And It Came To Pass....

Yay we finally got a family e-mail!

 

It's been a few weeks since I've sent a family email, so I thought I better send one... There have been a lot of amazing experiences these past few weeks, but I just wanted to share a few.

     Probably the most meaningful one was two weeks ago as I gave a blessing to one of our Recent converts Gene. He is an amazing man and recently found out he had cancer, so he was going in for more tests the next day. During the blessing I said many things that let him know God loved him and was going to take care of him... I remember saying that everything was going to be okay. However I had not mentioned cancer or healing or anything that I thought I should have said, so I went home really down on myself that I didn't have enough faith to help this great man. The next night some elders came into town unexpectedly for an oil change, so Elder Manwaring and I went on splits with them. We had just gotten out of the last appointment for the evening, so I called Elder Manwaring to decide where to meet up. He told me that Gene had just passed away. It was a really sad evening losing our friend and watching his wife going through the struggle of losing a spouse. However, the comfort came that he had the opportunity to baptized just a couple months before his death and his wife had the gift of the Holy Ghost and a knowledge of the plan of salvation. I realized that the priesthood blessing I had given was not for the man with cancer, but the child about to return to his Father. I know this is God's work and He gives incredible help to us as His children. I am so grateful to be part of this.

     There's also one scriptural passage that gained a very new meaning to me this week as I realized that time only seems to be going faster. "And it came to pass..."  Life moves on and doesn't seem to slow down. As I watched the elders in the MTC singing at general conference, I realized that those were our replacements. Every calling that we receive will only be for a short time. Our maturity is shown as we understand that time will pass, and we make an effort to make the most of it that we can.   

     After writing down spiritual experiences daily I feel like there is something to share with you from every day that I live. We have a loving Heavenly Father. Like Elder Bednar's story of the child receiving the ointment and bandaids, we must find why the gospel of Jesus Christ is meaningful to us and that will give us reason to share it as much as we can.

     I love you all and I am so grateful for all the support. I hope you have an amazing week. God Bless. HFF!

-Elder HoddyAA