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| Bari Zone - October 2015 |
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President Waddoups used Alma chapter 5 as his basis for
teaching about the Doctrine of Christ and using inspired questions. There are more than 50 inspired questions in this chapter.
6 And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren,
you that belong to this church, have you sufficiently retained in remembrance
the captivity of your fathers? Yea, and have you sufficiently retained in
remembrance his mercy and long-suffering towards them? And moreover, have ye
sufficiently retained in remembrance that he has delivered their souls from
hell?
7 Behold, he changed their hearts; yea, he
awakened them out of a deep sleep, and they awoke unto God. Behold, they were
in the midst of darkness; nevertheless, their souls were illuminated by the
light of the everlasting word; yea, they were encircled about by the bands of
death, and the chains of hell, and an everlasting destruction did await
them.
13 And behold, he preached the word unto your
fathers, and a mighty change was also wrought in their hearts, and they humbled
themselves and put their trust in the true and living God. And behold, they
were faithful until the end; therefore they were saved.
14 And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of
the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in
your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?
15 Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him
who created you? Do you look forward with an eye of faith, and view this mortal
body raised in immortality, and this corruption raised in incorruption, to
stand before God to be judged according to the deeds which have been done in
the mortal body?
18 Or otherwise, can ye imagine yourselves
brought before the tribunal of God with your souls filled with guilt and
remorse, having a remembrance of all your guilt, yea, a perfect remembrance of
all your wickedness, yea, a remembrance that ye have set at defiance the
commandments of God?
26 And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren,
if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song
of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?
27 Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless
before God? Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within
yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? That your garments have been
cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ, who will come to redeem
his people from their sins?
38 Behold, I say unto you, that the good
shepherd doth call you; yea, and in his own name he doth call you, which is the
name of Christ; and if ye will not hearken unto the voice of the good shepherd,
to the name by which ye are called, behold, ye are not the sheep of the good
shepherd.
40 For I say unto you that whatsoever is good
cometh from God, and whatsoever is evil cometh from the devil.
46 Behold, I say unto you they are made known
unto me by the Holy Spirit of God. Behold, I have fasted and prayed many days
that I might know these things of myself. And now I do know of myself that they
are true; for the Lord God hath made them manifest unto me by his Holy Spirit;
and this is the spirit of revelation which is in me.
49 And now I say unto you that this is the order
after which I am called, yea, to preach unto my beloved brethren, yea, and
every one that dwelleth in the land; yea, to preach unto all, both old and
young, both bond and free; yea, I say unto you the aged, and also the middle
aged, and the rising generation; yea, to cry unto them that they must repent
and be born again.
51 And also the Spirit saith unto me, yea,
crieth unto me with a mighty voice, saying: Go forth and say unto this
people—Repent, for except ye repent ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of
heaven.
54 Yea, will ye persist in supposing that ye are
better one than another; yea, will ye persist in the persecution of your
brethren, who humble themselves and do walk after the holy order of God,
wherewith they have been brought into this church, having been sanctified by
the Holy Spirit, and they do bring forth works which are meet for
repentance—
62 I speak by way of command unto you that
belong to the church; and unto those who do not belong to the church I speak by
way of invitation, saying: Come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye also
may be partakers of the fruit of the tree of life.
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During the last round of zone conferences, we started having the missionaries read and explain a section from the missionary handbook. It's a tradition we hope to establish in the mission. It's a good way of reinforcing obedience. During this round of zone conferences, we are continuing to read from the handbook and we also played a game about obedience. I made up questions based on information in the handbook and put them on slips of paper. The answers to the questions were then put on a white board. One missionary read a question and another missionary found the answer and removed it from the whiteboard. Of course, the missionaries knew every answer and we were able to answer any questions they had about them. We have seen the degree of obedience greatly increase in the mission over the last year and a half. We still have occasional problems and probably always will, but we are pleased with how wonderful our missionaries are.
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| Beginning Testimony |
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| Happy Birthday |
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| Departing Testimony |
