It’s all good in the hood! And by hood I mean Lincoln county which isn’t really that hood like other than the copious amounts of drugs that go around. There is officially another Elder Inkley in the world! His name is Walter and he’s gonna kill it this week in home MTC.
We have our friend Ezra on date! He’s the 9 year old in our ward from an inactive family. We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ this week and he accepted an invite to baptism! We got him a ride to church with another family, so he was able to experience church for the first time in a few years.
My guy Elder Leavitt in Missouri River broke his wrist this week and we thought he had to go home, BUT HE MIGHT be able to stay. We hope he can stay out so keep him in ur thoughts and prayers.
I got to go do baptisms at the St. Louis temple this week and it was SO amazing. It was fantastic to be able to take some time out of our day and be in the Lord’s house. I learned some things I really needed to learn and felt things that I really needed to feel. Overall, 10/10.
Alright fellas new transfer, new opportunities, new ways to find teach and baptize those ready to hear the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is tranfer FIVE in Wentzville and number seven overall! I have officially served longer than my dear sweet mother did. And she got done more in nine months than I’ll get done in 24 haha.
We had an awesome lesson with John Meyer. He really understands the Atonement. His assisted living facility isn’t allowing him (or anyone) to leave, but we can come in with heavy duty masks on. So we were able to go and administer the sacrament to him yesterday. We talked about what the sacrament is to us and how it differed from other faiths’ sacraments/communions. We brought up baptism and he said as soon as his chemotherapy is finished, he’s very interested in being baptized!
Another miracle this week was that a less active mother contacted us and said her NINE year old son wants to be baptized. And since he’s nine, it’ll count as a convert baptism! It was a cool challenge to teach the Restoration to a kid, because you have to do it much more simply. But it seemed to go well and Ezra (that’s his name) had a good time learning through all of our legit object lessons.
Still on that street contacting grind. I’m learning more and more that we gotta use the SPIRIT, even in deciding who to approach, not just in what we are saying. Alma 37: 36 “Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.” I’m learning that more and more everyday. The Lord is in the work. So we gotta GO TO HIM.
Next week, there will be TWO Elder Inkleys. WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO
A woodchuck would chuck lots of wood if a woodchuck could chuck wood.
Hello beautiful human beings! I hope you’re all killing it and having an absolute blast this summer. I know I am!
Coolest thing this week was finally getting on my feet when it comes to street contacting. As you all know I am an extremely awkward person. I can have conversations with people alright. But I cannot canNOT CANNOT CANNOT start a conversation to save my LIFE. I HATE IT! I absolutely hate it. It’s just so uncomfortable and feels like a waste of time. But the coolest thing I learned this week that when we have to do something that we don’t like to do, it’s better to do it as IF you love it, and eventually you’ll get better at it. You don’t have to love it; you just have to do it! That’s fantastic advice for anything we have to do that we absolutely LOATHE.
We are also still seeing miracles from technology, even if we can be more out and about. This new delta variant or whatever is kicking Missouri’s BEHIND. So we might be going back into lockdown soon.
People are progressing. Kind of slowly. Lots of rejection. Lots of joy, lots of sorrows. I love the work. It’s such a good time and I’m learning so much.
Jacob 5 is a fantastic chapter. I think the best part of it all is the fact that the Lord of the Vineyard is always merciful. He always brings in branches who are READY to be brought into the fold. The Lord is invested in our lives and our spirituality. Elder Holland said, “After digging and dunging, watering and weeding, trimming, pruning, transplanting, and grafting, the great Lord of the vineyard throws down his spade and his pruning shears and weeps, crying out to any who would listen, ‘What could I have done more for my vineyard?’ What an indelible image of God’s engagement in our lives! What anguish in a parent when His children do not choose Him nor ‘the gospel of God’ He sent!” God is involved. He loves you, wherever you are at this very moment.
Party on dudes! And be excellent to each other!
Elder Caillou
1 stuck at the church
2 I wanna get pit vipers SO BAD should I?
3 said goodbye to Elder Morgan :(((
4 look at gow dope I look with the white shirt collar over the reas sweater. Got that Mr. Rodgers look
Just kidding yall I’m OUTTA time this week but I’ll return soon no need
1 Kings 19:11-13 tells us “And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so…” Take some time to be still this week!
We were SO CLOSE to extending an invite this week. But we weren’t feeling it and we didn’t get any promptings, so we just had an amazing lesson anyway. It was with our boy John. We are thinking he could be baptized by the end of August, if not sooner. It all just depends on his want, and his personal choices (you know how it is)
We painted a deck for a long time this week. It was VERY hot, but such a freaking good time. It’s fun to paint a deck/wall when there’s no need to be careful. You can just flippin GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO and there’s no need to be careful or worry about it getting in the wrong spot. It’s a deck! And it’s all gonna be the same color! So it was fun to go sicko mode on it.
This week also included lots of street contacting. And boy is it awkward. Not just ‘oops haha i’m So AwKwArD’ Netflix teenager BS. No the kind of awkward that makes you want to cringe so hard that the veins in your head pop out. It’s just hard to talk to people when other people a.) don’t know who you are and b.) don’t really want to be stopped. But of course, we do it. We talked to a man named Harley. He was VERY open and invited us to a Bible Study! I was so pumped to actually have a successful street contact. Unfortunately, my happiness faded when we woke up that morning. He texted us at 3 AM and apparently found out we were ‘Them Darn Mormons’. He texted us that he was un-inviting us from the Bible Study. Later that day, we were doing service. We got a random call and we weren’t able to answer it at the time. It was Harley’s Pastor! He left us a 4 minute voicemail (it would’ve been longer, but it cut him off) about how we were trying to decieve Harley and we were serving our missions just so we could attend BYU. We tried to call him a few times and never got an answer back. And that’s gonna bug me because there’s NO WAY I want ANYONE to think that I would EVER attend BYU on PURPOSE. I gotta set the record straight.
We also hosted a devotional our mission puts on. Here’s the link to that!
My thought for this week is short: God exists. He loves you. His Son, Jesus Christ, atoned for all of our sins so we can become better human beings everyday. You are not just destined to live here and die. You are LITERALLY destined for greatness. Phillipians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
Things in Wentzville are good! We were BUSY this week and it felt so good to be out and about. We had a ton of lessons with some new people. Some people said, “Yeah let’s keep talking” and others were like, “Nah y’all in a cult”. But you know, you win some, you lose some. That’s the name of the game!
We got to watch some fireworks. Troy’s celebrations lowkey went HARD in the paint. It was a good time and a good finding activity!
We did some POWERWASHING this week which was also exceptionally enjoyable. We tried to use an electric one, but it wouldn’t work for us. So we pulled out the BIG boy…a GAS pressure washer. Now, the Missionary Handbook says that we can’t use power tools. But the gas PRESSURE washer isn’t a power tool. It’s a pressure tool. So we were good to go. That thing would make shapes in the wood if it was too close. It was phenomenal.
There really isn’t a ton to talk about. Things are good. The work goes forward, even if I am the most awkward human being on the planet who can’t do street contacting to save my life. But it’s okay. All things are possible through the Lord.
I may have already shared this before, but this scripture goes so hard I gotta share it again. It’s in 1 Peter 4. It says ,”Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf. For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.”
Keep it up everyone! GOD BLESS THE USA!!
Elder Inkley
1 and 2 POWERWASHING
3. A Dope Shelby GT500 at a car show we went to
4. While digging a hole, we found PART OF A BOOT?!?!? JUST IN THE GROUND?!?!?
We are all friends here, yeah? Then I’m gonna shoot yall straight: this was the worst week yet. It simply sucked. There’s a myriad of reasons why, one of which being we couldn’t use our car much this week because of miles(we had to use an emergency 220 that we hadn’t accounted for). But it was just…slow. And there was lots of rejection, in person and over technology. All but one lesson fell through. Our friend Michael told us he would NEVER read the Book of Mormon and it crushed me. Plus training is hard. Missionary work is just hard.
I don’t want this to be all “aww poor Elder Inkley” because I’m so blessed to be serving. In fact, I’ve been able to see so many miracles this week and been able to feel the Savior helping us more this week. In that way, I am extremely blessed. But it was a good reality check that life SUCKS sometimes. And that’s okay.
Instead of focusing on the bad, let’s look at the highlights of this week:
-We went to a Pentecostal church for a ‘Bible Study’ which turned out to be a Wednesday night sermon. The amount of times the pastor said ‘AMEN’ had to have been 200+
-We had zone conference this week and I was VERY spiritually uplifted.
-Our mission had a devotional with ELDER CHRISTOFFERSON! It was so cool to be in the digital presence of an apostle. He also roasted all of us and that crap HURTED
-there are new speed Champs Legos at our local Wal-Mart(and I REALLY want that Ford Bronco/Ford GT set it looks legit.)
-we saw some cool sunsets this week
-i learned some really good things in my personal studies about the gospel AND church history questions. (Saints Unscripted coming in CLUTCH!)
-We got a tornado warning this week! It was kibda surreal when we got the alert and heard the sirens. Luckily, we were okay.
-Life is good all around!
Spiritual thought for this week comes from the CLASSIC verse in D&C 122. Verse 7 says “And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.” It is such a spiritual BAR. All of our hardships are FOR us, whether the benefits come now or in the life to come.
Anotha Day Anotha Dolla! Things in Wentzville are freaking legit. This week flew by but I also can’t remember that many specifics. But I’ll do my very darndest.
Transfers were on Wednesday. We said goodbye to our boys at transfers. We had a good run. The memories and the memes will be cherished for lifetimes to come. I also met my new companion. His name is Elder Kauffman! He is from Grand Forks, North Dakota. He JUST got out to the field. So unfortunately, the poor fool has to be trained by me. But it’s all good. We had a blast this week.
We hung some sheetrock at this one house. The house had insulation, but not A/C, so we were freaking DYING IT WAS SO HOT! Right after we went to do some landscaping. It was 100 degrees before humidity and so it was closer to 115. Poor Kauffman was dying. But it’s all good. I broke the guys rake on accident. WHOOOOOOOOPS
We had a few miracles this week. A
Dude named Austin, who we hadn’t taught in a while, randomly called us up and said he’d been reading the BOM and wanted to start back up. We were pumped to hear that. We also started teaching a woman named Elizabeth who was on date for baptism last year, but flaked out. She is very open and believes in the Book of Mormon, so we are hopeful about that.
David O. McKay once said “True Christianity is love in action. There is no better way to manifest love for God than to show an unselfish love for your fellow men. This is the spirit of missionary work.” The idea of true discipleship being love in action is fascinating to me. I’m gonna do better to Love everyone and SHOW that love by acting. It’s something I need to work on, and I’m sure lots do as well.
Today is my last day with good ole Elder Hein. He is leaving Wentzville tomorrow. He’s been an awesome missionary and a fantastic friend. I’m so grateful for him and his willingness to serve the Lord, even if it’s with me in an area where everyone hates us. Tomorrow I’ll begin training another poor elder who has to serve with me. Poor dude just left his family for 2 years and now has to be trained by Elder Caillou.
Jeanne and Vince REALLY opened up to us this week. We had a 90 minute lesson with them. We talked about the origins of the Book of Mormon and the timeline of the Great Apostasy and the Restoration. I asked what their relationship with Christ and with God was like. Both of them went silent (which isn’t very common for either of them. They love to talk). Vince said he had been struggling. He didn’t understand why God would let his life be so miserable at times. He was really open and vulnerable with us which was a FANTASTIC sign. Jeanne asked if we were still polygamists. She had heard that the Mormons in Utah were still polygamists. So we assured her we were not. It was a really good lesson and it strengthened my testimony. They couldn’t make it to church this week, but we are hoping they will next week!
The work is going well! We are walking around outside more and more to talk to people in stores, at parks, or anywhere we can without getting kicked out violently. It’s still extremely hot though. SO HOT!!!!!!!! My face is melting as we speak.
I love Helaman 5:11. It says, “And he hath power given unto him from the Father to redeem them from their sins because of repentance; therefore he hath sent his angels to declare the tidings of the conditions of repentance, which bringeth unto the power of the Redeemer, unto the salvation of their souls.” WE ALL MESS UP! There is not a single person who is perfect. None of us can cast the first stone. But we will all become better. We all CAN become better NOW. All we need to do is come unto Jesus. He will help us. He is helping us. Make sure you’re turning to Him every single day.
I love you all!
Elder Caillou
1. Proselytizing in JOGGERS?!?!
2. High-Preisting it with a fat tie. I look 70 years old
Hello again from Troy, Missouri where it is a billion degrees all the time. Wanna know what’s nice? Lots of humidity at 65 degrees. Wanna know what ISNT nice? Lots of humidity at 85 degrees. It’s very hot, that’s what I’m trying to say. But the work is good!
The allergies have been insane this week too. I haven’t been able to talk that much since Thursday when we did some service in this old musty shed. Then right after we were doing some landscaping for our friends Jeanne and Vince and I was just a snot factory dude. Non stop hucking loogies.
The most interesting story from this week comes from our boy Bill Rector. He wanted to get Zoom up and running on his computer computer he could watch church. He warned me that there may be some “naughty things the devil put on [his] computer”. I opened up a new tab so I didn’t see anything. But curiosity killed the cat. I looked at his history and saw one single search. And it was a BING search of all things. Now I’m not gonna say what exactly the search was because there are innocent eyes and ears in this email list. But needless to say Bill is into Nuns breaking a very important commandment. That’s the most detail I’ll go into.
The work is good. We are trying our very best and are slowly seeing the fruits of our labors starting to come to fruition. It’s nice to see!
I read the King Follet Sermon again this week. It’s amazing and fills me with SO much hope for the eternities. One of my favorite quotes from Joseph in the Sermon is, “If we start right, it is easy to go right all the time; but if we start wrong we may go wrong, and it will be a hard matter to get right.” Everyone gets the chance to repent and learn the gospel in the afterlife. But it’s easier to do it NOW. It’s easier to get on the path NOW. That’s why we serve missions instead of doing just temple work. It’s a beautiful work. Stay on the path! God loves you!!
Happy Memorial Day to you beautiful people! I hope you all enjoy the day off. Another week, another dollar here in Troy Missouri.
We didn’t have that many miles this week, so we couldn’t drive that much. So lots of apartment time. Not bad tho! We had lots to do.
The only bummer this week is that Michael put 2 and 2 together and figured out that we “were them darn Mormons.” He told us that he wouks never read the Book of Mormon and told us he felt betrayed. Like…dog. We didn’t lie to you. We just didn’t say we were Mormons cause we aren’t. Pfft it was disappointing for sure.
But Vince is still reading the Book of Mormon and he is enjoying it a ton! Unfortunately Jeanne isn’t that much into it. But we hope eventually that she will come around.
We started teaching a dude named JOHN MAYER this week. So we are gonna baptize John Mayer. How cool would that be to say!
I studied humility a lot this week. 2 Nephi 9: 28 and 29 say “O that cunning plan of the evil one! O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish. But to be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God.” We are supposed to learn and grow! But we are always supposed to rely on God. WooHoo!
What Up! Good week this week. I honestly don’t remember a ton of it. We were on that GRIND this week. It felt really good.
Jeanne and Vince came to church yesterday! We were pumped that they made it. They seemed a little uncomfortable at first, but they eventually started feeling more and more ‘at home’ as Vince put it. Vince also told us that he’s reading the ‘little kid Book of Mormon’ (the Book of Mormon Stories thing). Vince is definately interested. We still need to work on Jeanne a little bit though. She’s just had a very bad experience with organized religion. But she likes us and trusts us and that’s what’s important right now.
We are also getting close to our boy Michael. We got to work on his old 1990 Chevy Silverado this week. Okay let me rephrase that. Michael and Elder Hein worked on the truck while I held flashlights or pretended to know what I was doing. I’m clueless when it comes to cars BUT I learned a ton that day and it was a good time! He’s dope. Progressing very nicely (both him and the truck).
Honestly the rest of the week was a grind. But in a good way! We can now be outside and street contact and be in homes without masks. It’s a huge blessing.
Meekness is an interesting topic to study. Neal A Maxwell once joked and said “If the meek wish to inherit the earth, they need to be a but more bold.” He went on to explain that meekness is not rolling over and letting injustice happen. The best meekness is being willing to do the Father’s will. Christ did it best. So let’s all try to be more meek this week. It’s important and will allow us to inherit the highest blessings God has for us.
Elder Inkley
Pics
1. Working on da car
2. A bunch of missionaries at a dope meeting
3. I SAW A PS5 IN PERSON THIS WEEK!!! It’s freaking ginormous
Hello All! To preface this email I will just say that other peoples’ agency SUCKS. I’m glad they have it and I’m grateful that God gave us the ability to choose but I wish people chose the RIGHT more often.
We had a fantastic lesson for our friend Bob planned out after he would attend our Sacrament Meeting yesterday. We had members lined up to be there, lots of visuals, and an overall great lesson. 9:00 o’Clock rolls around and Bob doesn’t show. Then 9:05…then 9:10. He never showed up and didn’t answer or return our calls either. So that was just a bummer.
The rest of the week was LEGIT though. We worked very hard and had some awesome experiences. We’ve been running into some trust issues with Michael. But he attended a Baptism on Zoom this week and really enjoyed it! Afterwards he invited us to his church that meets on Saturday evenings so we went! It was WEEEEIRD. The whole church is centered around those in Addiction Recovery and that’s really cool. But they use the NLT Bible, which just destroys all the poetry and majestry of the King James Bible. Not a lot of people liked seeing us either. Got called ‘Mormon’ in a derogatory way a LOT. I never thought that being called a Mormon would bother me, but it does now!
But Michael REALLY appreciated us coming to his church. We are gonna go help him fix up an old truck this week and that is a huge breakthrough for us. So even if we attended a weird church, it was worth it to gain the trust of Michael.
Other than that we just kinda grinded this week! Lots of work, more members with lessons (which have been scarce in the past few months) and learning cool songs on my guitar! Last night we got hit with a HUGE thunderstorm. It was glorious. We spent some time just looking out the window and marvelling at the rain and the lightning and the thunder. As the rain came down I thought about how beautiful rain is. It cleans the whole earth. It cleans us. But it can be annoying. Right in the smack-dab middle of a storm exposed to the elements can be horrifying at worst and annoying at best. But when we are in a place of refuge, we can gain perspective and see how the rain is benefiting us. It reminds me of D&C 122:7 “And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.” The hard times are good for us. We grow and become better through them.
What Up Party People! Happy Monday Morning! And Happy Mother’s Day to all of you moms and mother figures out there. You So Totally Rock.
Pretty busy week. Not a lot of crazy things happened. I got to mow a lawn this week thought! For some reason it felt SO GOOD to use a lawn mower. It was so satisfying to just walk and just simply vibe doing yard work. I have no idea why. Maybe I’m getting old and just really enjoy a freshly cut lawn. I am getting old. Jeez.
We had a lesson with Jeanne this week. She was a little confused about some things from the Book of Mormon and is REALLY confused about coffee and the Word of Wisdom. But that’s what you get when you consult Google before you consult the Holy Ghost. We hope that she will begin to consult the Book of Mormon instead of the internet in the future.
Michael is doing well too. He is a little confused or opposed to modern revelation, but the good news is that the Bible backs up modern revelation and the fact that miracles haven’t ceased etc and etc. So he’s opening up to the idea. We are also gonna attend his church sometime in the upcoming weeks and he said he’d come to our church!
Yesterday during Sacrament Meeting, an old dude showed up with about 20 minutes left in the meeting. He was NOT in the place he thought he was, but he made a good mistake by coming to our church! We set up a time to do a bible study this week, which’ll be very interesting!
1 Nephi 10:19 says that “The course of the Lord is one Eternal Round.” I love this verse because I love thinkning about having an eternal golf round in paradise. That sounds way nice, and something to look forward too!
Good People of Earth and of Elder Inkley’s email list! Today will be a quick little letter mostly because I got the 2nd COVID shot yesterday and it is KICKING MY TRASH! I haven’t felt this sick in forever. Hopefully that means the vaccine is doing what it needs to do. But if I die, I love you all.
We started teaching Jeanne and Vince Pauley this week! We have done some service for them over the past month or so, and they are just in awe of our work ethic and the fact that we do it for free. So we were like “Let us explain to you WHY we do what we do” and they took a Book of Mormon! We have a lesson set up with them later this week, so I’ll let y’all know how that goes.
Okay what else happened this week. Other than the fact that my head is POUNDING, it’s been a good week. We attended a car show in Wentzville this week and talked to a ton of people. I’m not super into cars, but I do think that they’re fascinating. Not just cars, but especially the whole car community. We learned that Elder Hein and I will be staying together another transfer here in Wentzville! We were surprised to hear that news, but we aren’t complaining. To quote a certain Sith Lord from the worst Star Wars trilogy: “A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.” Things are good over here in Missouri!
I passed my 6 month mark the other day. Crazy stuff. A thought that has been on my mind all week is Miracles and how they happen. I think they happen more often than we think, we just have to learn how to see them. For example, it’s a miracle that Laban had a very similar family history to Lehi and his kin. Without it, we would miss some very key lessons taught in the Book of Mormon. But I had never thought of that. It’s all about our own perspective!
Love you all! Have a fantastic week!
Elder Inkley
PICS
1. A dope 1966 Mustang with a 2016 Coyote Motor. I didn’t know what that meant, but trust me, IT’S DOPE.
We got a new car for the week. The other one had some problems with it so we got a rental for the week, hence the title.
Another new whip we hopped into into week? The trams that take you to the top of Gateway Arch that we went on today. Now THAT is sketchy. But the view up top is unbeaten.
Things in Missouri are good! I’d like to first say that I titled last week’s email ‘GREEEEEEN’. Mother Nature, in a cruel twist of fate, decided it would be FUNNY if it freaking SNOWED the next 2 days. So I take back what I said about Green-ness in Missouri. But it’s still pretty freaking green. Everything I say, the opposite will happen.
Wanna know what else is dope? Micheal. Mr. Weirdest Last Name himself is doing very well. Unfortunately, he’s pretty centered on the gospel of the Trinity. It can be discouraging to see how close the Trinity is to the Truth, but it is so far at the same time. RIP. But Michael is still a joy and he is learning very quickly and we love him!
The grind has been real this week! Not a lot of people talking to us this week. No matter. The work goes forward, no matter how many times we are left on read or how many people YELL AT US USING ALL CAPS ON FACEBOOK MESSENGER. ( I bet the voice in your head read that last bit louder lmaoooooo). Good times nonetheless.
I studied a lot on Prayer and Faith this week. The Bible Dictionary says that “Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant…” This is a skill that is going to take all of us a long time to develop. It’s hard to align our will with God’s. But the coolest part about life is that we can literally talk with God whenever we pray and listen to what the Spirit prompts us to do.
I love yall! Have a fantastic rest of the month and I’ll talk to you in May (hahahhahahah)
Elder Inkley
P.S. below are a Bunch of pics of our outing today in STL and a rainbow we saw this week! And of course, the obligatory meme.
I would like to partially apologize to the entire state of Missouri for bashing on their state for the past six months. But you gotta understand. It’s been brutal for scenery. The prettiest it had gotten were occasional sunsets and that one time it snowed. But it’s mostly just been brown misery for my entire time being here.
But now it’s freaking GREEEEN HOLY FRICK! I cannot believe how green it is. And we are still only getting started with the vegetation. I love it. I now understand a little bit more why the Lord would choose here for New Jerusalem. It really is gorgeous in a lot of places. Too bad it’s still Missouri and they don’t have mountains #MountainGang
Our friend Michael with the wack last name is still doing so good. We had a really good lesson on The Holy Spirit being the comforter and he is getting much more comfortable with our ‘theology’, whatever that means. But we are gonna try to get this man baptized VERY soon because he is ready. He already has 90% of the gospel and understands understands Atonement better than most LDS members. So we are just gonna give him the last 10% he needs.
Facebook sucks, but it’s giving us a kit of opportunities to meet people. Elder Hein and I got invited to a car show coming up soon, so expect to see a BUNCH of pics on that soon. We are talking eith quite a few people on Facebook. It’s so cool to see the Lord working through the technology available to us now. I hate technology, but I love it.
D & C 130: 20-21 says “There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated-And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.”
That’s a lesson I’ve learned this week. Exact obedience is something we strive for. It’s all about our attitude. Weird. It’s almost like the Lord loves us and blesses us for when we do His will over ours. Crazy how that works.
Hey everyone! It’s Elder Inkley again. First of all, thank you all for the birthday wishes on Saturday. It was a very fun day, albiet weird. Mission birthdays are basically days with some cards sprinkled in there. It was just another day serving the Lord! Which is not a bad thing, it just wasn’t a normal birthday. But it’s all good! I had a fantastic day nontheless AND some Elders in the district and I got to go golfing today courtesy of my parents, so we are very grateful for that.
We are talking to this guy named Casey, who was raised Catholic and is now agnostic. He has problems with inconsistencies in the Bibie, which is just a GOLDEN opportunity to teach him about the Restoration. But he’s cool. He hunts a ton. He’s been in Colorado, but claims that his dream hunt is in Utah, so that’s another great avenue to try and connect with him, which we have been.
We are also continuing to talk with our friend Michael Ballweg, which is just an absolute slap in the face of a last name. We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ as found in Acts 2. It consists of Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Endure to the End. He was very open to it and we are going to teach him the Restoration here soon. WooHoo!
This week was kind of slow, when it comes to finding people to teach. Lots of Facebook rejection, which is really just being left on read on Messenger. The psychology of missions has changed so much. It used to be a lot more physical with all the walking and biking and getting doors closed on you all the time. Now it’s much more mental. You gotta stay FOCUSED on Facebook, especially since that app is designed to suck you in and waste your time on. And It’s a lot easier for people to disregard, disrespect, or ignore you because you’re just a bunch of pixels to them, not an actual human being. So it’s just different.
I was pretty discouraged about the ‘slowness’ of the work for a little bit this week. We always hear about ‘Having Faith to Find the Elect’ and when I feel like we aren’t finding people, it makes me question if I have enough faiith. It’s a terrible spiral. But an elder this week was talking to me about how having Faith to Find is an attitude, not an action. It’s doing the small things every single day and pressing forward. It’s reading the SafeGuards for Using Technology for the 500th time during companionship study (any missionary who used technology will know this freaking booklet wayyyyyy too well.) Think about Enoch and that city. It took them YEARS to be translated. They may have felt discouraged at times. But they were able to press forward in faith, even if their faithfulness didn’t manifest itself physically to them. That’s something that I’m trying to do better, and something I think a lot of us could do better on.
I love you all! Thanks again for an awesome birthday!
Elder Inkley
PS we also visited a Lamborghini store this week. Definitely expect a change in the Facebook Profile pic soon 👀👀
Happy Easter everyone! What a lovely weekend it was to ponder and reflect on the Savior’s Great Atoning Sacrifice and listen to living Prophets and Apostles testify of His divinity and Ressurection. It was a freaking awesome weekend and I learned so much about myself and about how to better become a disciple and a more effective and converted missionary.
This week was uneventful in funny stories or awkward situations, but I think I’m starting to feel that way because our entire lives as missionaries revolve around seeking out uncomfortable situations in order to find people to teach. But it was a spirit filled week.
Saturday morning we were able able go to the mission home and watch Conference outside while eating breakfast. It was cool to be by President and his family while listening to conference. We also set up a projector in the Stake Center, but the projector wouldn’t connect to our phones. So we dragged out one of the computers from the family history center and plugged it in. But these computers weren’t WiFi enabled, so we had to find an ethernet cable and port and it was just a mess. The whole setup SCREAMED white trash, but I guess it is Missouri, so we fit right in.
I also finished ‘Jesus The Christ’ this week. And Hooooooooooooly CRAAAAAP. That book is phenomenal. I learned so many things about Christ and about the whole Plan of Salvation. One of my favorite quotes from it that I read this week says “When Christ appears in His glory, and not before, will be realized a complete fulfilment of the supplication: “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”” It’s amazing to me that even the smallest portion of The Lord’s Prayer is fulfilled in Christ. Jesus is simply the best. Through Him we ‘have our being’ and we are able to progress in this life and eternally. Happy Easter everyone!
I experienced some CRAZY nature this week. First of all, the pollen count has SPIKED and it is throwing me for a looooooooooooop. I’m sneezing all the time. Also, we had a HUGE thunderstorm this week. It was beautiful all day and then BOOOM. Hail, Rain, lightning, thunder, clouds, winds, the whole 9 yards. And not even 20 minutes later, It was sunny. It was intense though.
Spring is fun though. It’s so beautiful that we get to see evertything start to wake up. More people are out and about, nature turns greener and animals become more active. It’s a really fun time to be alive. The only problem is wasps because wasps are the scum of the earth. TWO got in our apartment this week. Blech.
The other gorgeous thing about Spring is Easter and getting to focus on the Savior’s ressurrection. And with General Conference coming up this week, there’s gonna be lots for all to ponder, pray, and seek guidance for. I personally am excited to watch Conference for the first time as a missionary. It’ll be WAY cool.
Kenny, our blind JW friend, has started to try and convert us. He has started reading out of his Jehovah’s Witness Bible (which has been so heavily modified and verses cut out that you could barely even consider it a Bible) and his ‘WatchTower’ magazines, which is basically the blind JW Book of Mormon, only it sucks. So we are gonna probably start to teach him less and less because he really isn’t that interested.
Raven on the other hand is killing it. Raven is the horse dude we met last week while doing service. He didn’t respond to us for a couple days, but he’s been doing really well ever since. He has had multiple different religious experiences coming from a family full of baptists, catholics, born agains, etc. He is searching for the real thing though. We are excited to give it to him.
Easter is this weekend. The whole week is filled with different events from the last week of the Savior’s Earthly Ministry. One of my favorite New Testament scriptures comes from Matthew 26:39. It reads, “And he [Jesus] went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” I often wonder how I can better have this attitude of not doing my own will, but Christ’s will, and our Father’s will. Putting aside our earthly desires and putting God first is something I’m trying to do. We can best do that by doing the small and simple things. Praying, reading God’s word, attending church, and striving to follow the commandments is the best way we can do that. And we will fail. But Christ allows us to get back up again. Because of what happened almost 2000 years ago, we are all able to use His Infinite Atonement. I hope you all have a beautiful Easter season. I love each of you!
