Bury the Weapons, Leave the Nets

Snow!

Buenos!

It's been another doozy here in Lenoir City. First off, the weather's been going nuts. It was in the 50's and 60's all last week, with plenty of sunshine. Then this week it even got up to 73. But, just when you think Spring has sprung...Nope! Saturday we got hit with snow haha. It's been super weird. Other than that though this has been a pretty chill week: nothing too crazy happened, knocked some doors, taught some people. One cool thing from this week was that we went on exchanges with the other elders in our district. I stayed here in LC, and it turned out to be a really solid day. We were able to meet with three less-actives, two of which I had never met before! 

You ever have those moments where all of a sudden, something just clicks for you, and something in the Gospel just totally makes sense? I had one of those this week. I was reading in Alma 24 this week about the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's that buried their "weapons of rebellion" in the earth, never to pick them back up. These people were described as "they who were converted unto the Lord." It made me think "What weapons do I still need to bury? What do I need to change to reach the level of Conversion that the Lord requires?" Then I related it to the experience of Peter. After Christ's resurrection, the apostles (unsure what to do) went fishing. After Peter had spent 3 years learning from the Master, he had a wonderful testimony, but he was not fully converted. As soon as he was on his own, Peter went straight back to his old nets (his old weapons). This led to the conversation where Christ asks His senior apostle three times, "Peter, lovest thou me?" I think all of us are like Peter. We may have a testimony, but we may not be converted to the degree that the Lord wants. But if we truly love the Lord, we will be on the right track. So, what does conversion look like? It is giving up those weapons of rebellion, and never going back to them. I know I'm not perfect, that sometimes I still go back to my nets, or back to my weapons, but I also know that through Christ and His grace, I can become who he needs me to be. Each of us can become that converted disciple that the Lord needs.

With that said, my ponderizer this week is Alma 23:6-8, "...Yea, I say unto you, as the Lord liveth, as many of the Lamanites as believed in their preaching, and were converted unto the Lord, never did fall away. For they became a righteous people; they did lay down the weapons of their rebellion, that they did not fight against God any more, neither against any of their brethren. Now, these are they who were converted unto the Lord." I hope you all have a great week! 

Love,
Elder Mitchell 

They found the DeLorean from Back to the Future!?!