8/12/2019
Howdy, y'all
In case you weren't aware, I do a lot of tracting down here in the Texas sun. Which, honestly, isn't as bad as everyone complains it is. Sure, you go outside, immediately start sweating, and sometimes it feels like an oven. But often I will be on people's doorsteps and they'll make comments about how terribly hot and uncomfortable we must be. But really, it isn't that bad.
Anyways, back to tracting. You would think, knocking on doors, that I would get the chance to talk to a lot of people. That is unfortunately not always the case. But sometimes it does work, and we get to teach some people. There are a couple of those stories I would like to share.
The first followed a long morning of unsuccessful tracting. This woman opens her door and waves us in, but she didn't say a word to us because she was on her phone. Well, I am not one to give up an opportunity to teach just because it is a little weird, so we file in and sit down. After a couple of minutes she finishes her phone call and we get to talking, and then we have a prayer and get to teaching. In the middle of the lesson, she starts to tear up. She had been having a hard week, with being sick and having her wallet stolen, and felt that we were sent from God for her. And I know we were!
Later that same day, we were knocking houses again and a woman came out of her house, told us she wasn't interested...but that she would be glad to listen to our message. Well, alright then, we would be glad to teach it! As we start, I get the strongest feeling to really emphasize the first principle of the Restoration Lesson: that is, that God is our Loving Heavenly Father. And so I expound that principle, and I guess it was a day for crying because tears started rolling down her cheeks. As we continue to teach, she shares that she had been going through a terribly difficult time, and that she needed a boost.
Now, these people may not get baptized. Even after the spiritual experiences they had with us, they may not. In fact, the second one I mention was still not interested in learning about our church. But that is okay! I love to serve. Our purpose is to invite people to come unto Christ. Now, baptism is an essential part of that. But if in any way I can bring people to Jesus Christ, I feel that I am fulfilling my purpose, and I know that God used us to reach out to two of His daughters that day.
A couple of Bible bashes from this week, also from tracting, have inspired some thought in me. Probably not the kind of thought they wanted to inspire, since they wanted to destroy my faith 
but it is kind of like how my testimony of the Church increased every time we had visitors who tried to teach me about their faith. Anyways, what I see from these people is that they trust the Bible more than they trust God. One told me that I couldn't trust my personal revelation because the heart can deceive...and yet he trusts completely his interpretation of the Bible. Their religion seems so...well, dead. Dead works, dead faith, and a dead God. And I don't believe in that. I believe in a living God, in living His word and gospel. I know that what I am preaching is true not because of the power of logic, although I can support it logically, but through the power of the Holy Ghost. I like to tell people that I am not intelligent enough to decipher the Bible-after all, very educated and intelligent people have been trying for a long time and they came to all different conclusions, that's why there is a church on every street corner bearing a different name. Anyways, I am not intelligent enough to figure it out on my own, so I am sure glad that God didn't leave my on my own to do it! I am so grateful for revelation, for living prophets, for the Spirit, because I sure couldn't do this on my own. And the Bible is hard to understand! It was written thousands of years ago for the benefit of people who lived thousands of years ago.
We got to do an FHE with one of our members this week, which was fun. Elder Larcom destroyed us at UNO, but we forgave him for it.
Our ward also had a picnic, and I got beat up by a gang of primary children. But it was a good time, and the grass stains will probably come out of my shirt.
On Sunday we had stake conference, which was a great experience. I had a lot of thoughts about revelation that I recorded. When our stake president stood up to speak, he prophesied of when there would be a north and a south stake in what was now the Beaumont stake. And in that moment he had a mantle of authority-I know of a surety that he was not just saying that, but that it was literal prophecy. That was powerful to witness, and he sounded a clarion call for missionary work in the area as well. So I always appreciate that.
One final story to conclude my mailer. On Saturdays we bike, to show the Lord our willingness to work and so we can talk to people outside. Well, while Elder Larcom and I were out biking, I saw some money on the ground (I have an eagle eye for that sort of thing, you know ;) ) so we stopped. When we stopped I noticed also a wallet, phone, and airline tickets strewn on the ground. Uh-oh. We collected it all up, so that we could try and get it back to the owner. Unfortunately, the phone screen was demolished. They were trying to call it, but we had no way to answer. Thankfully, GPS tracking is a thing! So we found the owner, or they found us, and we were able to return it all to them. They had just flown in from no other than Tacoma Washington yesterday!
It seems like every day this week we got to do some part of the Lord's work, and that is just how I like it!
Have a great day, week, and life, and for my family back home, enjoy the reunion I am not invited to ;)
Love,
Elder DeFord
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