Monday, February 5, 2018

Moving Mountains by Faith


We have the promise several times in the scriptures that roughly says ‘By faith ye may move mountains’ (See Matthew 17:20). But what does this really mean? Faith is power. Faith is God using us to accomplish a specific purpose. This requires our personal willingness and belief, along with our action and determination. Faith is very different from a belief because it requires us to be completely committed. Our President stresses to us that God can do his work with only a select few if they are committed, fearless, and focused. But he cannot do his work with unwilling, non-committed servants.
     
God does the work for us. Every baptism I have seen in my mission is a pure miracle. It is the desire of God that the work still goes forward. As for moving mountains, the concept is the same. God moves the mountain when we:
1. Realize that God needs the mountain moved.
2. Determine to do everything in our power to move the mountain ourselves.
3. Pick up a shovel
4. Decide to stick it out to the end.

This means that sometimes God does the work when we are just starting the work, and sometimes He does it when we are almost done. The important thing is no matter how much work we did, God will still remind us that it was Him who did the miracle.
     
Faith is often misunderstood in the world, because people think that God just does the work regardless of what we put in. The whole point of faith is that it is a constant learning opportunity.
    
Elder Ewing and I have set a goal that our mission president called "Ridiculous". At the same time, he said he also respected our faith and he loved our goal. We have been doing everything we could to reach that, but have been pretty much hitting our heads on a wall with how much progression our efforts have given us. We have been given so many miracles. We realized that God needs His children baptized. We are doing everything we can – we went to work, and no matter how bad it seemed we just kept going. We have been seeing almost nothing, but know God has blessed us in other ways that we didn’t even think possible. In the end, the blessings of Baptism are so much greater for the people being baptized than for us. Thankfully, we get to see these people change and get closer to God. And we get personal conversion out of it. Win Win Win.
    
Can't Stop Won't Stop.
Camera is out of Battery so no pictures this week, will charge – promise.
I love you all. All of you that are out there. Keep on keeping on.
The quick update on the life:
·       Had another Missionary Leadership council.
·       Stake conference with Area President Elder Bowen.
·       Talked with the bishops in our stake they are cool we will be working with them.
·       Will be baptizing those people in Santa maria. Super fast.
·       We lost 5 missionaries in our zone. Stress was too high.

Read the Book of Mormon every day. 3 prophets in a row have emphasized it. If you aren’t doing it: REPENT NOW.

Love you all

Elder Faulkner

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