Prayer Is An Appointed Means for Obtaining the Highest of All Blessings June 15, 2015

This week I was humbled with how powerful and important prayer is. Something we are working on as missionaries in our zone is praying specifically(as specific as possible) to find people. Example: help us find a family of 5 that is prepared to be baptized that is father led and has a dog) (yes even saying has a dog). Well Heavenly Father has a sense of humor. This week the missionaries in our ward found a family that has a dog and is a family of 5 who is ready to be baptized. Elder J and myself are eager to start being even more specific. In my studies this week I re read the section on prayer and came across this great definition in the bible dictionary. 

Prayer- "as soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God, then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part. Many of the so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship. Prayer is the act by which the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God but to secure for ourselves and for others the blessings that God is already willing to grant but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings" 

I just love that. Since being out on a mission my perspective of prayer has completely changed. I love the scripture in D&C 19:28. We need to be vocal. god is our loving Father and wants to hear from us. 

Alright I am sure i just bored you with stuff you already knew. Before I go onto our week how about something you may have not known. This week in my studies i blew my mind a little to much with awesome doctrine. Look up " Divine Investiture" when you can. I wont talk about it but boy is it awesome and makes so much sense. 

Alright so to missionary work.

This week went pretty slow because we dropped almost everyone we were teaching because no one was progressing towards baptism which stinks but since we let go of the ones who are not prepared we will now find the ones who are. We only had one lesson this week with an investigator. We actually taught prayer and had a super spiritual lesson which made me want to study more on it. We met with two less active members and had some good lessons with them. We offered some service to members of the ward this week. It was a slow week nothing to exciting. 

but....... the church is still true. I love the mission and the experiences that we are able to have. This is definitely a life changer. 

Alright in closing something our mission president said this week in his weekly email to the mission was something I loved and wanted to share with you all.  

"We do ask a lot of you. Some of you get mad at us if we have to correct you but the reason we do is because this is a once in a life time opportunity to serve the Lord as a young missionary. We not only want you to change your behavior but we want you to change your heart. Just changing your behavior won't last, but changing your heart will have an impact on your life forever. We ask you to change because we love you. 20-30 years from now, we want you to look back at your mission as a defining moment in your life that put you on the path of being a servant of the Lord until the day you leave this mortal life. If we send you home with that desire, then your mission will have been a success. We don't want you to say, why didn't President and Sister Wilson warn me not to waste time."

So I ask you a similar question but in a little different way. The knowledge and opportunity to have the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a great thing to have. Do you take it for granted? 

Are you letting the Gospel of Jesus Christ change your "heart"

Alright time to sign off. 

Until next week

Love,

Elder Loertscher 

​We went on a hike at 5:30 one morning for our workouts. 

​ our attempt to spell out palm . We needed more for dale. Palmdale.