In Harmony with the Lord

Well on Saturday we got our transfer calls and Elder Dougherty and I will be together for another transfer here in the Laguna Creek 1st and 6th wards. I am actually really happy to still be here with Elder Dougherty. I thought we would only be together for 1 transfer. He is definitely one of my favorite companions. There are some missionaries here that are cool to talk with and hang around but I can tell that if we were back home I would have never been friends with them just because we are just so different. But we all get along anyway because we are missionaries. Elder Dougherty is one of those few missionaries that I would definitely be friends with if we were back home. So I am grateful to be serving with him. 

This week has been superb. So on Wednesday we had a worldwide missionary broadcast where they announced a lot of changes to our daily schedule. I won't go into detail with it all but they are some amazing changes. The changes are in harmony with the scriptures from Doctrine and Covenants 58:27-28 

27. "Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;"

28. "For the power in in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward."

The Lord wants us to use our agency or our free will to choose to do good. He doesn't want to tell us specifically what to do constantly. So with the change in the schedule it allows for lots of flexibility and for us to choose when we want to do things and how we spend our time. I am so grateful for this change it is amazing. 

Well a miracle Elder Dougherty and I had this week was while we were walking back to our car a man drove past us and stopped his car. He asked "Are you guys mormons?" when we said yes he asked us for a copy of the Book of Mormon. Elder Dougherty and I were kind of in shock, this is the first time someone has came up and asked us for a Book of Mormon. Usually we are the ones explaining how amazing it is and what it means and inviting others to read it. So it was very unusual for someone to ask for a copy. Well, we gave him a copy and then started talking to him about it. He said growing up his friend had talked about it and he was always curious and then all of the sudden the day before he just had a desire to read it but he didn't know where to get one, and then he ran into us. What a miracle, the Lord put Elder Dougherty and I in the right place at the right time so we could give this man a Book of Mormon and help his on his path back to Heavenly Father. I am so grateful to be out here serving a mission and to be used as an instrument in the Lord's hands to help change others lives. 

Love,


Elder Hallmark