For Labor Day, we had a huge Zone activity. We had planned on starting out by playing volleyball in the morning. But we couldn't find the volleyball stuff at the stake center, so we had to go to the YSA building and grab the equipment there, and then take it over to the Jackson building in the back of our truck. (I'm starting to realize that it can be handy to have a truck sometimes.) After volleyball we went outside and played some soccer while a few of the Zone members cooked hot dogs and hamburgers. It was a lot of fun. It was the last P-Day for one Elder and one Sister in our Zone, so it was nice to be able to just hang out for a bit.
So this past week started off on a really good note. Last Monday night, the appointment we were able to go to was with a guy we had met on Friday. We went over to see him at his friend's apartment and two of his friends decided to sit in for the lesson as well. It was a great lesson. They had a lot of questions so we were able to let that direct the discussion. Most of their questions had to do with the Restoration, and we left each of them with a copy of the Book of Mormon. We invited one of them out to the YSA building on Thursday night for volleyball, and he actually came to that too.
I finally feel like I am in a YSA Ward, now that everything is getting under way. We were up at the institute two days this week, and it was so great to be able to hang out with members. We were there to teach Andrew, but we were also there for lunch, so we were able to just hang out with other young people. I'm so excited for being at the institute every week for lunch on Wednesdays, as well as teaching/finding investigators there. The UCR campus institute will start up here in a few weeks as well and then we will go there on Thursdays for lunch. There are a lot more non-members on that campus.
Here is a cool tidbit I learned in priesthood the other day. The stake presidency came to teach and the lesson was on the meaning of priesthood power. He showed a picture of an ordination, and he asked if it took any priesthood power, and a few people said 'yes', but he said 'no'. As long as you are worthy, there is no correlation to priesthood power, because it is an ordinance. You cannot ordain one person more or better than another. Whereas a priesthood blessing of healing or comfort requires you to be in tune with the Spirit, be worthy, and have the faith for the will of the Lord to be made known through you. I just found that really cool, because I'd always wondered why the Aaronic Priesthood was called the preparatory priesthood, since the things you do there, really have nothing to do with the Melchezidek Priesthood. But because you practice being worthy and develop the attitude of service through the Aaronic Priesthood, it prepares you to learn how to use your Melchezidek Priesthood power. It all clicked in my head that day.
Hope you had a fun Labor day and everything is going good for you.
See you soon,
Elder Cornaby
I finally feel like I am in a YSA Ward, now that everything is getting under way. We were up at the institute two days this week, and it was so great to be able to hang out with members. We were there to teach Andrew, but we were also there for lunch, so we were able to just hang out with other young people. I'm so excited for being at the institute every week for lunch on Wednesdays, as well as teaching/finding investigators there. The UCR campus institute will start up here in a few weeks as well and then we will go there on Thursdays for lunch. There are a lot more non-members on that campus.
Here is a cool tidbit I learned in priesthood the other day. The stake presidency came to teach and the lesson was on the meaning of priesthood power. He showed a picture of an ordination, and he asked if it took any priesthood power, and a few people said 'yes', but he said 'no'. As long as you are worthy, there is no correlation to priesthood power, because it is an ordinance. You cannot ordain one person more or better than another. Whereas a priesthood blessing of healing or comfort requires you to be in tune with the Spirit, be worthy, and have the faith for the will of the Lord to be made known through you. I just found that really cool, because I'd always wondered why the Aaronic Priesthood was called the preparatory priesthood, since the things you do there, really have nothing to do with the Melchezidek Priesthood. But because you practice being worthy and develop the attitude of service through the Aaronic Priesthood, it prepares you to learn how to use your Melchezidek Priesthood power. It all clicked in my head that day.
Hope you had a fun Labor day and everything is going good for you.
See you soon,
Elder Cornaby