September 26, 2016

Dear Family,

I almost put the date as December 26th but I caught myself. It has been chillier today; in the 60s if you can imagine that. Oh wait... you're in Canada. No imagination needed.

This week was a bit of a slow one. People just weren't answering their doors or keeping appointments it seemed. Most of the appointment cancellations were legitimate emergencies and stuff so that at least made us feel a little better. We mostly tried to look for service opportunities but did have to do some tracting too. According to one guy, we don't believe in the resurrection. I'm sure glad there are kind people to let me know what I believe. Here I was believing in the resurrection all my life! Even in teaching people about it! It was just one of those streets I guess.

I don't really have a ton to report as far as progress with investigators this week. Everyone's still doing well and Amy's boys have been keeping all their commitments which is wonderful. One of our Relief Society presidents told us yesterday that Amy and another sister whose husband isn't a member have been telling her how much they appreciate what we've been doing for their families so that was nice. It feels good to be appreciated once in a while!

I had some pretty interesting studies this week too. I've been reading in Luke lately and went over the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16. The theme of it was basically justice and the spirit world. The first thing I found interesting was the imagery Christ used of a gulf separating spirit prison from paradise. The rich man of course couldn't cross even he had repented. When Christ taught those in spirit prison he "built a bridge" so they could cross. The second thing that stood out to me was a quote from the institute manual that said, "justice is the friend of those who rely on the atonement of Jesus Christ." I feel like most people think of justice as this concept that basically says you need to be punished for every little thing. That statement changed my perspective a little on that. As long as we rely on the Atonement, justice is our friend. I guess it just sunk in more this week.

Have an awesome day and enjoy conference this weekend!

Love,
Elder O'Brien (the younger)