PRIDE v. Humility - Monday, August 4, 2014

Hey family!

This week we had a baptism for Merisa Nunez! She was so excited to be baptized, and it was awesome to see her just glow afterwards.

We had lots of fun his week running into and meeting new people. I'm sure as Elder Talbot will attest, that the people of Tucson are much different than anyone in the world. Which is why we love them! Everyday is an adventure.

There was another crazy monsoon this week, and we got drenched! The roads turned into rivers, and people wouldn't slow down when they saw us on the side of the road, so they just drive right passed us and drowned us in huge waves of desert water! The rain and the lightening are crazy!

We have been teaching this lady, Carrie, who lives in our apartment complex! We met her through a member referral! (which is why she is so solid!) She is the sweetest old lady I have ever met. It's so much fun to teach her, because you can just see her absorb everything. She's gone to church for the passed 4 weeks without us even knowing it! We taught her about Jesus Christ and his gospel, and this week we will share with her the Restoration.

Elder Talbot and I are doing great! It's so awesome and strange to have all these memories from  home come back to my mind! Elder Talbot is doing great! He is learning a lot and is turning into a phenomenal teacher.

This week I had my first interview with President Passey. He's a pretty funny guy. He's a huge comedian. He gave me some advice on how to handle this ward, because it's such a high maintenance ward. But we stay busy, which is good!

This week I studied pride. It's interesting how ride leads to all sin. When we are prideful, we reject the advice and teaching of our leaders and ultimately God. Pride occurs when we care more about our social status, and what our peers think of us, rather than our relationship to God.  In the scriptures we see so many examples of pride leading people to destruction. Mormon said that the pride of the Nephites is what led them to be completely wiped off the face of the Earth. Pride is what caused King Noah, after almost releasing Abinidi, to listen to his peers, his corrupt priests, and to slay Abinidi. Pride is what caused Lamen and Lemuel to harden their hearts against their father and their little brother. Pride is what brought our Savior to be condemned, as the Pharisees were afraid, as their social status was threatened. Pride leads to destruction. It is the natural to have pride. But we are taught to put off the natural man, and be submissive, meek and humble. I think it is important to note that making sure we have no pride, does not mean that we should have a lack of confidence. We must be confident in ourselves, but above all, confident in Jesus Christ, and our Heavenly Father. As we do so we wont care as much as to say "What will people think of me?' rather, we must have the question continually in our mind "What will God think of me?" And as we do so, we become effective instrument sin the Lord's hands. Iove  yall and have an awesome week!