Hello everyone! I finally have a little more time to write this week.
Just like last week though, this week was super busy. The busy weeks are the best by far.
I came to a realisation that what we do can seem really boring from an outside perspective. This happened when we were explaining what our days are like to a member here: "well this morning we planned for the next week, then we went to Kettering Road and talked with some people (and someone actually said they want to meet again!), after that we did a little bit of 'detective work' by stopping by people's houses to see if they actually live there, had a lesson, and now we are here eating dinner with you". It doesn't sound super exciting, but to us it's great. It's the little things that make the difference.
We had a specialised training last week from President and Sister Stevens in St. Albans on how to teach a better Restoration lesson.
This is the lesson where we teach about all the events leading up to Joseph Smith, The Book of Mormon, etc... These are the main points of the lesson to summarise:
God is our loving Heavenly Father and that His teachings are all here to help us have lasting happiness in the family. To help us learn the Gospel He sends us Prophets, who are like Gods mouth piece on earth and have the authority to act in His name. There are time periods when people accept and then (sadly) reject the prophets and their teachings, but God will always give us another prophet when the time is right. At one of these times, He sent Jesus Christ to establish His church on the earth, and to make it possible for us to return to Him one day. Christ called the Twelve Apostles and gave them the proper authority to help in the ministry and to carry on after He ascended to heaven. Sadly, even the Apostles were rejected and killed and the Authority to direct Christ's true church was taken from the earth because of that. There were many people who tried to put the puzzle back together but couldn't fully because they didn't have the right authority to do so. A restoration was needed, and this is where Joseph Smith came in. He was called as a prophet to restore Christ's original and complete Church back on the earth, including the same authority Christ gave to the original Twelve, and the evidence of this is the Book of Mormon.
This lesson is also called Lesson 1, because it sets the foundation of the claims we make. I really enjoyed the training on how to teach this because it went back to the basics of what we teach, which is something we forget over time.
Upcoming this week is my first exchange with the Assistants, which means driving into London (yay), and Saturday is hump day for me! I will be out exactly one year then. Time to burn a shirt somewhere!
Cheers!
Elder Spencer Ammermon
England London Mission
64-68 Princes Gate, Exhibition Road
South Kensington
London
England SW7 2PA