We ended up not having a zone meeting with Elder Hamula. It was all a go, then he decided to cancel it a few days back. He didn't want to come have a meeting with us without a member of the mission presidency present. It's a bit funny that it worked out that way too since the first councilor in the mission presidency, President Higgins, and his wife, were down the whole weekend and could have extended their stay for another day had they known. No worries though. One thing I learned from Sister Higgins is that if the timing isn't right, then it wasn't supposed to happen. Aside from that, I learned so much over Saturday and Sunday that I'm not sure I could fit anymore knowledge inside my head. My brain is still playing tetris with all of the awesome stuff that I learned; trying to pack it in without losing anything.
On Saturday we had interviews with President Higgins, and since we're the zone leaders, we went with him and his wife to see both districts. It was awesome. The way we ran them was while President Higgins was doing interviews we would have a Q&A with Sister Higgins. Which meant we experienced two, two hour blocks of Q&A with her. I couldn't believe how many good things she had to say. To every question that got asked, she had the doctrine to answer it, followed by a personal experience and her own feelings on it. It was awesome. Now I just need to retain everything she said.
Church yesterday was a little bit different. Since Elder Hamula was there, we had an hour and a half long sacrament, in which he talked for an hour. Followed by an hour and a half long Sunday school in which he did a Q&A. Then that evening from 5-6 he held a devotional that we were able to get three of the less actives members that we're working with to attend. There were two things that I really loved from what he talked about. Of course I loved everything, but these two things really stuck out.
The first is from Sacrament meeting, and it was him talking on the subject of the sacrament. I've actually been thinking about the sacrament recently, so it answered a few of my questions. One thing he said was that if we truly understood the significance and meaning of the sacrament, nothing could stop us from getting to sacrament meeting and partaking. No matter what obstacles might be in our way, we would never miss an opportunity to partake of the sacrament. He then talked about the sacrament itself. He quoted the part "bless and sanctify" and asked if the bread and water need to be blessed and sanctified. Does the bread and water have sins it needs remitted? Does it need to be purified? No. It's us that those two words are applying to. I thought that was awesome.
The second thing I really noticed was that at the end of Sacrament, Sunday school, and the devotion that evening, he mentioned his special witness. He bore his testimony as one called and set apart to be a special witness of Christ. Then he expounded upon his statement. He said that some might ask does he know Christ lives because he had seen him, or because he had touched him; does he have that special witness because of those things. He didn't say no. But he did say that those things don't matter. That the witness we receive from the Father through the Holy Ghost is what is important. I've thought about that before. I initially thought about it while reading Jesus the Christ. James E. Talmage mentions that Christ became who he was just the same as how we do. Line upon line, precept upon precept. He had to grow and experience life just as we do. The only difference being that he was perfect, so he had every opportunity available to him. The thing that stops us from having a perfect, secure testimony of the divinity of Christ is our own imperfections. I think about Nephi, the one in Helaman. It mentions that he was ministered to by angels daily. That's available to each of us, dependent upon our decisions. How awesome is that!?
Anyway. Aside from that, New Plymouth is still awesome. We're on schedule with Noel, he's still doing awesome. He's going to be baptized this weekend, and I'm going to be the one doing the actual baptism! It'll be only the second baptism that I have ever done. The first was with Ty when he turned eight. Should be pretty cool.
Well, that should just about do.
Love Ya, Kurt
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