Week Two

HOLA!!!

Well this week has been amazing. Full of miracles and so many blessings.  Lots of which came from prayer and fasting!

So today is not my P day but we leave monday at 1 am! Pretty much tomorrow night!!! Kinda sucks... actually it sucks a lot!! But i am so excited and ready to get out of this place.  I love the MTC a ton but im ready to go to work. This experience has made me grow in many way.  In maturity, spirituality, and personality! I have had to really forget myself and go to work.  Sometimes i find myself forgetting that im on a mission.  Then it hits and i have to face reality and go to work. This has been super challenging, because a mission is still not real to me! Well...its about to get real in 24 hours!! Im so nervous and excited!! 

Okay so this week has been incredible.  A lot of that has to do with humility.  As i said in my last email my companion and I were struggling to find chemistry.  actually we pretty much hated each other.  In fact for like 2 days we didn't talk to each other at the beginning of the week. We then taught a investigator like this. WOW. it was so bad.  We were both fighting for talking time while teaching, and inserting our opinion every other word.  no chemistry. hardly any spirit. Which was sad because the only way people learn is through the spirit.  Something had to change.  I thought he was so stubborn and wasnt seeing it my way... which is me being stubborn.  But then i realized maybe he was supposed to learn something.  He was supposed to learn to trust me a little more to lead discussions.  Because I didnt feeling as strong in gospel doctrine as him i often let him lead and teach the lessons, and only offering my brief testimony of some principals occasionally. I prayed and prayed trying to find a way around this without facing him.  There was no other way! I sat down with him to talk about what we could do.  The spirit was as strong as it had been so i was craving it again.  This was my last resort.  We talked and talked and argued. I then felt so strongly i had to forgive him.  I had to let go of the hate and frustration and anger i had toward him.  This is the hardest thing i have had to do in a long time.  I had to change who i was.  I am stubborn and arrogant.  I had to be humble, and just let GO!  Sitting there i thought about this for like 4 minutes before i looked up and started crying, and said, "Elder Edlund I forgive you."  He started crying and apologized for always interrupting me when i talk and never letting me speak and sorry for not trusting me.  This was such a strengthening thing for me and him.  We although so very different became a powerhouse! We taught together! And with the spirit!.  

During this week we got both our investigators to commit to baptism and set a date for them! This was a miracle and a answer to prayer.  We pray god listens. I promise that.  I never thought i would be able to change.  But looking in the mirror I rarely recognize myself.  Its motivation for me to continue progressing and evolving into the person Heavenly Father wants me to become.  Humility is key.  When we say... Here i am Lord, I am your humble servant. Use me.  I really feel like i am becoming a tool in the hands of the Lord.  I feel very confident in his gospel.  I feel like i will be able to share his gospel so strongly.  I cant wait to get to Ohio.  The fact that I can help these people endure to the end and then some is amazing. I know my purpose.  We all have a similar purpose.  We have the opportunity to help bring the truth into others lives. Challenge yourself to find someone and bring them to the gospel.  Look for inactive people and think about what in our gospel will help them be closer to Heavenly Father.  Remind them to pray.  If someone has doubts tell them to ask.  God wont deny a sincere prayer. I promise he will answer.  And if you cant tell someone this because you haven't experienced it for yourself? then I challenge you to ask for yourself so you can testify to whoever that god hears , and more importantly loves us.  

here are some quotes i love.

"The gospel is the sole hope for the world" - M. Madsen

"The Atonement is not part of the gospel... It is the gospel!"-M. Madsen

"We can never stop being a child of God."-Q. Cook

"A true converted person calls upon the powers of the atonement,

are we converted ourselves?" - D. Oaks

"Success is not measured by how many times we succeed 

but by how many time we get up." - Pres. Uchtdorf 

Love you guys!

Learn to love the gospel! 

Elder Patch

The pics are of my district, and of one of my best friends from BYU freshman year.