Well it's been a great week here in
beautiful southern Alberta! I first want to congratulate my wonderful
Mother and my Aunt DeeDee for their concert at the Tabernacle in Salt
Lake this weekend. I know they did a beautiful job in a beautiful
place.
Things are pretty fantastic here. We've had a fun
and busy week running all over Southern Alberta, it seems like, which
has been awesome! We had some good lessons with a few less actives in
our wards, but sadly weren't able to see any of our investigators. As a
result of that, and him not making it to church again, we've dropped
Johnny's baptismal date for the time being. We should be seeing him
tonight at Family Home Evening, though, so we'll hopefully be able to
get him back on track for that. Our other lessons were good, though,
and I'll try to give you a quick update on everything we've been up to.
We had the chance on Wednesday to drive out to Taber, Alberta to
teach a guy named Denim. Denim has had some health issues that delayed
some plans I think he had to serve a mission, and he's fallen into
inactivity in the meantime. It was nice to be able to go out and see
him. As we were leaving that lesson, we got a text from someone else we
had tried to set a lesson up with, who told us we could come by that
night. That was at about 5, and we scheduled the lesson for 6...in
Raymond...a bit over an hour away...yeah. (In our defense, we didn't
realize she lived in Raymond at the time.) Haha, it ended up just fine,
and we had a good visit with her. We also got to meet with Tanner and
Tyler that night, and had a really spiritual lesson with them about the
Savior and His life.
We also met with a girl named Yvette
this week for the first time. She expressed a lot of her concerns to us
about feeling judged in the church and not feeling welcome in the YSA
ward, and I was definitely tempted to judge her harshly for that, but I
realized that that's just the way she feels. I'm not sure why, and she
likely has a few good reasons. I think the best thing we could do, and I
think tried our best to do, is show her love. I think that's something
Heavenly Father is helping me learn a lot about in teaching so many
less actives here, and I'm grateful for that opportunity.
Another awesome part of this week was having zone conference down in
Cardston. It was a great opportunity to be taught by our leaders and
feel the Spirit teaching us what we needed to learn, and I was
definitely spiritually fed! Something I learned there, and in my study,
is just how much of a blessing repentance and the Atonement is to us. I
started to read the book of Isaiah this morning, which was great! The
first chapter of Isaiah is really interesting, because a majority of it
is the Lord telling Israel about the wicked and apostate state they'd
degraded to, and how their offerings to Him were vain because of their
wickedness. It's a very powerful chapter of scripture, especially
because of what the Lord tells them in verses 16-19:
"16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed,judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:"
17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed,judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:"
It doesn't matter how bad we've been in the past. It doesn't matter
what shade of red we've stained our souls. Through the incredible gift
of repentance, we can be washed clean and filled with the glorious light
of the gospel. We can be filled with peace and love and joy, and I
know that that's been true for myself. I hope and pray that none of us
ever feel like we're to far gone to repent and receive the blessings of
the gospel.
Thank you all for everything! I love you all a
lot! Have a great week and be sure to remember how much your Heavenly
Father loves you. Be good! Have fun!
Love,
Elder Hafen
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