June 10, 2019

Here's the letter - no pictures this week:

I'm doing good. Transfers went well, and Elder Thomas is a really good guy. He's super funny and we are having a blast. He was staying with 3 missionaries in his last area who struggle with obedience, and he picked up some bad habits from them. But he wants to change and we're working on it. He loves cats, and everyone loves chocolate. That's super awesome about Cameron and Burke! And it's great because both are adamant on serving missions, so they should be a huge influence to him! Habits of scripture study, and church attendance, and family prayers are a hard habit to form and an easy one to break. It isn't easy. But we can do it. God gives us commandments He knows we can accomplish, no matter how hard they are. Just remember that. 

If you don't know how this usually works, I usually try to think about lessons I've learned throughout the week, and then implement them into the messages I share to y'all each Monday. But the problem is, I haven't had really any time to think about it. Life is crazy. Being a District Leader is a lot of responsibility, and I want to make sure I am doing my best, so all of my free time is consumed in numbers and statistics from the District, and things we do well, things we can improve on, and how to improve. On top of all that, I have to prepare to conduct a District Council every week, and think of things to implement there. So life is kind of chaotic right now. And that, is exactly what I thought would be good to talk about. Life gets jumbled. Things get in the way of Gospel study. Necessary things. Work, food, bills, whatever. Life happens. And I feel like the trap that nearly every member has is that they see the necessary things as necessary, and they see the Gospel as secondary. Not that it isn't important, but that it is less vital than the physical things we need. That is wrong. False. It is a trap that satan himself sets up. There is nothing on this entire Earth more important than the Gospel. There is no physical problem we have that's more important than the Spiritual ones. In Alma chapter 31, verses 37 and 38, it says; "And after that they did separate themselves one from another, taking no thought for themselves what they should eat, or what they should drink, or what they should put on. And the Lord provided that they should hunger not, neither should they thirst; yea, and he also gave them strength, that they should suffer no manner of afflictions, save it were swallowed up in the joy of Christ. Now this was according to the prayer of Alma; and this because he prayed in faith."

 

Now I'm not telling you to starve yourselves or anything like that, but we do need to put more of a focus on the Gospel and less of a focus on the world. There was one day this week where I had to call each of the companionships in the District, and I was so busy preparing for that, that I missed reading the Book of Mormon chapter for the day. The Spirit was tangibly less present, and I stayed up late that night with a flashlight, reading it. My advice on making scripture study and church attendance, and regular prayer a habit, is just to make them your main focus. Right when you get home read as a family. Right when you lay down, if you forgot, get back up and pray. On Saturday nights pray for the rest and rejuvenation so that come Sunday morning you can be prepared for church. Jesus Christ does not take the back seat in our lives, our minds, or anything. He should be the main focus of everything. No job, no meal, no game, no show is more important than the Savior. Remember that. 

I am so grateful to have been raised in a home with you and dad, and to have been raised in the Gospel. We all struggle with things we believe. Satan gets to all of us. I know for a FACT that this church is true. And I struggle multiple times a day with questions like, "Do I really KNOW that ---- is true?" My mind rationalizes experiences. And each time I think back to that night where I felt God's presence, and I laugh and think, "You know. That one specific point, I may not know. But I've read the Book of Mormon. I KNOW that's true. So everything else must be true too." When you feel like giving up, keep pushing! Love you all! Have a great week!

-Elder Trezise