We found 5 people this week who want to learn more about the gospel! It's always good to feel that your efforts are bearing fruits. So with two weeks left in the transfer, we've found 14 people in this area when last transfer only 9 were found. Our goal was 18 people for the transfer, which we should safely achieve!
This week I wanted to share about a topic I've been studying: language.
The Savior taught us the importance of our language when he said:
'But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.' (Matt 15:18)
In Jesus's last night in mortality, when he was taken away by soldiers to be judged, his disciple Peter followed to the palace of the Sanhedrin. Jesus predicted that before the night was over, Peter would deny him three times.
Peter, not wanting to be discovered as a disciple of the man who would shortly be executed, did deny knowing him, though he obviously cared enough about the savior to put his life in jeopardy and follow after him.
But how he is discovered as a disciple the third time - and how he denies him - is interesting. A group of men accuse him of being a disciple of Jesus by how he talks. "And after a while came unto him they that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them; for thy speech bewrayeth thee." Probably a combination of his clean and reverent language and his Galilean accent tipped them off to his true identity as a disciple. In a panic to disguise himself, Peter "began he to curse and to swear". After this third denial, the cock crowed.
When Peter didn't want to represent the savior, he chose to curse and swear.
In our own lives, when we speak, are we recognizable before the world as disciples? What do we joke about? What do we boast about? We must look beyond just swearing. When we use words like 'crap' and other replacement words, we're obeying the letter but not spirit of the law.
Jesus teaches us that what comes out of our mouths proceeds from our hearts. When we gossip, our hearts are full of covetousness, envy, and pride. When speak to glorify violence, our hearts are full of murder.
In our day, we marvel at the seeming permanence of what is said on Facebook, and how thoroughly documented everything is in our world. It seems so sad that someone can share one stupid tweet and get massacred by our shame society. And yet, there never was such a thing as words we could say and just forget.
Matt 12:36 "But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment."
I hope to always strive for language representative of the savior. I challenge everyone reading to do the same.
I hope everyone is well in WA, UT, and elsewhere!
'Til next week
Elder Derek Troy
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