Shenanigans 6/25/12

Dear Family and Friends, Well... it´s been a crazy week. An Elder in my district decided to go home, so his companion, Elder Smith, has returned to my house and we are in a trio. But then the zone leaders have now decided and confirmed with president that he should be with a less than obedient companionship in my district. So it was more like a 4 day intercambio hahaha. With 3 beds in one room complete with mosquito nets it looks like a giant fort. We started an english class again. Although I´m the only teacher hahaha. It was a lot of fun though and we had about 15 people. The area is progressing, and more people are coming to church. This week the schedule shifts 2 hours, and will be earlier. This will help us have more success since most people here like to be eating and sleeping in the afternoon. I got a shotgun speaking assignment when I arrived at church on sunday. I think it went pretty well even though I had about an hour to prepare. I talked about sharing the gospel through our example, recognizing that we can show our love by sharing the priceless message of the restored gospel, and a few other things I can´t remember. I´ve started marking something new in my Book of Mormon. Every time I see a tactic of Satan I mark it in black, representing mists of darkness, like in Lehi´s Dream. I figure one of the most important parts of fighting a battle is recognizing the enemy, and this life is no different. This is war. Do you recognize the enemy? Another intereesting thought that I had is that judgement is more than just a sum total of all the good and bad deeds we´ve done and hoping that we´re not in the red. Judgement is an assessment of the type of person we have become. The desires of our hearts, the thoughts we think, our attributes, etc. I found myself asking if I, right now, am a worthy candidate for the celestial kingdom. Would Heavenly Father let me in right now? This has given me a lot of motivation this week. So why the emphasis on good deeds in the scriptures? A quote from Richard G Scott has stuck with me since he said it in conference about 3 years ago. ¨We become what we want to be, by consistantly being what we want to become¨ This life is a time to prepare to meet God. We must use this probationary state to become the type of person that God would allow to into the celestial kingdom. We do that by consistantly following the Savior through righteous decisions, and being sanctified by the fire of the Holy spirit. I hope these thoughts help some of you, my beloved friends. I love you and share my solemn testimony of the reality of Jesus Christ, and that none of us kind find our own way back home without Him. He lives. He loves us and is ever so merciful. He invites us to follow, but we must make the choice. It is the wisest decision, with the greatest consequences, that a soul could ever make. Elder Nichols