Moroni 8:16

Moroni 8:16 Wo be unto them that shall pervert the ways of the Lord after this manner, for they shall perish except they repent. Behold, I speak with boldness, having ^aauthority from God; and I fear not what man can do; for ^bperfect ^clove ^dcasteth out all fear.

This week was a great week. It was a little rough but it was good. Elder Stapley went home on this week. Sad day. I already miss him. He was a great missionary and a really good friend. But he's on to bigger and better things. Anyways, my new companion Elder Wadsworth is awesome! He's a fantastic missionary and he has alot of enthusiasm for the work. We are ready to get out there and work hard. 

Last night we had a great lesson with a new investigator. His name is XXXXX. He is this 6 foot 7 guy and he's awesome. He and his wife were just married a couple of months ago and his wife is a member. He has been interested in learning about the church for years though. He played professional basketball over in Europe and in South America back in the 80's and 90's haha. He has been all over the world. He said the first time he ever saw missionaries was when he was in Brazil and they rode by on their bikes and he and his basketball buddies tried to chase them down! That was the first interaction he had with the church. But he's awesome, he wants to progress towards baptism. He is sincere, he wants to know for himself that all of this is true. He wants to have a strong testimony and a conviction of the message of the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. I'll let you know how it all goes! 

On Friday we had a mission conference in Tulsa! Elder Tad R. Callister (one of the presidents of the first quorum of the 70) was visiting our mission! It was so awesome!!! Half of the mission was in Tulsa on Friday. It was so sweet. I got to see alot of missionaries and friends that I haven't seen for a while. Pictures will be forthcoming. It was amazing. He spoke on the evidences we have for the Great Apostasy. And the need for a restoration. It was so cool. I can't even really begin to summarize what he said. I took a lot of notes however. It's not often that we get a general authority visiting our mission. 

The reason I chose Moroni 8:16 today was because I've been thinking about fears lately. How often we let our fears affect our lives. One of my favorite quotes is "courage is not the lack of fear, but acting in spite of it". It's so true. Our fears are really nothing when you think about it. Fear is the opposite of faith. When we have faith or courage, we might still be afraid of the out come. But true faith is hoping that the Savior will help you through whatever it is you are struggling with and just putting one foot in front of the other, even when you have to take those steps in to a little bit of darkness. You'll find that the Lord will bring light to our path after we have exercised a little bit of faith. And after the trial of our faith, we can look back and see that our fears don't really have much substance. Fear not, only believe. I love this work and I love the Gospel. I love Jesus Christ and I love all of you! 

Love,

Elder Sherwood