Hi everyone!
Hah chicken Lalas! Haven't heard that
in a while.
Well five minutes ago I finally saw
my companion again. Elder M decided he didn't want to spend half a week
with me, so he brought Elder L again (that's a joke...I hope). So I have
been with the Chinese Elders since Thursday. It's fine since I really like both
of them. They're fun to hang out with and work with. Then Elder Y's horrible
ugly rashes that he has had for weeks were diagnosed as Pustulus Empotus or something
like that (I finally made him call Sister P). Apparently its SUPER
contagious, so Elder Y has been stuck in the appartment since Yesterday, and
can't leave at all until Wednesday at the earliest. I drove with the Zone
Leaders to Haweksbury to pick up the medications that President went to the U.S
for and gave to the Assistants to give to the Zone Leaders to give to Elder Y as fast as possible (good thing President is like a gajillionair or something).
My shins are really itchy so don't be surprised if I get it next. (don't worry
apparently it isn't dangerous).
So yea things have been an absolute
mess for the last little while, and I've been stuck in the middle of it. I've
been doing my best to make sure we at least visit the people in my area that we
can, but things are still slowing down without my companion to help me. Oh
well. Nothing terrible has happened, we've just not really had time to try and
find new people much lately.
I've been studying Grace a lot
lately. I have always wondered about how much of salvation depends on me, and
how much comes from grace. Recently I've felt a more urgent need to understand
it. I've spent a lot of time praying about it and studying in the scriptures
about it. It started with a book called "The Worth of a Soul" that
Elder Ballard had. It's about a man who was excommunicated and then came back.
His struggles were much more extreme than mine, but I learned a lot from his
story.
The understanding I have arrived at
starts with the scripture 2 Nephi 25:23, which is an amazing scripture and is
my new favorite. The key phrase is "it is by Grace that we are saved after
all we can do" The man in the book struggled for many years to
overcome some very serious addictions and problems, and gave it all he had. In
the end however it wasn't enough. He couldn't change WHO he was. He realized
that only the Atonement can do that. His struggles and efforts brought him the
faith and humility (Alma 32) to rely entirely on the Lord. In reality all of
our efforts, our "works" so to speak, serve to deepen our reliance on
Christ. The more we do that, the more his Grace is able to change us and make
us more like Him.
This means that YES we are saved only
by the Grace of Him who is mighty to save, but it happens little by little as
we do our best, see our inadequacy, and humbly turn to the Lord for help. In
the end we end up being responsible for our own salvation (Phillipians 2:12)
while relying on the free gift of Christ's Grace, which we can in no way pay
for or earn (Romans 3).
This is what I've been learning
lately. I'd appreciate any insight or direction to help me understand even
better. This has been making a big difference in my life and missionary work
(it also helps me understand what the heck I'm doing out here).
I love you all!
Elder Hardy
Me and Elder Y (the infected one)
Me and Jordan's husband Kyle (we already arranged it)
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