mormon on  you at all times to hasten sharing the gospel with others. I leave you with the same invitation to carry a soft copy of the Book of Mormon with you at all times and in all things, and in all places.

In Jamaica, we are in the "gathering the low hanging fruit" phase of preaching repentance and baptizing converts. There may be beautiful and delicious fruits high up in the tree, but you must climb and exert great time and effort to harvest them. There are fruits lower down on the tree that would take less effort to pick and gather. But, here in Jamaica, the ground under the tree is covered with fruit that is fully ripe. We don't need to reach up into the tree at all. All we need do is get down on our knees on the ground under the tree with our basket, and gather the fully ripe fruit. This is a fast process; you can fill your bucket in a couple minutes. Then you turn your harvested fruit over to another (your ward or branch leaders and members) for processing. You want to be on your knees under the tree, filling your basket up as fast as you can, over and over. 

This Gospel is true. Jesus lives! We have tons of help on the other side of the veil waiting and eager to help us with this work. 

-- 

-Elder Gibbons-

Keep Trying. Keep Pushing. Keep Believing. Keep Growing. Heaven is Cheering You on Today, Tomorrow, and Forever.

5 February 2018 WEEK 85

So this week not to much has happened. But we put one of our investigators on date for the 17th of February and he excepted and is really excited. His name is Dante and he is 13 years old. Loves coming to church and has so many friend there it is awesome. 

Today is Elder Fua Birthday so if you would all like to send him and email to wish him happy 20th here is his email: paul.katoafua@myldsmail.net

But I have been super happy this week and just continuously get closer and closer to our Father in Heaven, and his beloved son, Jesus Christ. I know this work is true and miracles are coming forth. 

-- 

-Elder Gibbons-

Keep Trying. Keep Pushing. Keep Believing. Keep Growing. Heaven is Cheering You on Today, Tomorrow, and Forever.