So this week has been really cool. Very spiritually boosting. We mainly focused on "Teaching People, Not Lessons" in our Missionary curriculum. It really has been night and day to allow the spirit to take control of the lesson. It is a physical thing. It isn't some theory that people say to make us teach better. The Spirit is becoming to me as tangible a thing as something I can physically feel. When I was little, I was always a little disappointed when in Sunday school or wherever it was I heard it said that "the Spirit is like the wind: you can't see it but you know it's there." Nope. The wind is definitely here on THIS earth and I can physically feel it, etc. You never know when you're feeling the spirit because it might be your thoughts, you might be too distracted, you can only hear it when there's no one else around -except for those stories that never happen to you... Those were some of my frustrated thoughts sometimes.
But the Spirit is actually becoming as constant as wind is. Usually wind is not very constant, but it is much more constant than my ambiguous idea of what the spirit was. But now, I am learning the why’s and how’s behind the workings of the spirit while here. All I've learned reminds me of Helaman 3:35, where the people of God "did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation...because of their yielding their hearts to God." THIS week, Elder Creer and I taught an awesome lesson in Priesthood because it was "conducted after the manner of the workings of the Spirit, and by the power of the Holy Ghost." (Moroni 6:9) Seeing the success that the Spirit brings, we had another lesson taught by Elder Bennett and Elder Engle who just wanted to have a kind of discussion. The following were some of my impressions I recorded with my little blue inspiration book I have (WHOLE other story for that little book):
"The Spirit is like a violin - a millimeter off and you're off tune. How to fix? Practice those precise fingerings correctly (and constantly self-correcting) until it gets engrained in your blood by pondering and actually applying the spirit; continuously practicing, like Lehi - who practiced listening to the Spirit so much, he was always prepared to receive revelation - and DID."
Once Lehi acted (in faith) on something that 'could be' the spirit, the Lord realized he was so much more ready to receive more. "To him that receiveth, to him will I give more, and he that receiveth not, it shall be taken away"... or something like that. I have learned that the Spirit, that is as tangible as a morning wind, can only be felt if you act on those promptings and "wax stronger and stronger" by practicing A LOT.
I ask you - my friends and fam - to PLEASE read your Book of Mormon every day. Practice that spirit, and I know you too will feel it's a breeze.
