Week #91 - To the beach beach!

EYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!

What's up my corona-friends? I hope this last week has been as cool as mine! We've literally been teaching so much it's awesome. I think I've taught more lessons in one we ek, than my whole mission put together haha. I always feel exhausted at the end of the day. So, it's nice that I still get drained. Otherwise, going to bed would be so hard.

My mama sent us some masks to use :)

Waiting for food from a member :)

Walmart has been stepping up their game!

What a cool gas station!

We've been going on a lot of walks this week. We felt kinda bored with always going to the pond, so we decided to go across the street and explore the field across from the pond. That was pretty fun. I found a wild blackberry bush and one of the blackberries was ripe. So. I ate it :). It tasted pretty good. Kinda like a grape and tart. Lots of seeds but that's okay. Besides blackberries, we have been having fun at the pond by trying to make big splashes with rocks and stuff. It's fun.

Sunrise at the pond!

Walking to the pond for morning prayers haha

Some tracks

Sunset

As for our teaching pool, our main man, Dee is doing well. He has been learning and accepting what we have taught him very well. We usually have a member join in on our lessons over the phone and we have a conference call with him. So far, we've taught him about the Restoration, Plan of Salvation, and Gospel of Jesus Christ. He loves it all! He was having a hard time understanding how he could learn anything new from the Book of Mormon if he already knows most of what it talks about. So our Ward Mission Leader whipped out Moroni 8, which talks about how we don't need to baptize little children because they can't even tell right from wrong. Dee didn't really know about that. He learned something new :) He wants to get baptized this weekend, but we are thinking otherwise. We have some more stuff to teach and we are still trying to understand if he is planning on just skipping town after he's baptized, or if he really means it. So, we're treading carefully. He's super cool though.

Sometimes people don't do it. Even though the invitation is very clear haha

Tonya is doing well too. Nothing big to update here, but she is still wanting to be baptized! She is going through some family drama right now, so we've been mainly reading scriptures with her.

We had a referral ask for some pamphlets this week. The thing is, she lives in Cameron, LA. That's like an hour and a half south of us. But we figured it was a good cause, so we sent it down there and dropped off the pamphlets in her mailbox. Fun fact, Cameron is RIGHT next to the Gulf of Mexico, so we decided to use our walking time to go walk on the coast. That was super nice. Looking out to the gulf you could see oil plants and stuff. There was a sign that said, "swim at your own risk" haha. It was very relaxing to feel a cool ocean (gulf?) breeze. That was awesome though. We were able to find some sweet seashells.

At the beach

Le beach

Look at this guy

Pretty good sign

THE GULF OF MEXICO

Them waves tho (nonexistent)

YA BOI

BEACH

It's been so cool being a missionary during this time! My testimony of the Savior grows every day! We wouldn't be having so much success if the Lord wasn't involved. He knows how to do His work and I am so very lucky to be involved, even if it means my time is cut down a little bit. He knows how to best do things. He knew this would all be happening and has prepared all of us missionaries who are still out to be able to work. Our whole mission has been seeing miracle after miracle and it inspires me every time someone shares what kind of success they've been having during our morning devotionals.

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

I finished the Book of Mormon this last week. Something cool is the theme I notice that Moroni is leaving behind. Like an essay, you usually emphasize your main point in the conclusion. That is what Moroni is doing.

Moroni 10:20-21

20 Wherefore, there must be ^afaith; and if there must be faith there must also be hope; and if there must be hope there must also be charity.

21 And except ye have ^acharity ye can in nowise be saved in the kingdom of God; neither can ye be saved in the kingdom of God if ye have not faith; neither can ye if ye have no hope.

This is so true! The things Moroni has been emphasizing is Faith, Hope and Charity. This was talked about in one of our morning devotionals too. I really like it! We honestly can't do much without these 3 things! And what's even better is that they all deal with having to rely on our Savior. He is literally the only way that we have redemption from our sins. He's got our back no matter what.

I also like Moroni's final plea:

32 Yea, ^acome unto Christ, and be ^bperfected in him, and ^cdeny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and ^dlove God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be ^eperfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

33 And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye ^asanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the ^bblood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your ^csins, that ye become ^dholy, without spot.

Come unto Christ! He's waiting there for you to turn around. He's ready to go. So put on your shoe and WALK with him! He will help you become sanctified and holy :). He loves you so much. I know he does! I literally love being a missionary because I get to help people understand this and it brings so much joy to my soul!!!

I followed Moroni's promise as well found in Moroni 10:3-5:

3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how ^amerciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ^bponder it in your ^chearts.

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ^aask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not ^btrue; and if ye shall ask with a ^csincere heart, with ^dreal intent, having ^efaith in Christ, he will ^fmanifest the ^gtruth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may ^aknow the ^btruth of all things.

I took this to heart and I went into the closet to pray about the Book of Mormon and what's cool is that I already knew the Book was true. But I wanted to ask again in the most humble way I knew how. So I went into the closet, shut the door and got on my knees to pray. All I wanted to know was if the Book is true. I wasn't sure what kind of feeling I would get and so I sat there for like 5 seconds with nothing. But I then got a really calm feeling all around me and I felt really focused (if that makes sense) and all the noise around me went away and it was SILENT. Like NO NOISE AT ALL. Then I heard these 4 words, "It is very true." I felt so at peace! I got my answer and my testimony of the Book of Mormon soared. I know it's true! It's the best way to find peace in this life! I thanked Heavenly Father for the answer and went the rest of the day feeling so happy :D.

I challenge ALL of you to read, ponder, and pray about the Book of Mormon to either 1) reaffirm your testimony of it's divinity or 2) gain your own witness for yourself that it is true!

It's worth it.

But yeah! I hope y'all are having fun during these corona days! We've been in isolation for a month now. So that's fun :)

Keep staying awesome,

Elder Furphy

P.S. Sister Becky Craven was one of the devotional speakers this week with her husband! She's in the Young Women's General Presidency. It was such a cool experience.