This week, we received a nice letter from Ryan's mission president, David Hill, along with a photo of Ryan with President and Sister Hill. Ryan is having a wonderful time in Croatia. He is adapting well to his new environment and feeling the spirit of his wonderful work. He asks for help from all of us: "Miracles are occurring here, and I cant wait to tell them to you! Pray your hearts out for Croatia! I really feel like many people are prepared! Weve just got to have the faith, the prayers, and the work! Try to remember Jasminka and Vladimir and Bljubašuc, and our Branch in your prayers."
Here are some more excerpts from Ryan's last email:
Welp. Osijek is doing great. That was really cool to hear about Sister Hendrickson! Im going to have to look up her pic at the church here! Thats sweet that she was a greenie here too. She probably knew a couple of my mtc teachers on the mish, aka Sister Cassinat and Sister Harper. Tell her hello...
Its true what she said in the e-mail about osijek, "it truly does have a lot of potential!" We had the worlds most inspired zone conference on Thursday, i am convinced. It was actually a mission tour zone conference. Elder Wundra, an Eastern European area 70 from Austria was the main speaker. He talked about how we need to break free of the influence of satan, basically liberate ourselves from the fruits of Satan - doubt, discouragement, fear, sin, low expectations, and complacency just to name a few..... Along with that message, he said that we must align our expectations and our goals with God's -- to set our goals based on the desires of our hearts and the vision of what we hope to see happening in Croatia -- and not set our goals out of discouragement from past history and other sources. This mission has had the "eastern european" reputation, and people tend to think like "i hope to bring 1 or two souls unto christ while im here". Elder Wundra pointed out that that goal does not reflect the desire of our hearts, or the vision of what we can see accomplished.
It was prophesied in the dedicatory prayer that stakes will dot this land, so God has that vision, and so do we, and we all want that. What Elder Wundra was saying was that our goals, and also our expectations/hopes need to reflect that. He added that as we eliminate Satan's influence in our lives through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, we can accomplish God's purposes. When we sanctify ourselves of the adversary, we sanctify ourselves of fear, doubt, discouragement, and we are filled with love, meakness, and the help / power of God.
As I sat there listening and being taught a little by the Spirit, I really felt as if that is the future of this mission. With courage, faith, and work, stakes will dot this land... The Lord can do his work here as we excercise faith like we never have before. I just hope I can live up to that standard and be humble enough to submit to God's will... Miracles are occuring here, and I cant wait to tell them to you! Pray your hearts out for Croatia! I really feel like many people are prepared! Weve just got to have the faith, the prayers, and the work! Try to remember Jasminka and Vladimir and Bljubašuc, and our Branch in your prayers. These people need the fruits of faith to work on their lives! They are such amazing peeps!
Croatia continues to be tight. We are going to the Osijek zoo today :]
Sounds like things are good at home! Keep it real! I love you all... Thank you for your h-core support. I feel it out here. When i have little tender mercies, i think its because of my awesome supportive fam and friends back at home. Thanks for it all... You are in my prayers.
Here are some more excerpts from Ryan's last email:
Welp. Osijek is doing great. That was really cool to hear about Sister Hendrickson! Im going to have to look up her pic at the church here! Thats sweet that she was a greenie here too. She probably knew a couple of my mtc teachers on the mish, aka Sister Cassinat and Sister Harper. Tell her hello...
Its true what she said in the e-mail about osijek, "it truly does have a lot of potential!" We had the worlds most inspired zone conference on Thursday, i am convinced. It was actually a mission tour zone conference. Elder Wundra, an Eastern European area 70 from Austria was the main speaker. He talked about how we need to break free of the influence of satan, basically liberate ourselves from the fruits of Satan - doubt, discouragement, fear, sin, low expectations, and complacency just to name a few..... Along with that message, he said that we must align our expectations and our goals with God's -- to set our goals based on the desires of our hearts and the vision of what we hope to see happening in Croatia -- and not set our goals out of discouragement from past history and other sources. This mission has had the "eastern european" reputation, and people tend to think like "i hope to bring 1 or two souls unto christ while im here". Elder Wundra pointed out that that goal does not reflect the desire of our hearts, or the vision of what we can see accomplished.
It was prophesied in the dedicatory prayer that stakes will dot this land, so God has that vision, and so do we, and we all want that. What Elder Wundra was saying was that our goals, and also our expectations/hopes need to reflect that. He added that as we eliminate Satan's influence in our lives through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, we can accomplish God's purposes. When we sanctify ourselves of the adversary, we sanctify ourselves of fear, doubt, discouragement, and we are filled with love, meakness, and the help / power of God.
As I sat there listening and being taught a little by the Spirit, I really felt as if that is the future of this mission. With courage, faith, and work, stakes will dot this land... The Lord can do his work here as we excercise faith like we never have before. I just hope I can live up to that standard and be humble enough to submit to God's will... Miracles are occuring here, and I cant wait to tell them to you! Pray your hearts out for Croatia! I really feel like many people are prepared! Weve just got to have the faith, the prayers, and the work! Try to remember Jasminka and Vladimir and Bljubašuc, and our Branch in your prayers. These people need the fruits of faith to work on their lives! They are such amazing peeps!
Croatia continues to be tight. We are going to the Osijek zoo today :]
Sounds like things are good at home! Keep it real! I love you all... Thank you for your h-core support. I feel it out here. When i have little tender mercies, i think its because of my awesome supportive fam and friends back at home. Thanks for it all... You are in my prayers.
No comments:
Post a Comment