So last week was pretty crazy with some Thanksgiving plans. I had something like 5 or 6 minutes to accomplish quite a bit on the computer. Writing home was just one of those items.
Huh. I didn't take many photos. Here's one of my companion and I eating dinner with a table halfway into the hall. One of the more interesting rules for missionaries is to not enter the home of somebody of the opposite gender, unless an adult of your own gender is also present. It's mainly to prevent any chance of something bad happening, as well as protecting us from false claims. My companion and I had scheduled dinner with a church member, but we weren't able to arrange for another male to be present, so this happened:
In other news, my birthday was this week. We might've gotten fed even better than at Thanksgiving. The people here are pretty awesome.
Apparently there's a video of our zone (basically all the missionaries in Brampton, Ontario) doing the haka, a dance from New Zealand popularized by their rugby team, the All Blacks. It can be found at a Facebook page titled something like "Canada Toronto Mission 2014-2016".
Today, I want to share a bit about thankfulness. 'Tis the season, and all.
So something that we've been doing is asking people what they're thankful for. On the bus, most people tend to respond with 'family,' 'friends,' 'being able to provide for my family,' or occasionally 'God.'
I know that when we think about what we're thankful for, it reminds us of what's important in life. What's really important.
There's a scripture from the Book of Mormon from a prophet named Alma that I really like. He's giving some counsel to his people. He says,
"And now I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive." (Alma 7:23)
One way to do those things is through prayer. As we pray with faith, we ask for specific blessings we need and thank God for specific things. When we do so, we express our thanks to a merciful God that has given us so much. We are reminded of what's important to us. We think about what's actually important and we gain an eternal perspective.
Prayer is a commandment, and God doesn't give us any commandments just because He wants us to do things - he gives us commandments so that we can be blessed by obeying.
As we pray and express thanks, we gain a closer relationship with God. We experience much more joy, especially when we concern ourselves with things that are eternally important, rather than worldly desires.
I know these things are true.
I hope you all can pray with a little more thankfulness in your hearts.
It's been a great two weeks,
Elder Crye
Huh. I didn't take many photos. Here's one of my companion and I eating dinner with a table halfway into the hall. One of the more interesting rules for missionaries is to not enter the home of somebody of the opposite gender, unless an adult of your own gender is also present. It's mainly to prevent any chance of something bad happening, as well as protecting us from false claims. My companion and I had scheduled dinner with a church member, but we weren't able to arrange for another male to be present, so this happened:
In other news, my birthday was this week. We might've gotten fed even better than at Thanksgiving. The people here are pretty awesome.
Apparently there's a video of our zone (basically all the missionaries in Brampton, Ontario) doing the haka, a dance from New Zealand popularized by their rugby team, the All Blacks. It can be found at a Facebook page titled something like "Canada Toronto Mission 2014-2016".
Today, I want to share a bit about thankfulness. 'Tis the season, and all.
So something that we've been doing is asking people what they're thankful for. On the bus, most people tend to respond with 'family,' 'friends,' 'being able to provide for my family,' or occasionally 'God.'
I know that when we think about what we're thankful for, it reminds us of what's important in life. What's really important.
There's a scripture from the Book of Mormon from a prophet named Alma that I really like. He's giving some counsel to his people. He says,
"And now I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive." (Alma 7:23)
One way to do those things is through prayer. As we pray with faith, we ask for specific blessings we need and thank God for specific things. When we do so, we express our thanks to a merciful God that has given us so much. We are reminded of what's important to us. We think about what's actually important and we gain an eternal perspective.
Prayer is a commandment, and God doesn't give us any commandments just because He wants us to do things - he gives us commandments so that we can be blessed by obeying.
As we pray and express thanks, we gain a closer relationship with God. We experience much more joy, especially when we concern ourselves with things that are eternally important, rather than worldly desires.
I know these things are true.
I hope you all can pray with a little more thankfulness in your hearts.
It's been a great two weeks,
Elder Crye
