Week 21 - February 17, 2020

Another week just came and gone! 

Wow!  It was a busy week.  I must say, since I have been in this area, I have noticed a lot of change.  We got transfer news on Saturday!  I will be staying here in Tally 2 and training a new missionary and Sister Reno is headed to St. John's.  My first area!  I am so excited for her...and they are so lucky to get her.

 

Yesterday, Sister Reno and I spoke in church.  Let me say, it's a great way to invite people to come to church.  We had six people in church yesterday, and each one of them are people we are teaching.  We were asked to speak on the New Primary Theme, "I will walk with Jesus."  I loved this topic because it is so broad.  I decided to focus on how I walk with Jesus. 

One way I walk with Jesus is to be FULLY CONVERTED unto him.  In Elder Bednar’s talk, “Converted Unto the Lord,” he discussed the difference between receiving a testimony that Jesus is the Christ and becoming converted to Him and His gospel.  A testimony is personal knowledge of spiritual truth obtained by revelation, and is a gift from God available to all of His children.

We can all receive a testimony; however, are we all converted?  Conversion is “an enlarging, a deepening, and a broadening of the undergirding base of testimony.  It is the result of revelation from God, accompanied by individual repentance, obedience and diligence. . . . Conversion is an offering of self, of love, and of loyalty we give to God in gratitude for the gift of testimony” and “requires all of our heart, all of our might, and all of our mind and strength.”

Conversion is supposed to bring about a mighty change in us.  Elder Bednar states that “true conversion brings a change in one’s beliefs, heart, and life to accept and conform to the will of God and includes a conscious commitment to become a disciple of Christ.”

Elder Bednar continued, “A testimony is spiritual knowledge of truth obtained by the power of the Holy Ghost.  Continuing conversion is constant devotion to the revealed truth we have received—with a heart that is willing and for righteous reasons.  Knowing that the gospel is true is the essence of testimony.  Consistently being true to the gospel is the essence of conversion.  We should know the gospel is true and be true to the gospel.”

In making the distinction between testimony and conversion, Elder Bednar references the Lamanites who were converted unto the Lord by Ammon and his brethren.  He points out that before they could become fully converted, they had to bury their “weapons of rebellion.”  As described in Alma 23:6-8, “they became a righteous people; they did lay down the weapons of their rebellion, that they did not fight against God any more. . . . Now, these are they who were converted unto the Lord.”  Elder Bednar asks this question, “Do you and I still possess weapons of rebellion that keep us from becoming converted unto the Lord?" 

In this last General Conference, Elder Dale G. Renlund gave a talk on our "Unwavering Commitment to Jesus Christ."  He starts off the talk by sharing a painting that is in the Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple.  The picture is entitled, "Congo Falls"  which is a painting of the Congo river that leads into the Nzongo Falls. 

The waterfalls depicted in the painting called to mind a practice that was common more than a century ago among early converts to Christianity in Congo. 

Before their conversion, they worshipped objects, believing the objects had supernatural powers. After conversion, many made a pilgrimage to one of the waterfalls along the Congo River.  These converts had discarded their old traditions and accepted Jesus Christ. 

They intentionally did not throw their objects into calm, shallow waters; they threw then into churning waters of a massive waterfall, where the items would be unrecoverable. 

These people were truly walking with Jesus!  How can we lay down our weapons of rebellion  and bury them deep into the ground or throw our objects into churning waters?

By faithfully living the gospel of Jesus Christ.  We are walking BESIDE Jesus Christ, not ahead or behind... but beside. 

I want to invite y'all to evaluate how converted you are to walking BESIDE Jesus Christ! 

I love you all!  I love this work

<3 Sister Lauren Copeland 

Pics of the Week

 Diane

 Costco Run

Eating at Costco

 Visit to ER -  Don't worry, I'm just fine!

 Valentine's Day

 Tired girl

 Rainy Day