AUGUST 9, 2016

Howdy!

I arrived here in Stonewall Louisiana at the end of May this year, and since my arrival I have had the wonderful opportunity to work with a couple named Chris and Anita. Two people among many that I have grown to love and also whom I am very excited for as they plan on being married next week and baptized the week after that! Just like the progression of anybody, it has been a process. The scriptures in Alma 32 compare growing our faith in any particular thing to planting a seed and taking care of the tree that sprouts until and after the fruit grows of it. There is a serious amount of time in between the planting of a seed and the time where we could potentially partake of its fruit. And the in-between is a bunch of work. We cannot stop watering our tree sprout before the fruit grows and say, "The fruit of this tree is not good." We have not really tasted of it. Many leave the path of no particular cause because the quantity of work that is involved being too much. If we want to be an athlete, we have to put in the practice, over and over and over. If we want to be a pianist, the same principle applies and in so many other places. So we have to ask ourselves before we leave a path we have started on, "Have I done enough to see the end results of what im doing?" We can look at others who have walked the path before us and examine the results of the path they took.

This week has been really awesome. I know that our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are real. I also know that there is an opposing force. And as I have done what I could, to the best of my ability, in being clean, the spirit of the Lord has been more present in my life. My companion and I have been led to people who we literally felt were ready to receive the gospel. I watched my own faith grow and flourish. Unfortunately, I don't have much more time to write today, but I know of the strength and help that comes when we just sincerely ask for it. And I invite you to make the effort you can to stay on the path of God

Elder Nally