Inviting Minneapolis: Upon This Rock

I had transfers this week on Thursday and now my companion is Elder Jenkins! He's from North Logan Utah and is pretty cool! He's a big fan of How to Train Your Dragon, so we talk about that a lot. I realized that our ward isn't so great at finding people to teach, so we met with our ward mission leader and bishop to pick their brains. They agreed and kind of told us that they will do anything we want them to haha. So we kinda came up with a few amendments to the ward mission plan, so hopefully that helps. We had stake conference this week, and it was pretty good except our broadcast kept having issues. We had two friends there for the first time and it was pretty rough. Afterwards, we took some time to chat with Jacob. He is sitting on the fence and wants to have a greater connection to God before he chooses to be baptized. It's hard to argue with that haha, so we're doing our best to facilitate a powerful spiritual witness. In Ether, we learn that a witness only comes after the trial of your faith. Jacob is trying! He does everything we ask him, so we're going to fast for him this week. One of the last talks elder Packer ever gave us is called, The Witness. It's one of my favorites. He says,

Your secret yearnings and tearful pleadings will touch the heart of both the Father and the Son. You will be given a personal assurance from Them that your life will be full and that no blessing that is essential will be lost to you.

One of the greatest things about the church is it facilitates as much spiritual growth as you are willing to obtain. The principle of real intent: seek and you shall find... what you seek. A lot of people join the church seeking a nice community full of nice people who pray and sing together on Sundays. They find it! In our church or countless others. It's not until you desire to know the truth that you receive that knowledge and that witness-- that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, that The Book of Mormon is true, that this church is the only completely true church on the face of the earth today. These conclusions, these pillars of testimony can't be reasoned to and have staying power. Our foundations must be built on revelation. You don't get a witness by reading, you get it by praying and fasting and pondering. This is probably the hardest thing I've had to learn on my mission. I can teach the gospel; I can explain every principle in a compelling and logical way, but none of it matters until they experience the power of God-- until they obtain a subjective feeling-based confirmation of the objective truth that is God and His laws. Lately, I've been feeling this sense of urgency, of impending doom. I need to strengthen my foundation, because I'm terrified of the magnitude of the opposing forces in the world. Opposition in all things is a scary concept. I'll never no never forsake! Love you guys!

-Elder Dahl