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As you read this blog you will walk week by week with Elder Traasdahl as he takes one step at a time to teach the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and testify that in addition to the Bible, The Book of Mormon is a Second Witness of Christ. Enjoy the journey of this LDS missionary through his first hand experience and through the eyes of his family and his twin missionary brother.


Friday, June 20, 2014

December 9, 2013 ~ "I absolutely love Him."

Fam!  Mom before I forget Matison Johnson is Elder Johnson out here.  He's one of my boys in the zone, way cool cool kid. He's in a recent New Era magazine as a matter of fact so he thinks he's all famous now.  Haha anyways, how the heck are you all!?  I say this every week and I'll continue to say it every week, I loved hearing from you all! Mom and B I'm glad you had a great time singing.  To your point dad, I'm stoked for next year's concert when you got your 4 boys and possibly some female company you know what I'm saying?  Haha sheesh the thought of girls just scares me.  But hey I'm proud of ASU this year!  Even though we didn't go for gold we still went for something which is good.   Aust, let me know how the recruiting looks like.

Okay so I had some incredible experiences this last week.  First let me begin by laying the foundation that I know without a doubt that the priesthood of God has been restored and is found in our church.  We've been working with a returning member family, the McArthurs, and their recent convert 12 year old son Brett.  I have grown to love love love this family. This past Saturday they went through the temple for the first time and were sealed on the same day.  Prezzy Toombs let us go to the sealing.  I was amazed at how real the spirit was.  As I sat there and watched I received some pretty incredible promptings from the spirit testifying to me the reality of the sealing and the powers of the priesthood.  It was cool to be a part of because my thoughts went to Grandpa E and imagining him sealing families together in the temple. I am so grateful for my Grandpa's and Grandma's.  I'm beginning to realize how greatly my life and happiness have been affected by them.  Tell the Grandma's I appreciate and love them!  Later that day we were able to give blessings.  Again, I grew in my testimony of the priesthood.  Later that night, I was able to go back to Westminster and attend a baptism for Amber Maupin, a lady I found and taught in the Hidden Lake ward.  Tony Brown, a recent convert we worked with baptized her and it was again so apparent to me how merciful God is, to have blessed us with His authority to act in the ordinances of salvation so that His children can be redeemed from sin, endowed with power, and qualify for eternal life, being sealed together as families to live forever in the presence of our Father.  It's just so exciting to be a part of fam!

I had a pretty sweet realization this past week as well.  I was studying becoming and weakness.  Through reading the words of the prophets, and the scriptures I realized that there are eternal laws of God.  Affixed to these laws there are eternal punishments when we disobey or sin (Alma 42:18) and eternal blessings for obedience (Doctrine and Covenants 130:20-21).  All disobedience comes from a lack of understanding and that's the very reason we came to earth.  To grow in our understanding, to grow in our knowledge of light and truth.  To those who endure through their weaknesses and are faithful, the Lord will give them understanding (Doctrine and covenants 76:9) so that they can overcome and become.  We can pray for spiritual gifts (Doctrine and Covenants 46:7-11) to overcome our weaknesses.  And of course all of this is possible through the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ.  Through faith and repentance and living the Gospel, mercy can have claim on our souls through Christ's Atonement.  He paid the price so that the eternal law of justice could be satisfied and the eternal thrill of being merciful can be magnified.  I absolutely love Him.  And that's why I'm pretty stinking sure I'm living the best life in the world right now because I get to learn and grow in my knowledge of this each and every day and help my brothers and sisters do the same.  Sharing the gospel has come to be one of my great loves in life.  Fam, I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week.  B-ray!  Great job at inviting your friend to stay through church!  You have a wonderful opportunity to change a life man!  Fam, you're fantstic. love ya!

Elder Traasdahl

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