Everyday Improvements

So we have been teaching someone named George for the last few weeks. He hasn't been making much progress. He refused to go to church, but he was open to meeting with us and discussing the Gospel. As we have been meeting with him we have been giving him chapters to read in the Book of Mormon and he has been doing that and enjoying it, but that is about all he does. Last week we just invited him to read the first 5 chapters of the Book of Mormon and as he started looking at them he thought they were too short so he said he would read the first 15 chapters! Elder Anderson and I were definitely surprised to hear that. I have never had anybody read that much in between visits.
We were curious to see how much he would get through. So when we met with him this week he really did get through them all! When we were discussing them we realized how much he had taken away for the chapters. He had so many different insights and he just lit up as he talked about it. You could truly tell the change in this man just by reading the Book of Mormon this week. It was so amazing to see. He said he would come to church this week as well! That was the first time he has said that. This experience really strengthened my testimony in the power of the Book of Mormon. It truly is the word of God. The Prophet Joseph Smith said: 

 “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the 

keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.”

I know this is true. I have felt myself draw nearer to God as I have read it and I have seen it in countless others, such as George.

This week has also been one filled with lots of personal growth. And I am so grateful for it. I have been spending this week identifying what I can improve on and then taking it to the Lord for help. I am so grateful for his grace that allows us to improve ourselves continually. The more I understand the Gospel and the Character of Jesus Christ the more I realize how much I need to improve on. I am grateful for his perfect example that gives me a goal to reach. I know I will never be perfect in this life. But I can certainly improve a lot with his help. That is the beautiful thing about the atonement of Jesus Christ. He didn't just suffer for our sins. He suffered for everything anyone will ever go through and he overcame them all. He gives us a chance to be better. Not by just forgiving us of our sins, but by giving us the opportunity to change. I am forever  grateful for that.

Love,

Elder Hallmark



 Here is a Zone picture we took last week at Zone training

 We saw a funny sign this week as we were driving around Georgetown!

Some of the beautiful rolling hills in Georgetown.

So we cover a Spanish group as well and so Elder Anderson and I have been trying our best to learn Spanish so we can communicate with them and be able to teach people. It has been going a lot better than I thought. According to this app we are using called Duolingo I am officially 6% fluent in Spanish. haha.