[6/9/2014] Week 66: Pay Special Attention

To all within the sound of my keyboard,

This week was not too shabby in the way of missionary work.

But I wanna talk a little bit about my study habits.

Sometimes, from 8am-9am it's a battle between my eyelids and my willpower. Unfortunately, gravity only works in one direction (but Gravity isn't that great a singer). I've found that writing down everything that comes into my mind (questions, thoughts, feelings, and impressions) is not only beneficial in keeping my mind active and alert, but also allows me to clearly analyze and lay out everything I'm experiencing. No spiritual prompting flows by unnoticed. This often results in 30-40 minutes spent on 7 or 8 verses and several days spent on a single chapter, but I feel like I get so much of what Heavenly Father wants me to learn out of each passage. Pay special attention even to images that cross your mind as you study. This provided for a very powerful experience for me in the past week. I learned a lot about myself and about the character of the Savior this way. I invite you each to try this out, especially in attempting to understand passages from the Bible. It has helped me so much with the New Testament. This method applies beautifully with Preach My Gospel as well. Also, make sure your prayers to begin and end each study session are sincere. This does not mean they are long. In fact, get straight to the point in your prayers. Tell Him what you hope to learn. Ask Him to prepare your heart and mind for what you might learn. Thank Him for the answers to your questions that He will surely bestow upon you.

I don't have time for a whole lot else, but know this, that Emma, one of our way solid investigators, accepted a date (July 19th) on Wednesday, and then her parents flipped out last night. So please pray for her and her parents that their hearts might be softened. On Wednesday, Cameron as well committed to live the Word of Wisdom, and he slipped up by Saturday. Please pray for him to have a greater desire to live according to that law of health.

Russell is doing great. He attended church with us again on Sunday and attended Cottage Meeting last night. He will have to give up some things pretty soon for his baptismal date on July 26th.

I don't know for sure about Andrew. I will email him today.

I'm so excited about Seth's truck!!!!

And Christian's gonna be a rad missionary. I just know it!

And happy birthday, Pops! I was definitely thinkin' about you on Thursday. Turns out, one of our investigators' dad's birthday was also on Thursday. Huh.

I love y'all!

Elder Martin