Well this past week has been great miracles are happening here left and right and most of the time I still can't even believe how much the Lord has blessed Elder McGahan and I here.
Yesterday Elder McGahan and I were out tracting. We were tracting on Charlie street which is in North Burnaby. Normally missionaries in the past haven't spent too much time in North Burnaby because it's further off than other places you can go. But these past few weeks Elder McGahan and I have been making time to go there because we both feel that it is important. We've had much success so far! We found that guy Steven I think I told you about him last week from doing street contacting around there. So we decided that we were going to go to Charlie street and we started knocking doors. For the first few houses people were not receptive to us, but we kept on working. We eventually got to this one house and it was under construction and I couldn't see any lights inside. So my initial reaction was to keep going, and I almost did! Then I got this impression no we need to knock on this door, so we did. We knocked on the door and a lady comes out to her balcony and starts talking to us, we told her that we were missionaries and that we were sharing a message about Jesus Christ that would bless her and her family. She said she really appreciated what we were doing she just didn't think that he husband would be interested in speaking with us because he was a strong believer in his faith. So we offered her a restoration pamphlet and she said she would come downstairs to get it. So she opened the door to take the pamphlet and her husband was standing at the top of the stairs, and I don't even know how it happened but we started talking to the husband and next thing you know Elder McGahan and I are inside this guys house and were speaking with this whole family! It honestly took me by surprise because we had only been tracting for less than 10 minutes and it's very rare for someone to invite us into their home when were tracting. But it was a wonderful lesson, the spirit was there and we bore powerful testimonies! Looking back now I know that it was a miracle, we have been so blessed here in Burnaby and truly the Lord has been helping us in the work. So this whole family are now all new investigators, were going to see them again Sunday afternoon. Their names are 1. Teck (The husband) 2. Candice (Wife) and 3. Francis
(Teck's mother). They are such a humble family, as we were speaking with Teck I was impressed by how well he knew the Bible, and much of his beliefs that he has now are almost identical to the doctrines of the church! We told him about modern prophets and he said that he would be willing to do research on the subject and find out if this is true, we gave them 2 copies of The Book of Mormon. I'm so excited to see where this family goes, truly they have been prepared by our Father in Heaven.
The weather here has been nice, it's alot colder though it been around 0 to -3 everyday and it snowed two times in the past week which is sweet!
On Sunday we had Stake Conference, and there was a member from the quorum of the 70 it was wonderful to hear the message that he had. The general theme overall for the conference was missionary work and why we do it. I learned alot and I was able to feel the spirit there. Rose and Gordie were able to make it which is fantastic. We invited Rose to be baptized this week also, however she is still not ready, Elder McGahan was there because I was on exchange but he told me that she believes in everything that we teach and she feels that it is true. She just doesn't want to cause any unnecessary conflicts within her family circle. We're going to continue to meet with her as well as Gordie and Kristina. The fact that we are teaching that whole family is a miracle as well. Think about it Gordie started to investigate the church because of the Book of Mormon Broadway musical. So he starts investigating and then he gains a testimony, and he asks to be baptized and he talks to his mom about it. And now his mom is sitting down with us 2 young kids who don't even come close to having the same amount of experience that she has but she is willing to listen to what we have to say and read the Book of Mormon. I love the family so much, they're wonderful.
This week we have zone conference on Friday and Saturday so I'm really excited for that. I also can't believe how quickly Christmas is coming.
This past week we've been working especially hard and I just come home at night and I want nothing more than to just collapse in my bed and sleep! It's crazy but we're being blessed here and I know that we have the spirit guiding us every step of the way. This is his work so we have to do it his way not ours and there is no other way to do missionary work. I know that The Book of Mormon is true, I know that all who pray and ask in faith believing in Christ will receive an answer from the Holy Ghost confirming to them the truthfulness of it.
Have a great week!
Elder Kameron Lahache
<"I know that the Book of Mormon is true... the Holy Ghost confirming to them the truthfulness of it."> Kameron, how is it not different from the Calvinist criterion of 'divine inspiration': "We know it to be from God because God's Spirit within us recognizes it as His"?
ReplyDeleteYour website:
<"Of course it's one thing to read the Book of Mormon and another to believe deep in our hearts that what it says is true. This sincere belief, or testimony, in the truth of the Book of Mormon comes when God sends His Spirit to confirm the truth of what we read. We can feel this confirmation..."> This clearly speaks of Luther's criterion of the 'divine': how we deeply feel about it. From the Protestant point of view, man, especially his intellect, has become irremediably corrupted since the Fall therefore 'divine communication' would rather engage man's emotions than illumine his reason (for it is already useless). A religion more of the tumultuous realm of swinging emotions.
And your "Book":
<“And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would 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. ” (Moroni 10:4)> Then the method taught by the 'Spirit' to Zwingli: "... Learn the pure teaching of God from His own plain [written] word. Then I began to ask God for light... and," Calvin continues, "the Spirit establishes a certitude by His testimony... Illumined therefore by His power we conclude with certainty... that... they have come down to us from the mouth of God." This is private inspiration or illumination upon which Montanus and his sect built, Luther and his fellow revolters, the Anabaptists, and the like.
How is the 'Spirit' that breathes in you different then from the 'Spirit' that breathes in the Protestant sects? And if the same 'Spirit' why not be of one communion, of "one faith?" (St. Paul to the Ephesians, 4.5)