The Grind!

 Monday November 15, 2021

This week has been a great one as well! Our area is doing very well right now. We have found 2 people in a part member family that are very promising. We are going back on Wednesday to teach the Restoration and bring the restored Gospel to their life. Also, member missionary work is doing really well in the Avalon ward. There is a family with unbaptized youth, and a member that fellowships them went over and told them that their kids can't watch the dedication of the Temple if they're not baptized, and the family agreed that it's time that they get baptized! So the member family set up an appointment with us and the family tonight to go over and teach them! We are excited to get that family going again. 

This week we went on a couple of exchanges. On Tuesday I had the privilege to be with Elder Bak in my area. He's a great Elder with a great personality! I love him. He has great enthusiasm and a great spirit. He does have some trouble talking with everyone and I feel we worked on that with him a bit. Also, as a Zone we were thinking of how we could have the Zone be better at reading PMG. So we made a goal to win battle for the cactus 2 out of 3 times.(Battle for the Cactus is something we do for our mission every other Wednesday. It's like a PMG game show. The Zone with the highest amount of questions correct wins a golden cactus haha) We came pretty close last time, so we're guaranteed the next two battles. We appointed Elder Bak to be the BFTC specialist for the Zone and he's doing a great job! He sends daily reminders to read PMG and I feel it's actually a great reminder to read it and also it improves our chances to having eternal fame and glory for 2 weeks haha. 

I also had the privilege to go on exchanges with the assistants. I went with Elder Bird in my area and he's a great Elder. I love serving with him and to have had served around him before in McKay Zone. He's a spiritual giant and has great intentions. We had a great day and talked to many great people. Elder Bird is always looking for ways to improve himself and I'm impressed by that. Throughout the whole day we were speaking of each other's spiritual experiences and that was cool. We both shared our personal experiences and that was an easy way to keep the spirit throughout the day. Just a great exchange with a great Elder! 

For my spiritual experience it was during the sabbath day. Throughout the whole day there was just lessons learned. In Sacrament meeting I was pleading with Heavenly Father to gain a stronger witness that Jesus is the Christ. If he really was and is the one to save us. I don't feel I got my answer exactly in that meeting, but the answer came throughout the day. Many talks in Sacrament meeting and discussions is Elders Quorum were about coming closer to Jesus Christ and I received many answers on how to do that. We had a youth Book of Mormon read later that night, and the spirit there is always very strong. The spirit around the youth is powerful. We were reading over 3 Nephi 13 and over the part of prayer. I got the impression on how I can pray better and feel closer to my Father as I do so. I also had the impression that as I live as Christ lived and acted as he would, then I would receive my answer on whether or not he is the Savior and Redeemer of the world. Later that night during my personal prayer I felt his presence with me. In the property we live at there is a big field and I prayed out there. That is a very special place to pray, and so I did and just had a confirmation of my testimony that Jesus is the Christ, the promised Messiah and that it's through him that we are saved. There are many false prophets out there, but he is the Son of God and the one pre-ordained to save of from this fallen world. I know he lives. As we live his lifestyle and be like him to the best of our abilities we can have a huge impact on the lives around us. On the missionaries we serve around, the people we teach, and the members we serve with. I love my Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ. I love the missionaries here in the Benson Zone. There's no better Zone out there!

* One definite highlight of Elder McMullan's week was inviting and having his friends from home walk through the Mesa Temple Open house with him.