Dear family,
We had a decently successful
week I think. We were able to meet with Jorge several times to prepare
him for his baptismal date in June. Our lesson on the Gospel of Jesus
Christ was probably the best I've been a part of in a while. He really
seemed to grasp the concept of repentance well which lead right into
discussing baptism and why it's important. He's super humble but just
needs some help overcoming temptation. He holds himself accountable to
us though which is nice, he texted us this morning to let us know he
broke the Word of Wisdom and felt bad. Unfortunately he didn't make it
to church yesterday... and neither did Jeje... We're working on it.
This
week I was also able to go on exchange in the Fort Worth 5th/Chapel
Creek area. That was the day that was super hot so it was a bit of a
struggle but luckily they got a brand new car the day before with
excellent AC. The most interesting part of the exchange was probably our
last lesson of the night with a guy named Brian. He openly admitted to
being on the verge of drunk but chose to talk with us anyway. Apparently
he acted no differently than usual. Anyway, at this point in the
mission I'm getting tired of beating around the bush with people so I
was being pretty bold with him. He told us he prefers it that way
actually, so whenever he would say something I knew was false I'd just
kind of look at him with a straight face for a moment then teach him the
truth as best as I could. According to him, my body language was
showing that I wasn't being straight with him. I thought I was, but I
basically just didn't hold back and tried to be even bolder. He still
was not getting it but oh well. I tried.
I was
very surprised this morning to find out I'll be staying in Fort Worth
with Elder Brinkerhoff. I really couldn't be happier, it just wasn't
something I was expecting! We already got our flight itinerary together
this week and now we'll be starting MyPlan together in a few weeks.
President must really have faith in our enduring to the end! Hopefully
we can live up to it!
I guess as
far as my study of Christ this week, the verse that stood out to me was
John 20:7, "And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the
linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself." I was
wondering why this specifically was mentioned so I studied in the
Institute manual and this is what I found:
Elder
Bruce R. McConkie (1915–85) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
explained: “Together they view the grave-clothes-linen strips that have
not been unwrapped, but through which a resurrected body has passed. And
then, upon John … the reality dawns first. It is true! They had not
known before; now they do. It is the third day! Christ is risen! ‘Death
is swallowed up in victory.’ (1 Cor. 15:54.)” (Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3 vols. [1965–73], 1:842).
"These
details about the position of the grave clothes rule out the
possibility that Jesus’s body had been taken by grave robbers or Jewish
leaders conspiring to prevent claims of a resurrection (see Matthew
28:9–15; John 20:2, 13). Anyone interested in stealing Jesus’s body
would have either unwrapped it, leaving the linens behind in a heap, or
taken the body while it was still wrapped."
It was another testament to me that Christ truly did rise from the grave, allowing us to eventually do the same.
Have a wonderful week!
Love,
Elder O'Brien (the younger)
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