Week 28; ZoCo

Photo Album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/QuW5JQQJL6emqhb68 We had Zone Conference on Thursday and it was so good. It was my first time being on the east side in the Cranberry Chapel since I've been on the west side my whole mission so far. President Hoffman really focused on the Book of Mormon and specifically how we can use it more effectively inside missionary work. He first gave a speech about history dating back to Christ's time of how his church fell away. One thing that stood out to me is how we a lot of the times don't understand how to teach from the Book of Mormon and an easy way to do that is by bridging it to the Bible. For example, in Ephesians 4 it says, "Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." In Mosiah 18 it bridges perfectly to these verses by saying, "And he commanded them that there should be no contention one with another, but that they should look forward with one eye, having one faith and one baptism, having their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another." The Bible and the Book Of Mormon do not contradict each other, they are a companion scripture meant to work in harmony as seen countless times in them and as seen above. The AP's gave an awesome training during Zone Conference that I'll talk about in my spiritual thought. The Zone Leaders and STL's gave a training about extending baptismal invitations early and often. There is absolutely no reason as missionaries we should withhold inviting someone to be baptized, especially on the first contact. That is literally our whole purpose is to invite them to come unto christ by helping them be baptized so they can start on that straight and narrow path towards the kingdom of heaven as described in 2 Nephi 31. It's definitely something I've been working on my whole mission is being lovingly bold and stating my purpose with friends early and often. They fed us Panda Express for dinner it was so good, we are so spoiled. On Friday we were lucky to have another exchange with the wonderful AP's. I got to be with Elder Hadley for the day in their area in Morningside. I had an exchange with him when he was a Zone leader when I was in Johnstown and so it was so fun to be with him again. Not much happened in our day besides us finding this cool guy named Charles who was super open to reading the Book of Mormon and meeting with us. Elder Hadley gave me some good advice on how to better improve my first contacts with people by being more natural and actually getting to know them first instead of shoving things in their face they're not ready for, milk before meat. We had a lesson over in Northside with one of our friends Melvin. It was a great first lesson with him. We just got to know him by spamming him with questions because that's the best way to teach. We then talked about the Book of Mormon and how we help people work towards baptism within 3-6 weeks and he agreed and wants to be baptized. Unfortunately he doesn't have a car and so that throws a big wrench, but he was awesome. Elder Hadley gave me some nice reassurance about how I am as a missionary and he is so awesome, amazing guy. Me and Elder Heelis was out binging it one day and we were driving to a street over in Oakland and Elder Heelis had the impression to turn around and knock thus house. We knocked it and this lady named Peggy answered who they had talked with in the past but she was busy. She was so awesome and let us right in to share a message with her. She had a dog named bullet who reminded me so much of my old dog Bruce. We taught her the full restoration on the stop and even called a member to share their testimony, it was so powerful and the spirit was strong. We were bold with her and asked her if she wanted to be baptized as she continues to learn more on 4-5 weeks and she said yes! We set up a lesson and she agreed to come to church but we fell out of contact with her and she fell of the face of the earth. Hopefully we can talk with her soon, what a miracle. At the end of our night on Saturday we were just driving around finding by the spirit and we saw this group of houses and we stopped and parked. We knocked on the last house and this awesome lady named Chanell answered with her cute 4yr old son and came outside for us to share a message with her. We got to know her and she goes to med school and works, but has never been baptized, doesn't have a church, wants to find a church, wants to be baptized, and is 100% open to working towards that with us. We ended up talking about the Book of Mormon and she's super interested in it and we gave her one to read and set up a lesson for Wednesday. What an elect soul, believing blood. So many miracles happening in Northside 2 Nephi 5:27 "And it came to pass that we lived after the manner of happiness." The AP's gave an awesome training about finding more happiness in the work and personal conversion. Everyone has their own conversion story, it doesn't matter if your born into it or not. A lot of missionaries that don't find as much joy inside the work are those who came out as a responsibility or an expectation by their parents. During Zone Conference we also focused a lot on our Why, "Why am I actually out here serving a mission? Why do I go out and work everyday?" I came out with one thing on my mind, and that was to serve the lord to the best of my ability with all my heart, might, mind, and strength and to love him always. Yes I'm imperfect and make mistakes, but every single morning I wake up with the desire to serve and to love the lord. Loving the lord is not just an inward expression. Obedience to the commandments, guidelines, and standards set by my mission president are all outward expressions of my love for the savior and my desire to serve. To be happy as a missionary or in general we have to understand the Law of Sacrafice. As a missionary I was asked to leave behind absolutely everything, good or bad so I can focus on my service to god. When we sacrifice something for God, we show that we love Him and are willing to put Him first in our lives. The highest expression of our sacrifice comes when we do God’s will rather than our own. Our sacrifices can reflect our love and gratitude for Jesus Christ, who in the greatest of all acts of love, sacrificed His life so we can return to live with Heavenly Father. When we are the happiest is when we live according to God's will and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. With Love, Elder Batman