We'll Harvest this Field from Sunrise to Sunset!

Monday, April 25, 2016

The Branches

Dear Family and Friends,

One of the common confusions we get asked about is the three kingdom's
of glory. They ask, "do Mormon's have a hell?" Into the past I would
show them 1 Corinthians 15:40-42 and try to explain it all that way,
but this week I read a scripture that says it all for me! I want to
share that. It's Mormon 9:2-6.

2 Behold, will ye believe in the day of your visitation--behold, when
the Lord shall come, yea, even that great day when the earth shall be
rolled together as a scroll, and the elements shall melt with fervent
heat, yea, in that great day when ye shall be brought to stand before
the Lamb of God--then will ye say that there is no God?

3 Then will ye longer deny the Christ, or can ye behold the Lamb of
God? Do ye suppose that ye shall dwell with him under a consciousness
of your guilt? Do ye suppose that ye could be happy to dwell with that
holy Being, when your souls are racked with a consciousness of guilt
that ye have ever abused his laws?

4 Behold, I say unto you that ye would be more miserable to dwell with
a holy and just God, under a consciousness of your filthiness before
him, than ye would to dwell with the damned souls in hell.

5 For behold, when ye shall be brought to see your nakedness before
God, and also the glory of God, and the holiness of Jesus Christ, it
will kindle a flame of unquenchable fire upon you.

6 O then ye unbelieving, turn ye unto the Lord; cry mightily unto the
Father in the name of Jesus, that perhaps ye may be found spotless,
pure, fair, and white, having been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb,
at that great and last day.

I LOVE THIS!! I've had so many people disagree with us because they
feel that we've turned God into some vengeful being that takes joy in
punishing everyone that doesn't follow the rules, but that's not it at
all. Like it says, how could we "be happy to dwell with that holy
Being, when your souls are racked with a consciousness of guilt that
ye have ever abused his laws?" We couldn't! God wants us all to live
so that we might come back to live with him, but if we don't obey his
laws he will be forced to put us away from him because he'll put us
where we can be happiest. I know this is kind of random, but I enjoyed
this so much I just wanted to share it with everybody!

I also wanted to tell everyone about the work in this area. We live in
the middle of nowhere. We cover about ten little towns, the largest of
only has a population of about 2000 people. We are only able to work
in one town every day because of how limited our miles are and how
many miles we have to drive just to get to the town. Once in the town
we tract, visit active and less-active/non-active members and
sometimes we do street contacting. The common response we receive is,
"no thanks, I'm not interested." They are usually quite polite, but
they are not interested by any means. We spend most of our time being
rejected, which is a little hard sometimes, but it strengthens our
testimonies as we face trials with patience and with Christ. We've
received a few referrals but because we only visit one town a day, it
often takes a while to get to the referral. If they're not there the
first time it takes a few days before we can knock again. Essentially,
the only way to really do missionary work in this area is through the
members. A lot of the members have someone they're slowly trying to
introduce to the gospel through materials and conversation but this
last week we have invited the members to step up their game a little
bit and have someone, an investigator or a less-active, at every
dinner! They seemed to accept it well so we hope and pray this will
make a big difference and help the members and missionaries to be more
unified.

This week has been a week with a lot of rejection but things are
looking good for next week! Adam and Cristina just got back from their
honeymoon, finally, and we're hoping and praying they will come to
church next week! Patty and Lynn are still both reading the Book of
Mormon but we only got to visit Patty for a minute this week. Lynn is
still doing really well and we were able to talk to her about how
innocent children are and how much God loves them! She was a teacher
at a Christian school so she loved talking about this. We tried to
contact the referral we received last week again, Wesley, but only his
wife answered and said he wasn't home. She was very kind. We're not
going to give up on them! When a woman calls and asks you to go help
her father, it becomes very personal.

We got to have a ward trek fundraiser with the Red Lodge branch this
week! It was so much fun, they had games, food and it was good just to
talk to everyone. For games they had a stick pull which Elder Harper
was the champion of, a tug-o-war with Elder Harper and I as team
captains (my team won), and an arm wrestling tournament won by a very
muscular kid named Terik! It was a blast. We love our branches!

We both gave a talk in the Absarokee branch this week and they also
had us sing (a little much...). I love this small little branch with
these people. It is so easy to get to know everyone and have a
personal connection with most everyone in the ward. The Absarokee
branch is much smaller than the Red Lodge branch by about half, Red
Lodge is almost a ward! Absarokee is so small and they are desiring to
make it bigger! They are becoming very missionary minded.

It has been a lovely week and we are excited for next week! I know
miracles happen and I know if we do our best we will find those that
Heavenly Father needs to find. I love you all!

Love,
Elder Thomas

A foggy night in Red Lodge.
Montana sunset!!
Morning runs!
Skipper goes running with us!
Terik beating me in arm wrestling. This kid is pure muscle. Notice how he's just smiling the whole time...
What a view.




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