this week has been one of the most fun weeks of my mission and unfortunately it's not necessarily for spiritual reasons...
because the zone leaders are the zls for all the maritimes, they got their hands pretty full. So the vehicle coordinator asked elder Madsen and I to help him out! so we proceeded to pick up 5 new 2020 rouges for the mission when we get more missionaries coming here. unfortunately we don't know how many or when they will be coming, but we have .5 million dollars worth of cars in the church parking lot haha.
now if you forgot, i'm a black driver. That basically means that I am not allowed to drive, period. and here's the other thing, elder Albertson, also a black driver (and a zl). nevertheless, God in his infinite mercy hath snatched me from that dark pit, and I got some driving privileges back!!!!! and i got to say, driving is nice. especially when its a brand new 2020 car with the wondrous smell of new car and to top it off, no tiwi.
Nevertheless, I decided, as I had previously decided when i would get to drive again (figuring it would be when i get home) i would be a diligent driver and show forth fruits of repentance. So I did not speed, I used turn signals, and was not a yanker (mostly bc i wasn't driving a truck).
Now just in case you thought i was being apostate, the vehicle coordinator gave me permission and elder albertson. so it's ok. but that also doesn't mean that you can go on telling everyone that i can drive again. just keep it between you and me until i get back ok? haha.
but this week was really eventful too. Along with fixing up cars, and driving them, we also found 3 new people! one is named Emmanuel, who we found calling folks on our area book, and then the other 3 came from a Book of Mormon ad that I put out that received A LOT of h8. like i didn't think that canadians could get this aggressive. and that's saying something. Nonetheless after resolving point after point, some color language was introduced, and a couple people started covering by back, and now we are messaging them haha. and one thing that this thought we was this. THE BOOK OF MORMON IS TRUE. Now here is the reason. i put out a bible and a book of Mormon out at the same time and only 1 of the 2 got hate. only satan would stir hearts to hate, and it was all aimed at the book of mormon (or myself haha) and it was such a cool experience defending the book of Mormon. Fortunately it was rather easy to defend it because ill i had to do was ask if they'd read it, and the obvious answer being no, then i proceeded to ask why criticize something they know nothing about? and then that's where it got a little sketchy and honestly hilarious. Also, fyi, all my comments were very passive so no need to worry about me calling people out or raining fire and brimstone haha. Unfortunately, because of all the speech, all my ads were taken off of the marketplace groups. but we are massaging a couple of honest people. After that experience, it was rather convenient that I read about Amulek's confrontation with zeezrom the day after. so that was rather neat.
In addition to studying that, I was also told about a perspective to study. and it is this. the people of zeniff as a single person. (now a gave a tak on this in my families sacrament service this week, but i wasn't clever enough to type it out so this is a shortened version)
Zeniff is overly zealous to inherit the land of his forefathers. enough so, that he makes the decision without asking God about it. We learn that zeniff was a religious person and God delivered his people many times when the lamanites fought against them. but back to the point, zeniff didnt get Gods thoughts on it and proceeded to inherit the land with his people the lamanite king that gave it to him we learn had an evil plot anyway, but this can represent us is our mortal state leaving Gods presence (zarahelma) from the pre earth life, or even us separating from God by not listening to him, or not seeking his guidance. The story continues with a couple wars which God helps them with! But zeniff doesn't return to Zarahemla. He stays. And another war happens. God helps them again, but they still stay and dont go back. Eventually zeniff dies and Noah is the new king. Now we know that King Noah was not a great guy and he was a very sinful man. Noah can represent a change in us. A change taking us even further from Gods guidance and direction. And does he return to Zarahemla? Nope. And instead he causes his people to sin. Taking us far off the path God wants us to be on. The story continues. Abinadi comes to try to save the people from destruction by telling them to repent. This can represent our leaders, parents, spouses or friends telling us to be better, or to stop doing something, to start doing something etc. But how does the story go? The people reject Abinadi. But there is a hope! Alma believed Abinadi and left with some of his followers to a land they called Helam. But Helam isn't Zarahemla. God wants his people in Zarahemla. That is where the prophet is. It's where the church is successful. So taking it into perspective. We have a inner conflict. Part of us rejects the words spoken to us, but part knows it's true. We still dont recognize that we have separated ourselves from God and to make things worse, we get in a form of bondage. The lamanites have overcome the people of Noah and the people of Alma were discovered and also put in bondage.
At this point, it seems there is no hope. We are in many forms of bondage both our side that believes, and our side that rejects. But our side that rejects begins to remember the words of Abinadi (or our parents leaders spouses friends) and beings to repent. And our righteous side beings to learn something about ourselves. And what was the solution? Turning to God in humility and faithfulness, as well as sincere prayer. Both sides do this. And the outcome was the same. They were delivered from bondage and arrive at Zarahemla.
The connections in the record of zeniff to an individual's journey and even the plan of salvation is incredible. I invite you to check this out and make it part of your study.
And along with that, remember to pray and set some time aside to think about God and his son Jesus Christ.
Love you all and hope you have an excellent week!
Elder Dahl 2.0
Bedford, Nova Scotia
Canada
Bedford, Nova Scotia
Canada
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