Tyler's Mission in Seoul: Beyond the mind and into the heart

This week our greatest miracle was finally being able to sit down and teach _____. He has been an investigator here for quite a while, but we have been uncertain about his sincerity in learning the gospel. When we sat down to teach him, we planned to start again from the beginning and help him see how significant it is to him that the Lord has restored truth to the Earth through the Book of Mormon and living prophets, and to test and see for himself through prayer, study, and even through the awesome opportunity we had to hear from those prophets at general conference. As soon as we sat down, we had only asked a few questions about how he had seen God in his life when he really opened up and described some difficult experiences, how they worked out, and about some of his worries. We were able to testify with power that the restored gospel would bless his life and extend the invitation. The Spirit was there powerfully, and I felt humbled as I felt it and learned again that I am not the true teacher. He accepted the commitment. Unfortunately he did not watch general conference, but maybe we can select a talk or few that will fit best for him.

General Conference was fantastic! I felt at the end that my needed improvement was to enter into a more heartfelt spirit of worship and really come to know Christ. I never really understood before my mission the central messages of this gospel. I knew lots of topics frequently taught - prayer, church, commandments, scriptures, etc...but I never understood that these are all part of one great whole, and that whole is Christ. The precious truth that Heavenly Father, the God of all creation, loves us more that we can comprehend needs to move in understanding beyond the mind and into the heart, every day. He loves us so much that he sent his perfect Son so that we would not be alone, cut off from his presence in a feeble effort to learn and grow on our own. Christ, who was and is the God of Israel, the Creator of the Earth, and in every and all ways our joy and hope needs to be written deeply in my heart and the heart of every person who desires to return clean and unspotted to our Heavenly home. That's why we meet every week to worship and remember Him, pray in His name, and learn about him in the scriptures every day.

I know as we seek to feel God's love through applying Christ's Atonement, our hearts will be changed. We will find joy.

Have a great fall everyone. It suddenly got cold here in Korea. Suit season!