The New Companion / The Book of Mormon lessons /Be nice to everyone!

Well, this week has been good. So Elder N is from Brazil. We have two Brazilian Elders in the ward now because there are a lot of Portuguese people in Rochdale. We already found two this week, so that will be good. I get to sit down and listen to him teach for half an hour or so, and then smile and say yeah and then we can leave.

Peter and Rebecca are doing good. I think she will get baptized before I go home. Hopefully.

This week, I have changed my boredom habit from snacking to reading the Book of Mormon. Because I forgot to buy snacks last week. So I have read about half the Book of Alma in about five days. I'm in Alma 40. And it's so good. There are two things that I want to point out. Actually, there are like ten, but I don't have time. "Inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land; and inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from my presence." It says that about fifty times in the Book of Mormon. Not really, but it's close. It was a promise given to Nephi and his descendants and it is quoted over and over again. And we all know when something is repeated, it's important. So keep the commandments, so you won't be cut off.

Also, when the system of judges was set up, there was an important law given, and it's mentioned every time an anti-Christ or an apostate group comes up. And that law is a law of religious freedom. God wants us to choose who we will serve, and it is a God-given privilege to worship who, where or what we may. We should never view people as any less that any other simply because of their beliefs. We are all on equal ground and Heavenly Father doesn't love Mormons any more than he does Muslims. So just be nice to every one. We don't need to persecute the non-believers, we need to convert them.

-- 

Elder Ferguson

April General Conference & New Companion, Elder N. /Staying in Rochdale

Ok, well, I have no clue how long I'm really going to be on because I wasn't even going to get a computer today and now I'm on one. I really don't want to say anything about this week because obviously, General Conference will take plenty of room. 

I loved conference! It was so fun, and there are tons of things that I could write about  but, there are a few main things I just want to point out. Probably my favorite talk out of the whole conference that I heard was by a seventy whose name I forgot.

 

Elder Anderson April 2015 LDS General Conference (Sat afternoon session)

He told the story about the indian and the drums. He said that you can learn to dance, but it won't do you any good until you can hear the music. Listen to the music, it's so good. I've met people who are dancing but they can't hear it and they always inevitably either make the choice to listen until they hear, or they just stop dancing. Don't do the last one. It won't make you happy. That's what I've been working on this week, making sure that I am listening to the music loud enough that I don't feel awkward dancing. 

I probably better end this now before I get pulled away by someone, but listen to the prophets! And don't just listen to them, be honorable, keep all of your commitments. If you want to claim membership with the church of Christ, you need to keep the Laws of Christ's Church. If you want to claim citizenship, keep the laws of the land. If you want to be a missionary, keep the rules of the mission. 

I'm getting a new companion named Elder N, and I'm staying in Rochdale. Have a nice week, bye!

-- 

Elder Ferguson

Having an Open Mind

Well, this week has been about the same, but it's been good. Our investigator came to church again! That's two weeks in a row! Yay! I'm really hoping that I get to stay this transfer, because otherwise she might not get baptized. People should not rely on the missionaries for their testimonies, but it's better than not even trying for one, so we'll work with her on that, but she does not want us to whitewash. (That means both missionaries get transferred out of the area and no new ones come in.) It already happened once and she wouldn't even let the missionaries in to see her husband...

Anyways, Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever thingsare lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Mormons are the best religion in the world, because we follow this scripture. If we didn't always seek for the best things, we would be no more than any other run-of-the mill Christian that doesn't believe in the Book of Mormon, because all things that are good are from God. Joseph Smith said that Truth is Mormonism. We will believe in anything that is true. If science proves it, we will believe it. If science claims to prove it, we will believe it unless we have something more authoritative that tells us otherwise, like the Holy Ghost.

So if someone tells you something that seems crazy, but it doesn't contradict what we know to be true already, don't shoot them down, think on it. See if it isn't true, because there are many good and noble things that can help us to reach heavenward that haven't been revealed through the Prophets simply because they aren't vital to our salvation, but we can learn lessons from every facet of our lives.

Anyways, that's it for this week, bye!

-- 

Elder Ferguson

The best chapter in all of scripturedom!

Well. This week was... nice. We have pretty much just visited Peter and Rebecca (I think that's what I called her) a ton.  

In other news, I have learned how to solve a Rubik's cube, because my companion has one, and it sucked my brain in until he finally showed me how. It was bad, but I can do it now. So supposedly, I can do pretty much anything now.

There isn't really a lot to say about this week. It was pretty boring. I have been having good studies. A week or two ago one of the missionaries told us that President Ulrich asked us all to read the Book of Mormon from beginning to end a couple of months ago. I didn't hear anything about that. So I started reading it, and wow, the scriptures make so much sense when you are a missionary and not a fifteen-year-old. The Book of Mormon is pretty much the only thing that I have looked forward to this week. I just think, 'in fifteen hours I can have personal study, yes!' and stuff. Today I read 2 Nephi 4. I think that that may be the best chapter in all of scripturedom. It's definitely up there anyways.

Next week I am going to write about something, but somebody better respond to this email and ask me what or I will probably forget. Bye!
-- 

Elder Ferguson

Progressing

Hello all of you!, This week,  I have a story and a new doctrinal sermon. Surprise!!, 

So this one day, we're doing the same things we always do, hoping for different results,  as usual,  and we knocked on Jill's door,  and guess who answered? Jack! Jack who has been hiding from us for like a month! And he was like,  "Hiya mate, how are you?" And I was like,  "Hiya Jack, where on earth have you been?" But I already knew where he had been. Or rather,  I could smell where he had been... But he is turning around again,  and he wants to be active and live the commandments again,  so that was good.

Then we went to a couple's house. I need new names. Peter is a recent convert and Rebecca is not a member. We have been seeing them pretty much the whole time I've been here and they really like us coming over. Rebecca always tells us that she isn't interested in the church because she's smokes and drinks tea. But she listens to every lesson and she loves having us over and she posts Book of Mormon scriptures to another member that she's friends with that she looks up herself, so she pretty much is ready. So one day when Rebecca was in the other room,  we asked Peter what we needed to do to get her to live the Word of Wisdom and he says,  "Oh, well, yesterday I found an electric cigarette and some nicotine patches and she said they were hers. She just doesn't want to tell anyone she's trying to quit because she doesn't want you to be disappointed if she doesn't actually quit." So that was nice. We're bringing her to church now. She mentioned going to church and now we're going to bring it up every time we come over... :), Phew,  this email is already really long. I can't actually remember what I was going to say. But it had something to do with 1 John 4 and 5. 

Have a nice day. 

Bye! 

Elder Ferguson

I love the temple

Wow, I thought I was doing really good on time until I realized that I hadn't actually written this email yet. Just be glad Elder M handed me my camera back or I might have forgotten and you couldn't have had this beautiful letter I am about to make up.

Well, this week, we went to the temple to do baptisms for the dead! That was super fun. Except for the part where we had to leave at the end. We had a proper production line thing going too. There was one couple (from Wrexham!) that were temple workers and everyone else was a missionary. We baptized, we recorded, we witnessed, we confirmed, we did everything. It was so much fun. Before we started, we all waited in the chapel to be given instructions and I got to play prelude music on the piano, but anyways, yeah, it was great doing baptisms. When I look at those cards, I see people. Not literally, but I know that those cards represent souls who are being given a chance for redemption. It's amazing.

Aside from that, this week was really boring. We went finding everywhere, and we found no one, but, we did get some less-actives to church, and we have established a good relationship with a member and his non-member wife. We are going to get her baptized before I go home. That is my goal. Don't tell her though. She still thinks she's a Baptist.

What I have learned this week, is that the Book of Mormon is full of stories with important precepts in them. You can get a message out of any story in the Book of Mormon, it wouldn't be there if you couldn't. So read it. The end. Somebody ask me some questions. I feel like all of my emails are getting really boring cause I have nothing to talk about.

-- 

Elder Ferguson

A Fireside

Oh. I forgot. I guess I should write the weekly email stuff. Well, this week we just said goodbye to everyone, because my companion got transferred, and then we said hello to everyone with my new companion. Boring... There is an investigator lady who's married to a member and she gives all of the missionaries nicknames so she can remember our names. I got two. So my nickname is Harry Potter aka Minion. So anyways, I drew a picture in Elder Hillam's book and then I was so proud of it I took a picture.

Anyways, there isn't a whole lot that happened this week. My companion is ok. I guess. We had a fireside that we were going to go to in Manchester. I guess I'll just talk about that. We were going to go with our golden less-active, but she wasn't feeling good because of a long story, so she cancelled half an hour before we were about to leave, and we're not allowed to go unless we have someone it's going to help. So we texted that part member couple I was talking about and they said they would come! Which was great because the non-member doesn't usually come to stuff like that, and also they had asked me to play the piano for some musical number thing, so we went.

The fireside is supposed to be like a testimony meeting, only with just recent converts and investigators talking about their conversion. It used to be really good, but this time, everyone took about twenty minutes or more. They were all just going up there and talking about whatever came to their minds. It started at 7:00 and it ended at 9:30, and President Ulrich, who normally talks, didn't even talk because he just wanted to end it. It was pretty disappointing. The musical number was fine. I did marvelous as usual.

Anyways, have a nice week, bye!

-- 

Elder Ferguson