September 4, 2023 THE HOPEFULLY NOT SO BORING ADVENTURES OF ELDER WILLIAMSON CHAPTER XXXXVI

i love the mission.. *we had a mission tour, and elder cordon came.. i think that's his name.. but that was pretty cool, he talked a lot about centering everything in christ always.. making sure it's very clear to everyone, that we are focusing on christ, and everything we teach and believe comes from him *we have a friend who's been coming to church for the past 2 years, and she's been taught by so many missionaries, and so when i got here, i thought we should put her on date to be baptized.. but as the day came closer, she started having doubts, and we realized she still didn't really understand the purpose of being baptized *we we're explaining all of these reasons, and spent many lessons focusing on why it is so important that we are baptized *but she kinda just wants to be baptized cuz it would be cool, and she wants the little baptism service and everything, but she cares more about who baptizeses her, and where it happens, and she wants it to happen in december, cuz she likes the month of december *and we came to her house one night, and the zone leaders had sent us a message saying they would be available that next day to come interview her to be baptized *so we went to her house that night to tell let her know, and see if she would be available, and a lot of things mounted on top of each other, but it basically came out that she wasn't ready, and she didn't feel like she knew enough about jesus christ.. she felt that we had only talked about baptism, and she still didn't understand why she needed to do it *and even tho we had explained to her that we get baptized and confirmed to receive the holy ghost, and we do it because jesus was baptized, and he's the perfect example, and we showed her the video of him getting baptized at the river jordan, and explained how he went all the way to find john the baptist because he had the proper authority... we were using all of these reasons to help her understand why she needs to be bAptized *but that's not the point.. we were just barely missing the mark.. because we were still talking about jesus, but we were centered around baptism.. but we don't follow jesus so that we can get baptized, we get baptized so that we can follow jesus.. *so now we're doing our best in every lesson to focus on jesus christ, because even tho it might seem to us that we are talking about him, it isn't always very clear to our friends.. we invite our friends to do a lot of things.. come to church.. read a pamphlet, or the book of mormon.. pray.. keep commandments.. but for a little while there, i forgot to invite them to come unto christ *which is pretty silly, cuz a couple months ago, my mom was talking to me about this exact thing, and i even gave a training in a district council about it.. but sometimes it's easy to direct our focus to the means, instead of the end *because we invite our friends to come to church so they can come closer to CHRIST.. we invite them to read to learn more about CHRIST.. we invite them to pray to grow their relationships with GOD and JESUS CHRIST.. and we invite them to keep commandments, so they can receive blessing, and become closer and closer to being perfect, as CHRIST is.. *and that's really important for us as well.. we gotta remember to focus everything we do on jesus christ.. and you have to find out what that means for you, but for me, i know i definitely need to change some of my focuses *sorry this is mostly just so i won't forget this stuff again.. you guys are all just awkwardly kinda here also sooo.. and that was super long, so if you actually made it all the way here.. dang bro.. you gotta lotta time on your hands *dang it feels like i wrote all that stuff forever ago *we've also been destroyed really bad by mosquitos this week.. i'm hoping to not get dengue, cuz a ton of missionaries over here have been getting it recently *i also obtained a free box of dominican fun dips, sooo goodbye teeth ig that's all tho.. have a great week.. love you guys! alma 12:13-15 Then if our hearts have been hardened, yea, if we have hardened our hearts against the word, insomuch that it has not been found in us, then will our state be awful, for then we shall be condemned. For our words will condemn us, yea, all our works will condemn us; we shall not be found spotless; and our thoughts will also condemn us; and in this awful state we shall not dare to look up to our God; and we would fain be glad if we could command the rocks and the mountains to fall upon us to hide us from his presence. But this cannot be; we must come forth and stand before him in his glory, and in his power, and in his might, majesty, and dominion, and acknowledge to our everlasting shame that all his judgments are just; that he is just in all his works, and that he is merciful unto the children of men, and that he has all power to save every man that believeth on his name and bringeth forth fruit meet for repentance.