This is the Lords work!!!!

All I can say is that this is truly the Lords work, and I am just merely a instrument that He uses. This week the Lord has seriously Humbled me so much, to truly understand that this time in my life will play a bigger role in my life then I can ever truly understand.

To start this week off, it was a slow start. But We knew that as we continued to be diligent and obedient to all the Lord as asked of us that we would find those that he has been preparing. So on Thursday we were doing the super long weekly planning. In the middle of our planning we got a phone call from a unknown number. When i answered it, this guy was on the other side. He told us how he will be moving into Hamilton in 2 weeks and he has lots of Questions and His baptist Church in Washington State isn't giving him the answers he is looking for. So when he comes into the area he would like to meet with us and start coming to our church! WOW!!!! I never had anything like this happen to me but I am so grateful for ever blessing the Lord has given us as we serve Him.

Then the second miracle,So we have this awesome family that I just love.We call them the Gang on the Hill. Some of the family members of the Gang are members of the church. Then some are investigators. Then the rest of the family is cool with us but also what nothing to do with us at the same time. So we had a lesson at the Gangs and we were reading a chapter from the Book of Mormon. The spirit was super strong and it was like we were in a little spiritual bubble. Then after our lesson one of the family members "that is cool with us but whats nothing to do with us" came up to us and told us that she would like us to start coming over to meet with her kids she feels it will be good for them and her family. I know the Lord softened her heart so much because never did i ever think i would see the day that She would ever have us come to her house to teach her kids.

The the final miracle of them all. Sunday we got a referral from the Rome, NY elders, for this guy named Jessie. During dinner we gave him a call, he asked us if we could come over that night. He explained on the phone that he really wanted to change his life and from briefly talking to the Elders in Rome he feels that the message we share could help. So we set a appointment for 6:30 and called a member to come join us. I have never met anyone so sincere on wanting to change. Jessie told us his life story and told us what trails he is facing right now. Sister Rodriquez and I testified to him that through Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ he will be able to feel Gods love and know that thorough the Atonement of Jesus Christ he can over come all trials and guilt.  It was so amazing!!! 

I know that the Lord is blessing Sister Rodriquez and I for all our efforts to do His wonderful work. We can not do this work with out Him for if we tried it would be impossible. I know that this is the Lords mission and I feel so blessed in being able to be here in New York preparing the way for the Lord and bring Gods Children here in New York unto Christ. I have learned that not a day while on the Lords errand should ever be taken for granted for this is the Lords time in which I am using and I know that this time is so precious.

Thank you all for all your loving support!!! My the Lord bless you in all you do through out this wonderful life!

So It is crazy to think but I have exactly 100 days till I go home!!!!

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Well this week has been so much fun!!! Sister Rodriguez and I have been working ourselves to death!!! I never thought I would be this tired ever in my mission. But oh  my goodness!!!! i can not wait to go to bed every night!!! That 8 hours of  sleep is like gold to me!

So It is crazy to think but I have exactly 100 days till i go home!!!! This morning I was bored so I counted and well I am slightly freaking out!!!!! I feel like i am not suppose to ever go home but I know that this time I have been blessed to be on a mission for the Lord has and will always be so near and dear to my heart for I know that it has been through my mission that I have become a true disciple of Jesus Christ.

This week we had quite a few very spirit filled lessons and they were so wonderful! We had a lesson with one of our investigators Michael and well sadly we are giving him a break but all at the same time we know that it will be a good thing. On Saturday we stopped by to give him some root-beer to replace his actual beer. We taught him the 10 commandments and the important of keeping the Sabbath Day Holy. Then we talked about his desire to be baptized and well it turned into us telling him that if he is going to take living the commandments as a temporary thing we are wasting the Lords time teaching him. ( I know that sounds harsh but it is true) Sister Rodriguez and I bore our testimonies of how we did not leave our families for 18 months to teach something that was just to be lived when we feel that it is a good time for us, and how we knew that the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ is a life changing Gospel if you live all that he has asked of us with exactness. After we were done baring our testimonies we told Michael that this is now his time to act, and to sincerely pray and ask God if this is what he is suppose to do. And now here we are, waiting to see what his answer will be.

So that is one of our intense lessons, another happened while we were tracting and well the Lord is blessing us so much for our desire to be obedient and to find those he has prepared! Because on Wednesday we were knocking on doors and nothing was coming from it and then a Lady came running out of her house and told us to come in and asked what we were going to share with her today! Her name is Rita by the way. We sat down at her table and started talking about her faith and what we do as missionaries. Rita expressed how she has been struggling with her faith for about a year and if we could help she would be forever grateful. So we left her with a word of pray, a book of Mormon and a return appointment. When we meet with her tomorrow we will be going over the Plan of Salvation and a little bit of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Oh how I love being a missionary for our Lord, Jesus Christ!

I want to share with you all my testimony that, I know that this Gospel is true and is the Same gospel that Jesus Christ taught while he was on the earth. I know that is was restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith on to the Earth again, and I know that this is the last and final Dispensation and that the Lord our Savior will come again. I know that Thomas S Monson is the prophet today and that he was called by God to be our Prophet, Seer, and Revelator in these Latter Days. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that it is Another testament of Jesus Christ and that it was in fact translated by the Gift and Power of God. I know the Priesthood has been restored and that it is the power of God and that through the Priesthood we can receive all the saving ordinances that will bring us Exaltation. I know the Atonement of Jesus Christ is sufficient for all of Gods Children and that through the Atonement we can know that all our trails and hard times will come to a end because we know our Savior felt those same pains as us. And most of all I know that repentance is real and is a wonderful thing to have. I know that we can be forgiven for all our sins and we turn to the Lord in humility. I know that this Gospel is a life time Gospel and we cant pick and choose when we want to live the commandment that God has given us. And finally I know that being a missionary at this time is a once in a life time opportunity and that you much be of the up most worthiness to teach and preach the gospel. I know that I have been called of God to share this Gospel and I will not let one soul pass me by with out knowing how it can and will bless and change there lives.

Thank you all for all your loving support and i will see you in 100 days! My the Lord bless you and my you see that you to can and will be a desicple of Jesus Christ as you do as Nephi directs in 1 Nephi 3:7 " Ant it came to pass that I, Nephi said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare away for them that hey may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."

Love you all!!!!! 

A week of Blessings!

So today I want to share a post from one of our amazing members this week. Its about something that happened this week. 

Dan Gilchrist 

This morning I arose early to walk Murphy up our quiet country road by the lakeside. A summer paradise indeed. I was on my way to finish what I started last evening. 

 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) has in its service at any one time 60,000 to 80,000 young men and women mostly ages 18-22, called to serve the world over. They accept wherever they are called to go and serve at their own or their families' expense for a span of two years. My own call was to France and Switzerland from 1969-1971. My brothers also served in France and Belgium and one of our sons as well, and another served in Norway. Here in Hamilton, we have two 'sister' missionaries as we call them, Sister Loveland and Sister Rodriguez, whose homes are in Utah and Idaho. Last night at 8 or so, they called me in a panic. This little kitten had walked into a barn fan at the home they were visiting and been knocked unconscious and was bleeding. They were distraught. The folks they were visiting were destitute and without a car. "Brother Gilchrist, do you think you could drive over here and look at this kitten. There's blood everywhere and the family is panicking." They tearfully told me, trying to hold back the panic in their own voices. There was only one answer and so I donned my shoes and headed into the dark (and stormy night). Using my now beloved GPS system I easily found the home on a backroad some 10 miles from us and 20 miles from the clinic. The home was in very tough shape and the residents were trying to cool themselves with a barn fan placed in the rear door way and aimed into the living room. One of the sisters was trying to console the family and the other was cutting some old wire mesh with tin snips in an attempt to improvise a guard for the fan that was almost the demise of this cute black and white kitten. Almost. It occurred to me that these two sheltered young women had probably never seen such a scene of poverty. And yet, here they were with rolled up sleeves doing their best to help and calling on all the resources at their disposal, for help. I examined the cat and drove her back to the clinic where Jean, a kind hearted animal loving technician, helped me arrange a comfortable cage and warming towel for her while I gave her medication for her bleeding and congestion and shock. This morning she was much better and I was able to safely anesthetize her, suture the cut lip, both inside the mouth and then the outer skin layer. By the time I returned her to her owners she was waking up. Our payment was the privilege of serving together, each in our own capacity, and being useful members in the brotherhood/sisterhood of humanity. If you see these sisters around, invite them in. If you don't see them, call them to invite them into your homes. They will bring with them such a good spirit you will hate to see them leave. Their message may not be what you seek but I guarantee their goodly countenance, goodwill and charity toward all, is a blessing to all. This is the America I know and the one I sing without reserve "God Bless America, land that I love"

You are Magical Spiritual Beings!!!

Well can I just say this week was a week full of wonderful fantastic MIRACLES!!!!!! Sister Rodriguez and I have been working ourselves to death and oh my holy Hannah Montana!!! The Lord is blessing us so much!!!!

So on Monday, we decided to have a Family Home Evening with the Gang (one of the biggest families in our branch) One of the family members just came back from Nashville with a guy she is going to marry. So we decided to teach the Restoration. As we taught the restoration a cousin of one of the members was there as well. The Spirit was so strong, I could hardly keep myself from crying when I taught Joseph Smiths experience. After we shared the restoration every member of the family shared their testimony about the restoration. It was so wonderful at the end of the lesson, Both Michael and Lacey accepted to be baptized on September 10th. AHHHHH!!!!!! I am so excited!!! We met with both of them multiple times this week in fact we had 5 lessons with them both and the other 2 days we contacted them on Facebook to remind them about there commitments. All i can say is wow! I love missionary work! We do have our hard days were we come home and just want to die but then the Lord blesses you for all our hard work with wonderful miracles!

The work is going great and I love it!!!! Training really is such a blessing, I have no idea what I am doing but it is so wonderful being able to teach Sister Rodriguez the things that I have learned on my mission. It is just GREAT!!!!

Also this week we have been doing a lot of teaching on the plan of Salvation. I absolutely love the Plan of Salvation to Death!!!! This time though as I was studying the Plan of Salvation through out the week. My mind kept focusing on the Final Judgement. I have always thought the the Final Judgement was a sacry thing and something to just never look forward to. But as I studied I found a scripture that I fell in love with that totally changed my train of thought on the Final Judgement. D&C45:3-5; " Listen to him who is the advocate wiht the Father, who is pleading your cause before him- Saying: Father, behold the suffering and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified; Wherefore, Father spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life." it is so amazing to think how much mercy is actually involved with the Plan of Salvation. I am so grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ for with out him there truly would be nothing in this life.

Thank you for all your love and support!!! You are all wonderful and i am so grateful for all you do!!! My the Lord bless you forever and always!

What a wonderful week!!!

So this week is in describable!!! My trainy Sister Rodriguez is amazing!!! She basically came to me Pre- trained!!!! All I am doing is teaching her little things like the differences between a New Investigator and a Potential Investigator. Sister Rodriguez is from Salt Lake City, Utah!!! She wants to be a teacher so that is awesome! We get along great!!! She right now is in a little shock because we have basically nothing here and she is use to having every store at the ends of her finger tips. But she is doing awesome and man oh man, I love her!!! I know Heavenly Father knew i need to be her trainer for the being of her mission and the end of my mission.

So this week started out pretty crazy with, Sister Fausett packing and getting ready to go to her new area. Then Boom!!!! The work began on Wednesday when I picked up Sister Rodriguez!!!!! On the first day we went and say the Gang in Morrisville (Nikki and Keiths Family) There we had a awesome lesson and got a new investigator!!! We also did hay once again and that was a shocker for Sister Rodriguez because she had never done something like that before. Then we had one super intense weekly planning as we planed by the needs of each person we teach! Wow was a spiritual experience! Never will i plan a quick easy lesson again!!! I know that planning by the needs of our investigators is so important and that as we are servants of the Lord we should always plan our lessons the same way we would and that is though the needs of Gods Children. Then we Hit the Pavement hard!!! I honestly have probably tracted more then i have most of my mission. We are trying to find people to treach about 1 hour each day. Oh boy!!! Are there miracles that come from that. Just last night we gave out 2 Book of Mormons just through tracting. It is amazing to see the Lords hand in his work!!!! Sunday Sister Rodriguez was able to speak in church and that was awesome!!! I can not wait to see what miracles will happen this transfer.

I want to share with you a scripture i found today during my studies, it is in D&C 19 verse 16-19. It reads, " For behold, I, God have suffered theses things for all, that they might not suffer if htey would repent; But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I; which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit- and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink- nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men." These are the literally the words of our Savior as he was speaking to the Prophet Joseph Smith. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior. And I know that just as it was hard from him to preform the Atonement it was also hard for our Father in Heavenly to see his only begotten Son go through that pain. But because he loves us he make it possible.

Thank you all for all your love and support!!! I love you and I know that God Loves you have a blessed day!!!