Why do we put things off?

Hello my dear friends and family!

   I love you all so much. I hope you are all taking notice of the theme to stand up for your beliefs and to stand strong in the adversary whirlwind. Conference is always fantastic a s a missionary. the priesthood session was probably the most powerful session to me. It seemed to have a very special and intense spirit to it. I for got my usb-SD card reader so I cannot send pictures this week. I am sorry I will have to send more next week! Things are going well here and all is well. It is starting to get cooler here an now feels much like October weather. That is good. I just do not look forward to the constant rain!

    My core experience with god this week... I am starting to notice more and more experiences with god and now having to determine which to shre. This past week we had a different missionary in the flat due to exchanges. Our wonderful and charismatic zone leader came to swap with our district leader for the day. We learned many things and enjoyed the time we were able to spend with our friend. One lesson stood out to me though. Elder Kiwa said they were going to clean the apartment at some point today. He then started to pick up what was around him. The result was a 4-elder cleaning session that got a lot of well needed work done. The apartment was not overly dirty, but we did think it had gotten a bit to far and had the desire to change it. That was it though. We had the desire to change it, but we just didn't change it until someone started. Relating to missionary work there are so many things that we know how and want to do, but just don't. As missionaries have a desire to be better, but don't due to one thing... habit. All it took was one person to pick up a few things for us to decide to clean the whole apartment. We just have to DO. We always think, "Oh, we will clean on p-day" or "oh, we will be better on the rules next time." Why? we just need to CHANGE habit. and DO. I have been writing about the same thing for weeks now in my letters. Hopefully I am starting to understand. I need to change and do. I have a desire to do better and be consecrated, but I am not in the habit of it yet. Why do we put things off? Once again I realize... I need to change.

    My teaching skills sometimes seem stagnant, not improving. That is NOT good. This week what stood out is the importance of preparing and communicating with your companion before the lesson EXACTLY what you will do and cover. We taught the plan of salvation twice this week. One was planned out who would cover what points and the order of the points. the other we just said "Plan of salvation again!" we missed several points and went out of order. The importance of preparation is absolutely necessary.

      There were two quotes that really hit me on Sunday during general conference. "How I wish I had a second chance to be kind!" and ""Resolve to do better than we have in the past." the past is behind us, it may still haunt us. We need to repent, learn from it, and "do better." Again, for months I have been talking about change. It tends to go along with everything I am learning in the mission from leaders and personal study. We as individuals, as a mission, and as The Church need to "do Better Than we have in the past!"

  I love you all. I apologize for the short e-mail... darn libraries time restraints!

Love,

   Elder Ford