The Ontario Title of Liberty
Don't make fun of Canadian
winters. I did, and it’s -23C. (about -9*F) Enough
said.
Yes it has snowed and is
cold. To answer your question Dad, I drive a Chevrolet Colorado and yes it has
4-wheel drive and we have had to use that a few times. We are taking a trip
into Winnipeg this week so we will be especially watchful on the roads.
This past week at district
meeting we all got together and made our own unique Ontario Title of Liberty.
Looks so good! Like I think I had mentioned last week, Elder Perkins and I went
to a member’s place and he has got some beautiful land and we saw a big 8-point
buck, got a beautiful view of the Winnipeg River and cut down a big tree and
even got a Christmas tree out of the whole ordeal. So fun! I saw the whole
process of the tree standing to becoming our Title of Liberty within hours! On
the Title of Liberty we put a goal for investigators at Sacrament Meeting, 10
for the district (pretty ambitious), and put our big Ontario District logo and
what we were willing to sacrifice to achieve our goal, with our signatures
right next to it. I will send a picture. I think it inspired everyone and Elder
Perkins and I certainly had Sacrament Meeting on our minds all week and as a
district we had 5 people to church, which is great, but we all see room for
improvement. We should be able to get more people here in Kenora next week, but
Derold was able to come, which was really good. He came halfway into Sacrament
Meeting and stayed the rest of church. Phew. Big sigh of relief! Back to the
Title of Liberty---I knew that making our Title of Liberty out of wood would
make our district unique, because I knew that the other districts would do
theirs on something boring. So we cut down a tree and made ours on a log, and
the other districts made theirs out of: a white shirt, a pillowcase and a
bed-sheet. Ya. Now I know that what it stands for and what is written on it is
far more important than what it is made out of, but I felt really good with
what was on ours and what went onto it and, of course, what it was made out of.
I had an interesting
experience with teaching an investigator and knowing that I was not talking to
the investigator, but that the Adversary was there. Creepy. We said many
prayers after that lesson and had to cast the spirit out after we had already
left. I was on exchanges, and that elder and I were really spiritually drained
after that lesson. That, compound with the normal emotions of missionary work
made for a long day, but experiences like that make me appreciate
"normal" days more, let me tell you.
But now that I told you that,
I will tell you about the good studies I had this morning. In fact, I have a
goal this month that I begin studies 20 minutes early every morning. So far so
good. The only day I missed was Sunday, which is near impossible anyway with
everything that goes into church. So I have had more time to balance studying
for investigators and also for myself. I finished the Isaiah chapters in 2
Nephi and I feel like I am understanding much more from them, yet that I am not
yet getting some of the deeper, spiritual meaning yet, but one step at a time,
right? I would study with the Book of Mormon and the Bible, reading from them
both and looking at footnotes, especially the footnotes in the Bible, and would
also use the Bible Dictionary a lot. It helps! So this morning I read 2 Nephi
25 and the entire Book seemed to jump out at me. Here are some of my insights:
In the beginning of 2 Nephi chapter 25, Nephi keeps saying he will prophesy,
and he got me really anxious because he kept saying that and then talking about
Isaiah for like 5 verses, but then his prophecy begins and the verses explode
with doctrine and prophecy. Some notable scriptures that stuck out to me were
verses: 13) "my heart doth magnify his holy name" This really shows
the type of person that Nephi was, that all of his heart and desires are
towards the Lord. 16)"persuaded to believe in Christ" Speaking
of the Jews here, Nephi sees that the Jews will not be forced to believe in
Christ, but that at some point in time they will be persuaded to believe in
Christ and therefore accept the true Messiah. The principle of free agency is
apparent here.19) "the prophets", who prophesied that the Messiah
would come on a specific year, which happened to be 600 years after Lehi and
his family left Jerusalem. This was not Nephi or Lehi prophesying when the
Savior would come, but other prophets! The Jews truly were bitterly
hard-hearted to still reject Jesus the Christ when they, at some point in time,
definitively knew of His coming, yet still denied Christ. Wow.
20)"none other name given under heaven..." the Book of Mormon and the
Bible clearly testify of the same Jesus Christ and anyone who says otherwise
clearly has not read the Book of Mormon with a sincere intent. The Book of
Mormon and the Bible work together, simply put, and I have heard many different
pretended arguments that try to "prove" they don't. A closer look
still proves they do. But everything still comes down to a humble seeker of
truth, and no amount of scientific knowledge or evidence will persuade someone.
I have tried, and the Spirit still does all the conversion. Point is, the 2
books work together. 23)"labor diligently to persuade our children, and
our brethren..." to come and believe in God and in Christ, and that it is
only by the Savior's grace are we saved, after everything we can do to show
true desire and true faith. We cannot save ourselves. Only Christ can save us,
but it takes more than a one-time confession of faith to secure eternal life.
24) they kept the Law of Moses until Christ and knew that the Law would be
fulfilled in Christ. They did not worship the Law as the Jews did at the time
of Christ, but worshipped the Lord, knowing that He would come and fulfill the
Law (and every aspect of the Law pointed towards that Great and Everlasting
Sacrifice). 26) "talk of Christ, rejoice in Christ, preach of Christ, and
prophesy of Christ..." This scripture may be one of my favorite scriptures
all time because it proves that everything points to Christ. The title
"The Church of Jesus Christ" therefore is essential (3 Nephi 18 for
more of that). 29) Verse 29 basically says worship God with everything we have
and we will live with God again, no questions asked. So, those were the
highlights of my studies this morning and to add even a little more, I am
slowly reading through the Old Testament and am about to begin Leviticus 26. I
have never read the Old Testament all the way through, and I am making a charge
for it. I just learned about a lot of laws set forth about many things. After
having read this, a lot of my reading in the New Testament and Book of Mormon
seem to make a little more sense and I can pick out Old Testament....flavor.
Flavor is not the right word, but I think you understand what I mean. See how I
need the extra study time?
To answer another question, a
man gave an elder in my district that OPP hat and so I snapped a few pictures
with it. Looks good eh? He was part of the something like the Her Majesty’s
Forces, so I got confused with the HMS thing, (which usually
means Her Majesty’s Ship) the only hat
is that OPP hat, and the man worked as a police officer for the OPP.
With things like those
scriptures (a list relating to character traits of Christ), it costs me every time to print things off, and
missionaries aren't made of money, so I really don't like printing things off,
I strongly prefer having things sent off to me. Just send them to my address in
Kenora please.
That's all folks. All I have
for now. We are heading into Winnipeg for Zone Conference, and so I will get
mail. So if someone has sent me something in the past 8 weeks, there is a
good chance I haven't even seen it yet. Love you all and continue to keep me in
your prayers,
Elder Galbraith
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