Week 8: Discipleship is Intention, Not Perfection

Watching General Conference

Okay can we talk about how inspiring General Conference was this weekend, wowza!! I don´t think I´ve ever been left more shook in my entire life! All of the sessions applied very well to my situation right now. Our district set a goal this week to come prepared to the conference with 2-3 specific questions that we had. The biggest question that kept coming to my mind throughout the week was, "How do I know when I am doing good enough as a disciple of Jesus Christ?" I believe that this question was answered in multiple different talks; however, I would like to write about one that stood out the most to me personally. You probably could guess the speaker because he really enjoys talking about airplanes and comes from the country directly below me at the moment. 

You guessed it, Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf!! I´m not sure if moving closer to his mother land was part of me being so awestruck or it was simply the fact that he has always been one of my favorite speakers. Either way, he blew my socks off! Right when Elder Uchtdorf started his message with the famous story of the Hobbit I knew it would be great! In fact, when I actually think more about it the tale of Bilbo Baggins leaving the comforts of home to face a perilous journey of trolls, goblins, spiders, and dragons is basically the story of my mission. I´ve left my family behind to go out and preach the gospel. I will face many challenges along the way, but they will shape me into a more courageous and bold son of God. Sounds like the Hobbit to me, only renamed the Mission!! As I listened to this masterpiece of a talk, the most clear answer to my question came when Elder Uchtdorf said, "Discipleship is not about doing things perfectly, it´s about doing things intentionally. It is your choices that show what you truly are, far more than your abilities." Mind blown... This week I constantly had thoughts pop up in my head that made me question how good of a missionary I really am. I prayed to know how to be better and this is my answer - I need to focus on my intentions instead of the way I go about doing things. As long as my intentions are good and pure, then I can be confident that I am a good disciple of Christ.

One day, Ældste Ogden and I went knocking in a neighborhood close to downtown København. We found three people on the one street we knocked that actually wanted to talk to us about religion (I don´t know what it is about finding THREE people but that always seems to be the cae for us)! The first person was a lady that believes every religion has good people and that everyone can worship in their own way. We agreed with her and let her know that God loves ALL of His children. The second person was a gentleman that enjoys learning about different religions. This man was a genius and probably brought up what felt like 1,000 different religions and what they believe in during our conversation. We were chatting in front of his house for about 45 minutes about deep doctrinal things. He showed interest in reading the Book of Mormon so we gave him one along with a Restoration pamphlet to explain some more of our believes. Kudos to Ældste Ogden for carrying the conversation along because that man spoke a million miles per hour during our exchange! I love my companion! The third person was a lady that teaches religion at some sort of school. She opened the door and before we said anything she asked her friend, who owns the house, "Can I let these guys in and visit with them?" She spoke with us in English (which was a relief after the previous man) and asked us some deep questions. We answered them as best we could and we handed her a Restoration pamphlet because she wanted to know more about that but had to leave. Apparently, her friend had previously given her a Book of Mormon so that made our job a whole lot easier. We left that road shocked and rode home giddy as can be.

Another day, we attempted to return to those three individuals that told us to return to their homes another day. We knocked on their doors and their girlfriends opened the doors. We discovered that they had asked us to come back on days that they had work until 9pm - those sneaky wits! Fortunately we found another woman that said she already has a Book of Mormon and would like to read it with us. Hopefully she´s being serious! Ældste Farr, my disctrict leader, and I went together on splits this week and I got some good training from him. We were practicing the first lesson and I kept stumbling because I would forget what to say. He stopped me and suggested, "Remember you already know the story! Tell it to me like you would your friend - in a natural way." His boldness inspired me and I knew he was right. I had learned the story of Jesus Christ as a primary boy and knew it by heart. He invited me to try again and I did just that. Afterward, he said that the improvement was incredible. We then decided to take two large loops to the København Zoo to find people. We found one person that stopped and shared his beliefs with us. He said that he believes in data or proof. He also told us that he respects religious thinkers and expressed his appreciation to us for not harassing him. He said that we could maybe swing by one time, but he had no promises. 

Now that my mind is on promises, I think it´s a good time to talk about a baptism we were able to attend this week. The trainers made an executive decision to go on splits and send four trainees to go to Isabella´s baptism at the stake center. Ældste Madsen drove the massive van and the Ældster outside were laughing their heads off and taking pictures of us. I think they get a kick out of seeing us struggle cause they know how it feels since they went through it at one time in the mission. Anyway, it was a privilege to witness Isabella´s baptism because it´s always amazing to see people make sacred covenants with Heavenly Father. She had been contacted on the street by Søster missionaries on the streets of Slagelse in April. That´s six months ago! Crazy how God works! Well, we´re about to leave now to head home so I want to say that the things in common of all these events this week were the intentions. They each brought us closer to Christ and that´s the most important intention of all. Knowing this, my goal as a missionary is to invite others to come closer to Christ. Whether they reject it or not does not determine whether not I´m successful. It is up to me to have pure intentions while serving the people of Denmark

Hav en god uge,
Ældste Moore        


On our way to church
On our way to church
This always cheers me up :)
My study desk