It's so wonderful to hear from all of you! I am glad to hear that you are doing great and I also love hearing about all your experiences.
It's March already and that means only one month away from General Conference! Before I begin with my topic, I will give a quick update!
This last week we picked up six new investigators and they are incredible! There are a few that struggle, more than usual, with faith. But they are willing to learn, grow, and progress and that is always a good start. There are a couple of our investigators that already have a good grasp on faith. And that came mostly from their experiences. Alejandra and Daniel are a couple that live together. They are both about 60 years old. Alejandra is blind and Daniel can't see very well. It's not that he needs glasses, his vision is just beginning to fail him. We had a very special return appointment with them the other day, and Alejandra's brother was there with us. He is a convert of about two years! Except he lives in a different ward. The three of them were there with us and they shared experiences of how they know the Lord loves them. Alejandra's brother had a serious smoking problem before he was baptized. He received surgery and he now has a large hole, about the size of a quarter, in between his chest and throat. From that, he drinks water and eats soft food by a special technique in which he holds his breath bends over slightly and throws it in. Then sits up straight for it to go down. Because of this problem he has, he speaks very softly and it always sounds like he needs to clear his throat. But by this experience, he explained all the rough patches in his life that led him to his baptism. He says how he has felt the love of our Father in Heaven and His Son so abundantly in his life that he knew becoming baptized is what he needed. He felt like he should give something back to the Savior after everything the Savior has given to him. Alejandra has a special faith and story of her own. But she is in a rough spot at this moment. Daniel goes to work every day except Sunday. He works from 11 in the morning to 11 at night. That leaves Alejandra at home by herself the whole day. She has the same schedule every day, she wakes up, sits at the edge of her bed until she goes back to sleep later that night. She has one path in her small apartment that she knows. And that's the path from the edge of her bed to the bathroom. Daniel comes back once during the day to feed Alejandra during lunch. It's all very heartbreaking to hear. Although, she does know how to function the dvd player that she has so we will be getting the Book of Mormon on audio for her and Daniel. But this is her schedule, day in and day out. And it has been for a long, long time. I am very happy that my companion and I are here to minister to them and help with their needs.
About the subject of this email- First I want to share a message about faith! We have a couple of investigators who struggle with this principle. They think that faith is only hope and a desire. But it is not only that. Faith is so much more. There are many that believe that faith is simply putting trust in the Lord and hoping that He will do everything for you. The doctrine in D&C 58:26-29 says otherwise. Faith is first the desire, and then we need to act. For example, we have an investigator who knows a lot about the Book of Mormon. He has this great knowledge, this great gift! He has read the Book of Mormon many times over from cover to cover, and yet, he doesn't seem convinced that the church is true. But he knows the Book of Mormon is true. He lays in confusion regarding what is true and what is not. It might be hard to think why this person, who has read the Book of Mormon many times, still struggles with feeling if the church is the right one or not. After all, the purpose of the Book of Mormon is to convince everyone that Jesus is the Christ and give light to all those who read it, right? Yes, of course it is it! But there's more! He has the faith that the Book of Mormon is true. The thing that he is missing is that he is not showing this faith. He doesn't want to sacrifice his time to go to church, he doesn't show that he has this faith by being receptive, he wants everything to be proven to him. In a sense, he is fulfilling what it talks about in Alma 12:9-11. About those who harden their hearts are dragged down to outer darkness. He has hardened his heart to many of the things we say because he expects it to be proven. And still, Alma 32:21 says that faith is a hope of things not seen. We have heard it said many times that if we were given proof, that would not change if we believe or not. The belief needs to come before the proof. We don't have answers to everything yet. Elder M. Russel Ballard is an incredible example with his faith among many others. As he spoke to a number of ministers in other religions while he was a mission president, a minister there made a comment about how they would all believe if Elder Ballard simply put the golden plates on the table in front of them. Elder Ballard quickly felt prompted to say something along the lines of ''You are a minister of your religion. You should know that that is not how faith works. If I put the golden plates on the table in front of you, you would not know if the Book of Mormon is true any more than you know now." And that is exactly right. Faith doesn't work like that. We can know this because we have proof all around us; proof that there is a God, proof that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church, proof that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and so much more! We live in this world, this world is proof. If you want more proof, then something to do would be to watch the talk given by Tad R. Callister called "Witness of the Book of Mormon". I will say that if someone does not have faith in Christ, watching that talk will do nothing for if you know that this is the true church of our Savior. But if your faith is pure, nothing wavering, your testimony will grow immensely by the Spirit whispering to you that the words are true. We know that in order to receive more, we have to do more. It's like it says in D&C 82:10, we have no promise when we don't keep the commandments. But when we do keep the commandments, the Lord is bound by His own celestial law, and we are blessed. People who are not first willing to show their faith cannot receive more. They are stuck in confusion and they are brought down. Remember, we do not need all the answers right now. It is impossible to know everything at this moment. But continue in faith, and we will learn little by little as the answers are shown unto us in the Lord's time. In review, faith is first the desire to learn and know, then the desire to act, and then the part in actually taking action in whatever form the Spirit directs. We must first be willing to give before we receive. Joseph Smith teaches that we must first live the celestial laws/commandments in order to enter into the Lord's kingdom. We cannot start doing it after. Hence the reason Alma teaches this in Alma chapter 34. This is a time of repentance and progression. It is NOT a time of procrastination. We cannot expect the Lord's atonement to save us in our sins at the end of our time. The Savior's atonement saves us from our sins. The atonement is all powerful, but we cannot access that power unless we let it.
The second part of this email is follow the prophet!!! Isn't it great to have prophets and apostles here on this earth?! Revelation is given to President Russel M. Nelson to assist the savior in directing His church. Let's remember the changes we had quite some time ago about making families more centered on gospel learning. We had the time change to two hour Sundays at church, and an extra hour given to learning in the home. What a wonderful example of revelation that was! Many acted and the Lord responded in blessing us. But now, we see how sickness is impacting the world wide church. Many families in the church are now suffering in many ways. Buildings are closing and now church members are FORCED to stay in their homes. Wasn't that a merciful gift from our Heavenly Father that He gave counsel to the prophet with many reasons among this one? I think it was. Heavenly Father knew this was going to happen. On His time, He gave counsel to president Nelson. It was time. President Nelson was given revelation to have time at church changed. And for those who took that counsel to heart are now being blessed because they were prepared! Instead of being as many others who are scrambling around trying to figure out how to keep a Christ centered home when they forsook the counsel given by our prophet. Many members in the east are starting their learning now about how to make a Christ centered home. That is difficult. There have been many that have relied on church meetings to make their home more Christ centered. But that is not how it works. The prophecies given by prophets and Jesus Christ Himself will come to pass regardless if we're prepared or not. In the words of our Savior, "For behold, I come quickly." The end is drawing near! Stay close to the counsel of our prophets and they will not lead us astray! Make your homes more Christ-centered before it's too late! The prophet's counsel is for our own spiritual well-being and at many times, our physical well-being. The family is the center in the Lord's purpose of the plan of salvation. Keep this scripture in mind! D&C 1:37-38.
Take care everyone! I miss you all! I finally got a new cable for my camera, so pictures to come next week!
-Elder Markham
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