Well this was a pretty busy week. So, big news is that the Branch President here was released and they made my companion the new branch president. The last president had been so for the last 10 years and in the last 2 months that I’ve been here, he came to church 3 times. The branch here needs lots of work to get things up to date, so Elder Mayhoffer and I have been working like crazy trying to track down addresses of people that haven’t been to church in 15 years and have moved twice. The Mission President announced that he was coming down this weekend to do the audit of the branch, so we also spent lots of time organizing things and preparing for that. As it turns out, his counselor called him at the last minute telling him that he wouldn’t be able to, which was good for us, because now we have a few more weeks to get everything ready.
In the February Ensign, there is a big theme of seeking out the lost souls, so when we got that and read it, I felt like it was written just for us. I really like the story of the prodigal son because of the reaction of the father. The father gave his son whatever he wanted, even when he knew that it might not be for his good. He respected his agency, and watched sorrowfully as his son discovered for himself that wickedness never was happiness. When the son returned, the father seeing him afar off ran to meet him and shared a tearful embrace. That father was anxiously watching for any sign of his son’s return. Our Father in Heaven does the same. The worth of souls is so great to Him and he loves each of his children so much and anxiously waits his return. When we had first started this project of tracking down all the old members, I had a kinda bad attitude. I just saw each one as another name that had broken a covenant with the Lord to stay active in the church. Studying that story helped me see how much Heavenly Father cares about every one of his children and no matter how far they have strayed, he waits anxiously for their return. A beautiful hymn that I recently discovered for the first time describes that love he has and our duty to help love his lost sheep back. - "Dear to the heart of the shepherd".
Anyway, that’s about all the time. I love you all! Happy Valentines day! We made the traditional heart shaped pizza, but since we’re missionaries it got broken really quick. :)
-Elder Spencer
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