Dear Family and Friends,
Howdy y'all. Here we are in sunny southern California, mid November and it's a nice 75 degrees outside, you're welcome. It's beautiful here. The leaves are actually changing colors, kinda, we still live 2 minutes from the temple and the Persians are still speaking Farsi.
This week was kinda slow, not gonna lie, but in turn I learned a ton! We are looking for more people to teach and so the majority of the week was spent outside, street contacting trying to find those the Lord has prepared. Its tough, the Persian population is peppered around the Santa Monica area, and there really isn't a super great way to find and meet new people other than hitting up our good friend Westwood. Westwood is the street right by the temple/our apartment and there we find the most luck finding Persians to share the gospel with. We spend probably a good 4 to 5 hours every day on Westwood, on UCLA or Santa Monica College campus talking with people, sharing the BOM, inviting people to the temple, and asking if they have any Persian friends. :)
This week it really hit me that the next two years are going to be way different than I thought or had planned. I never would have thought that I would end up here, or even doing this, but here I am. It's very humbling to know that the Lord really does know what is best for us, and our lives are in His hands ultimately. This opportunity to serve is very unique, challenging and very different but we are excited and have trust and confidence that as we continue to be diligent and rely on Him, we will be successful in finding those who are prepared and we will be there to lead them to baptism, ultimately to begin their journey to eternal life here on earth.
Little more about the Farsi program: We have 3 hours of language study on top of our normal morning studies. We also teach English classes twice a week. This week we were able to teach a couple Persians and people from Japan, Hungary and Ukraine. It's a very cool and rewarding experience, we even throw a little Mormon Message video at the end to practice listening haha.
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| The Farsi Elders: McKraken, Ross, Ekberg, Sugden |
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| The District |
"Pride does not look up to God and care about what is right. It looks sideways to man and argues who is right."
How do I become a Disciple of Christ? How do we put off the natural man?Discipline/Patience (Uchtdorf - Marshmallow experiment) What is our marshmallow? What are the things we need to sacrifice short term in order to receive benefits long term. As we discipline ourselves and are true at all times (Stripling warriors - Alma 53:20) we will put off the natural man and become a disciple of Christ.
Having a Vision in the sense that we look to the example of Christ and row our little boat of life with all our efforts to the land on the horizon. Have Faith that Christ's island is there and start where you are, He will take you and begin to work with you.
Alma 58:10-12 - In life we are faced with challenges, trials, tests, whatever it may be and we don't feel prepared, supported, or sufficient for what is ahead. I know that as we pray, and rely on the Lord, He will speak peace unto our souls. We will take strength in the small provisions that we DO have and come off conqueror. No matter how insufficient, unprepared, or unsupported we feel, if we trust in the Lord, HE will provide, He always does. Trust Him. He knows the way because He IS the way.
من مى دانم كه كليساى عيسى مسيح مقدّسين آخرين زمان كليساى خدا هست و ما مژده مى داريم. من مى دانم كه خدا و عيسى مسيح مارا دوست دارند. من تو را دوست دارم. مرسى!
ارشد اِكبرگ
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