Lovest Thou Me?

I'm realizing that it's important to make an effort to develop relationships. I'm super interested in how people perceive me when they first meet and get to know me so let me know what you thought of me when we met! I feel like my whole life I've always wanted to be around people who I feel like added value to my life, and therefore my work to develop relationships was pretty much effortless. The mission is different, you get thrust into situations all the time where you are forced to develop relationships with people that you may think will add nothing to your life. However, I've realized that every human has something that you can learn from and grow from. I'm so grateful for all of you and all the experiences we've had together!

This week Jacob decided to be baptized! Super excited for him, we're shooting for April 9 because he's ready. I've been thinking a lot about the power of covenants and the gift of the Holy ghost. A few of our other friends attend another church, and they invited us to barf weekend (bring a real friend). I was on exchanges with Elder O'Neill, and it was awesome. It's basically just a concert followed by a motivational sermon that happened to have some anti Joseph Smith sentiments sprinkled in. When we first met our friends who attend there, we were blown away by their commitment to that church and their total ignorance in what they believe and the Bible as a whole. After attending church, we understood why. These people love God and his son Jesus Christ, and they love how they feel when they worship Him and sing praises to him. They love feeling the spirit. I had a chance to talk to the pastor for about an hour after the service, and he gave me a book he wrote called "grace on tap" with a picture of a keg on the front labeled grace. I realized that that is so true! They are treating the spirit as if it were a drug. It sustains them for that week and then they come back and feel it again. They cannot have the presence of the Holy ghost with them all the time, because they haven't made a covenant or received baptism by proper authority. The church has had 78 baptisms in 2022 already, which is more than our mission has baptized in the past year. They don't have any requirements for baptism, but it's still pretty impressive to me! Their membership is very involved in sharing the gospel. They invite their friends, and try to bring everybody to Jesus even with their limited knowledge.

We have been blessed with so much! It hurts my heart to think about all the people that have been kept from the truth only because they know not where to find it. I love the Savior's teachings,

Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life (John 4:13-14.)

That's why we make covenants. That's why God requires more. Because he doesn't care about how well we sing songs or how many times we say amen. He wants us to become like Him! I'm so excited for general conference. The genesis of scripture is always powerful to me. Please choose to help feed His sheep this week! The field is white! Invite someone to watch conference. Our God lives, and his words never cease. I love you guys!

-Elder Dahl