Passing Stones

...I testified to the contrary, that God lives, he loves us, and that through faith and repentance we really can access real power, not just some psychological facade, but real transformative power that leads us not just to courage, peace, and confidence, but also to freedom. 

However when given a plain choice between the two, he still chose to follow the devil...

Still rolling with the Creed cover bands.

Today is my third to last P-day in the sovereign nation of Korea and we're going to make the most of it. Got President's permission to duck out of studies a little early and go on a hike at Bukhan Mountain  I've been looking at that mountain for the last couple of months waiting for today. I've mentioned a couple of times how much I love Korean mountains and this may be my last chance to experience one, but it's one of the best ones in the mission. Should be great.

We've been working with a Satan worshiper for the last couple of weeks. We met him again without much fruit last Saturday. He's addicted to most things you can be, acknowledges serious rage issues, and even sometimes cuts himself and drinks his own blood to help himself feel strong, and in his mind it is working. He believes in God, but doesn't believe that he's aware of or cares about all of us and that all of the prayers he's offered in his life have been fruitless. [My companion] is rapidly progressing in understanding, but I still had to take a pretty weighted point for the lesson. I testified to the contrary, that God lives, he loves us, and that through faith and repentance we really can access real power, not just some psychological facade, but real transformative power that leads us not just to courage, peace, and confidence, but also to freedom. 

However when given a plain choice between the two, he still chose to follow the devil.

It's interesting that [this investigator], in his choice to follow the father of lies, is more honest than almost all of the people who "believe in Jesus" that we meet day to day. That's the silver lining that I'm clinging to: that there may still be some sort of hope for him. This week we can't meet, but he's been charged to think seriously about whose side he's on and report next time we meet. He also knows that we can't help him at all unless he's trying to move in the direction of Jesus Christ.

One of the interesting things that we can see from the case study of [this investigator] is that the reason he hates church so much is that he feels completely powerless for more than a week at a time after going. He can't even summon the physical strength to go outside.

Though Satan's power is real, and scarily so, even that small brush with the power of Christ is sufficient to clear out all of the power the devil is exerting in him.

Sort of a weird email, but I think about this a lot lately. 

In less dark news, President Ringwood came for a mission tour this week. Great stuff. Emphasized that companionships who teach a lot seem to have no real problems. They're going to be trying to get the ward mission leaders in our area responsible for helping the missionaries hit a certain number of sit down lessons every week moving forward....

I did get called in for an interview again. Really good stuff. This wasn't the focus, but he did spend a lot of time persuading me to take up running. You guys know how I feel about cardio. I am loving the weight set in my house though. Benching this morning was really fun. 

As far as the airport is concerned, I just want to have our nuclear family there. And the same thing goes for that night. The next day if people want to come over, that's fine, but I want a night with just you guys.

Other than that, the only request that I have is that in the car on the way back we listen to Into the West. I'll probably cry.

Spiritual thought for this week. I may elaborate on this more in my talk, but when we say "endure to the end" what do we mean by the end? What are we enduring towards? I think that the end of the book of scripture about the end contains the best answer. The only answer that has any worth. Revelation 21: 6. Helps to keep things in perspective.

Love you guys. 

Elder Whitlock

The "Sistrict"