Monday, May 22, 2017

Elder Field Is Finished With Zo...*Sneezes*...Ugh Allergies!

Hey fam! Hope everything is going well with all of you! I have had a couple of cool revelatory experiences but the cool missionary stories are lacking this week. We were traveling all over the mission this week going around making sure the tech was all working correctly, we also taught a section so that's cool. Let’s jump into the week shall we.

So, Monday night is when we left to go to the Napa zone conference, we stayed over in a missionary apartment which isn't being occupied. So, the AP's and ourselves stayed there. In fact, we did everything with the AP's. It was a lot of fun. they are really cool elders. Anyway, after an awesome zone conference we picked up and moved to the next one.

Typically, my role in the zone conference was to get there early with Elder Jones and set up the projector, make sure all the power points are working, set up microphones if needed, and just set up for the zone conference. Once the zone conference starts we just kinda read the scriptures or listen to what is being taught, but after 3 times of the same presentation it gets pretty rough to sit and try and listen. So, I tried to read my scriptures as much as possible. We did get to teach a section at each zone conference which was cool. We taught about how we can use Facebook as a better missionary tool. we related it to the parable of the talents. And we said that our mission was the mission with 5 talents. We have been given a lot of responsibly but also a ton of blessings and tools we get to use in our missionary efforts. And we believe that Facebook isn't being used to its full potential yet. I haven't been using Facebook to its full potential. So, we Complied a bunch of ideas on how to use Facebook and gave them to everyone. And we challenged everyone to use 1 of the 5 aspects of Facebook and report to us. We have gotten a ton of missionaries who have reported to us and have seen success through Facebook which was pretty cool :D Anyway that was our section. It was well received... I think.... hahaha I could be wrong ;)

That's how our week went until Saturday actually. We didn't get back into Santa Rosa till Thursday late at night, (and by late at night I mean missionary late at night which was like 9:30 pm) So there wasn't any time to teach any missionary lessons D: we actually had to cancel on brother Rowland which was sad. But we will get him this week, right? :D

So, after we finished the last zone conference we then had MLC (mission leadership council) the next morning. So, the Friday zone conference got done at 5. We took an hour for dinner. And then started planning for our section on Act Vs. Acted upon. (I will explain the principle at the end of the email) We took up the rest of the night planning for that, but it was so worth it because our section was so good!!!!! Everyone was so attentive and participated in the discussion. Everyone liked the principle to so that was cool. 

Sunday was our one day to kinda breath.... we taught a lesson with Jazlin!!! She came to church and we had a good lesson with her during second hour. We talked all about the gospel of Jesus Christ. We talked a TON on baptism. She said she wants to get baptized!!! We challenged her to pray about a date to be baptized. She seemed super excited and said she would. Oh, that is so cool!!! I'm so happy for her. I still have a few concerns with her..... but I think we will be able to work through those. So please pray for Jazlin!!! We are hoping we she picks a date before her big trip to Africa. She leaves the 20th of next month and will be gone for 7 weeks, but ultimately it is up to her. And whatever date she picks will be the perfect day haha.

Anyway, after church and the lesson we did a bunch of office work that had piled up while we were gone. Sent the instructions to set up Facebook to the missionaries who would be getting it this transfer, uploaded pictures to Facebook, saved he photos from the camera, made a document for president and the AP's and a couple of other things..... haha I know my life is so exciting isn't it ;)

That was our week, but I had a really freaking cool revelation his week. We were talking with some members about our assignment as tech Elder and how we oversee how Facebook is being used in the mission and all the other "tech bits" they were surprised to hear about all the tech we had in the mission and they were saying, "Wow almost the entirety of the gospel is on the Internet. That's so cool" RIGHT AS THEY SAID THIS THE PHRASE "The gospel shall be proclaimed in every nation kindred tongue and people" CAME INTO MY MIND. I started to connect the dots. I always thought that phrase meant that there would be missionaries knocking on doors and preaching in the streets. But I realized that if a country has access to the Internet. They have access to the gospel. They can chat with missionaries online, they can order the book of Mormon and all these other things....... Guys...... The gospel is already in every nation kindred tongue and people..........yeah....... heavy stuff........  so stinking cool.......If that's not motivation to get going on the lord’s work Idk what is!

Anyway, I said I would explain the Act Vs Acted upon principle to yall. So, in 2 Nephi 2: 13, 14,16, 26, 27. There is a common phrase. It is Act and Acted upon. God Made 2 types of things. He made things that act. And things to be acted upon. We as humans were made to act. Hence the reason we have agency. We are meant to act upon things that are meant to be acted upon. if that makes sense. So, we explained that discouragement and a bad attitude towards missionary work, stems from being acted upon. We aren't happy when we are acted upon. But being acted upon is the easier choice. But in every situation, there is always something we can do to act in verse 26 in 2 Nephi 2 it says that "...To act for themselves and not to be acted upon, spec it be by the punishment of the law at the great and last day, according to the commandments which God hath given." That says that in every situation there is something we can do. EXCEPT when it comes to judgment day. So, we taught that when we act bad attitudes go away and discouragement goes away. Now there isn't anything we can do to completely prevent discouragement, but we can act and get rid of that feeling. If we don't act it gets worse. It's kind of like when people play the victim. That is a prime example of people being acted upon. They won't do anything to better their situation. Hopefully that explains the principle. Elder Jones taught me this, and it has changed my whole outlook in life hahaha I know evaluate everything I do into those two categories. I always see if there is something I can do to act. :D Pretty cool.

Anyway, I hope you guys have a wonderful week! I love you all!! I also want you all to know that I have a testimony of this work. The book of Mormon is the word of God. I invite all of you to read it. Just read and pray. God is waiting for you to do it ;) Love you guys!!

-Elder Riley Field


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