5.25.13 Elder Holland's Visit

Hello Everybody,

How are you all doing? I am doing awesome!

So yesterday was not P-day because we had a conference with Elder Jeffrey R Holland. It was amazingly spiritual and he is awesome. He is one of my favorite speakers and I really felt great listening to his words. He is a delight and he taught us soooo much. Seriously when he left the building, we all were just like in shock and awe. We were given time after he left to actually reflect on what he said and write them down. I want to first share what he talked about and then write what I feel.

He first talked about that we can’t just teach somebody the salvation, but we have to take them there. There are things that we teach, but we need to bring them to the gospel. We need to bring them to the deepest parts of salvation. The layers are:

1. The world- Everyone is of the world, many don’t even have salvation yet because they haven’t been taught anything yet, or are too interested in the world.

2. Ancient Church- People have their churches and don’t want anything with the truth. They have some knowledge and desire, but not a complete desire.

3. The Restoration- People actually know that Joseph Smith was a prophet, enter the church with that knowledge, but are not fully changed to follow Christ. 

4. The Doctrine of Christ- People actually following Christ; they have a desire to follow Christ and to be like him. 

Elder Holland said that what matters the most is to follow Christ! The 4th layer is where we need to be in order to have salvation. He said that in his day as a missionary, the only thing that mattered is to get people to the 3rd layer: the restoration. But now missionary work has now changed and progressed to getting people to the 4th layer which is to follow Christ and be like Christ. That is what matters and that how people will change. 
Now Elder Holland told us that we cannot do one thing to bring people to the 4th layer, if we are not there. We need to be followers of Christ in order to get people to follow Christ. We need to be obedient and be real representatives of Christ. We have to really love Christ and put ourselves in the 4th layer. So he exhorted us be more obedient and really love Christ. It changed me a lot.

I feel like the conference changed my life because if we love Christ, he will give us everything in this life and in the next. And we also need to be disciples and help others become followers of Jesus Christ. I have decided to be as obedient as possible and focused as possible. Here is to my last 6 months of the hardest work I have ever done because I feel like I have now drawn closer to Christ and yesterday I felt the same as I did April 9, 2011. I felt like it was a sacred moment for me and I want to now please the lord more with harder work. Here´s to 6 more months of diligence and harder work till the end.

Well everything is going great, I love this work and now it’s getting super hot, but oh well, there are lives to save and people to teach.

I love you all. Go to Church because it’s to help you all! Keep reading your scriptures and keep up the good work.

Love,

Elder Justin Powell