One Year Older (and Wiser too?)

At Zone Conf, they got 

Pres. Griffin a new shirt

Buenos!!

This week has been good. We visited a lot of less-actives this week, and one of them was pretty awesome. We were out trying to contact a former investigator in our area book, but he wasn't home. So we looked across the street and saw a Hispanic guy working on his car, so we decided to go talk to him. Turns out he was a member of the church! His name is Hermano P. His records were in the neighboring ward, but he had moved to our ward and nobody knew. And we just happened to find him! It was super cool, plus he wants to start coming back to church! The Lord definitely put us in the right spot at the right time.

This week we also had Zone Conference, which is always great. President Griffin taught us a lot about weaknesses. Something that I thought was interesting is that Satan is the author of all sin, but God is the author of human weakness. Having a weakness is not a sin, but it can lead to sin of we do not learn how to handle those weaknesses. That is why the Lord has promised that if we come unto him in humility, he will make our weaknesses become strengths. Then on Sunday was my birthday! 21 years old, pretty crazy. We didn't do much to celebrate, just went to church, did some work, made some brownies. It was fun though.

My ponderizer this week is Moroni 6:8 "But as oft as they repented and sought forgiveness, with real intent, they were forgiven." As we have visited with less-active members this week, it was so sad to me to see that so many of them do not understand repentance. One lady we taught this week thought that if you had committed too many sins or hadn't come to church in while, that you couldn't ever go back. Another man asked if he had to be re-baptized because he hadn't been to church for so long. You can always repent. You can always come back. The church is not a place for perfect people. It is a hospital, designed so that all who are spiritually ill can receive the help they need from the master Physician. We all get off course, and thank goodness that we can repent and get back on track. Let us give thanks for our savior's atonement that makes repentance possible, and let us all find joy in learning to repent daily. I hope y'all have a great week!

Love,
Elder Mitchell

Some selfies from post ZC lunch