Hello Family!
It has been a great week. Elder Lee is awesome! He is from Vancouver, B.C. but was born and raised near Seoul, Korea. He's been here in the CTM for about 17 months, the majority of it being spent doing Korean work. He wanted to do more English work and learn how to speak it better, so now here he is! It's fun.
Just like any other day or week, we've had some highs as well as lows this past week. Charles is doing pretty well and should be getting baptized this Sunday, so that is really exciting! Unfortunately, Shawn saw some more anti-Mormon stuff but this time it affected him negatively. He sent a couple of texts to us on Saturday, and he basically said "There is no way you guys would be able to refute this (the anti stuff). I'm sorry guys, but I think this is where we part ways. You guys are awesome and I wish you the best." We let him know our door is still open for him. I don't think we've seen him for the last time, I think he'll come around again. But we won't really chase after him until he's ready. This tragic turn in his journey reminded me of something all of us should remember. Faith is a choice.
We don't become faithful or believing all at once. We may have powerful experiences that help us to have faith. But unless we want it and choose it, our faith will not grow. Our testimonies, our faith... really, our entire character as a human being, is like a bonfire- we need to fuel it to keep it burning, to keep it alive. We can either let it grow dim, or we can fuel it. I think we can go a little deeper too and say we can fuel it a couple of ways: we can fuel it with all sorts of dorito bags or other plasticy-paper wrapper things that my young-men's leaders always told us not to do. Or we can fuel it with nice firewood that's perfect for a bright, clean & natural burn. Sure, both will fuel the fire. But one gives off a nasty polluted smoke, while the other is just normal & natural smoke. (don't get all eco-friendly on me and ruin my analogy!)
We choose to believe what we believe. There is absolute Truth, which is God's. There is the gray area between truth and falsehood, which is man-made. And then there's the area of complete lies, which is Satan's. It's up to us to choose what we'll believe. Are we going to believe the Truth when it is right in front of us? Or, are we going to believe the lies? And what concepts of man do we believe? It's left to us to discern and choose who to follow. We can have help to know what is true and what is false (the Light of Christ, the gift of the Holy Ghost). We can know the Truth in this confusing world. Just be careful of what road you begin to travel down. The more you follow truth, the more you'll recognize it. And I believe the same principle is true for following a path of lies. The more you believe the subtle lies, the more you are deceived. So, we need to choose wisely. Ask questions, look at all sides before you make a decision (which includes trying things- like reading the Book of Mormon and praying)... then, you will be able to discern between what is really truth and what is really fraud.
I love you all! Have a great & happy week.
PS-I'm out of time... so you may or may not get personal emails from me this week. Sorry!!
Love,
Elder Simper
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