Come Unto Christ

Dear Family,

The Lord is really blessing us with many people to teach. I feel humbled to be in his service. I'm so grateful for the time I've been a missionary and the time I still have left.

I love reading Elder Zach Wagner's and Elder Jensen's emails. They are great missionaries and are blessing so many people. I hope that they both read, study and love Preach My Gospel. I still find amazing things in that manual.

So the title of my email means a lot to me. I found a conference ensign from Nov 1990 and there were two awesome talks that helped me a lot this past week. One by Elder Maxwell about putting off the natural man and the other by Pres. Hunter called 'Come Unto Me'. President Hunter talked about Matthew 11:28-30 'Come all ye heavy laden....' and described the background to that passage. Yesterday we had dinner with a long time less-active family (20 years) and their nonmember teenage kids. We taught The Gospel of Jesus Christ for the lesson. As we taught this scripture came to mind. Christ makes the invitation to take his yoke upon us. A yoke is a big hunk of wood that ties two oxen together, thus balancing the yoke. Just imagine how much more peaceful our lives would be if we were yoked with Jesus! Our Savior wants to help and strength us. If we follow him we will find rest for our souls. Does that mean that there won't be trials and pain? Of course not. But we will be forgiven of sin and healed spiritually.

I find that I like to figure out my own solution to problems and too often I harden my heart in pride and choose not to humbly submit to the will of the Lord. All of us suffer from the same problem in varying degrees. However, the solution is the same for all. Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior is the only way to overcome our weakness. I love all the challenges in life. Sometimes they seem overwhelming but if we think of Jesus and trust him, He will guide us and strengthen us. In our greatest trials we grow closest to God. How grateful I am for the Restoration of the Fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Without the Restoration we know very little about our Savior and how to follow him.

This Saturday, Caleb will be getting baptized and then right after get married to Wendy (a member). We thought that Caleb would have to go to another ward, but since they are getting married he will live in the ward boundaries. He is really cool. He is like thirty years old, but has really changed his life. A lot of his extended family will be coming to see because they can't believe that he is getting baptized (regardless of the denomination). He said that they view him like the Prodigals Son. It is such a great blessing. It definitely wasn't us, but the Lord changing and preparing him.

I love you all. Take care.

Love,
Elder Wagner