"Yea, Lord, thy watchmen shall lift up their voice;
with the voice together shall they sing; for they shall see eye to eye, when
the Lord shall bring again Zion." - Mosiah 15:29
This last week we finally got our iPads. During the training
President Craven shared the scripture that is the title of this email and said
that, by using iPads in these latter-days -- and Skype/Facetime -- we are now,
indeed, able to talk eye-to-eye with people all over the world.
Mind blown.
Having never particularly been gifted in the technology
department, the iPads have been a bit confusing for me to use at times. But
when someone asks you why you don't believe in the Trinity, it is extremely
handy to be able to readily whip out Elder Holland's thoughts on the
subject.
iPads also allow us to check Facebook more frequently, not
have to wait for library computers to open, and make it so that we don't have
to bring scriptures and Preach My Gospel to meetings anymore. My man-purse is
much lighter to carry now.
The only hitch is that we now must go through the process of
taking the papers in our Area Book and putting them into the iPad's Area Book,
a process which will continue to go on for the next few weeks. There are times
when I'd much rather just write things down on paper.
***
We were in a lesson with an investigator who asked us why we
needed the Book of Mormon. As this was a family we were teaching, I came up
with an analogy that I will share with you.
When a couple gets married, they are happy just the two of
them and don't feel a need for anything else. Then they have a child. Having
the child teaches them things they didn't know before and brings them greater
joy than they had just the two of them. But again, they don't feel a pressing
need for a second child. When the second child comes, they again receive
greater knowledge and increased happiness. The arrival of a second child
doesn't make them love the first any less.
Finally, in a family with multiple children, it is clear
that the parents love all of the kids equally. They were definitely happy just
the two of them, and later they were happy with one kid. Nevertheless, they
have experienced the greatest joy with multiple children and would not give any
of them away. They are also much wiser than they were at the beginning.
Compare this to scripture. People are indeed happy with the
Bible and learn a lot from it. They may feel that they don't need anything
more. But God has given us another testament, the Book of Mormon. The Book of
Mormon gives us increased knowledge and love of God, but does not cause us to
respect the Bible any less than we did.
Perhaps in those early days of the Church people were happy
with just the Bible and the Book of Mormon. Getting the Doctrine and Covenants
and Pearl of Great Price does not make those first two books any less
important. Collectively, we are able to learn so much more having all of them
than we ever could have learned with just one of them. This deepened knowledge
brings us greater comfort and reassurance. While we were indeed happy with just
the Bible, we can get so much more with modern-day revelation.
And we're still looking forward to many more great
revelations that Heavenly Father will see fit to give us in the future.
Modern-day prophets are awesome.
***
I am excited for another transfer here in the Lakefield ward
with Elder Mejia, my first companion in a long time to last longer
than a transfer. I love you all, and I love this work. Hurrah for Israel!
Elder Fisher
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