One more full transfer....#corn

I can't believe how fast this past transfer went with the Elder Gardner. This past transfer was a freakin' ball. I have never laughed so much on my mission. Last night we were just reminiscing on the transfer and we realized that I only have one more full transfer of the mission. We got transfer calls yesterday morning found out that we will be staying together for another transfer in Midwest City. I am so pumped to be able to finish off my mission in this ward. There are so many good things starting to happen here. 

This past week sped by. We had a baptism for Stephanie Dalrymple. We have been visiting their family since I got here to Midwest City. They moved from Utah recently and they are the coolest family. Bro. Dalrymple is basically the epitome of Bear Grylls. Anyways, Sister Dalrymple and the other daughter Adriana decided they weren't quite yet ready this weekend to be baptized, so we'll keep on keepin on :). I really love the family and it was really cool to watch the baptism on Saturday. It was a really spiritual experience. 

I don't have a lot of time, but something that has been pressing on my mind a lot lately is having a relationship with God our Father and His Son Jesus Christ. It has amazed me that everything I have learned up to this point on my mission and in my life boils down into importance of knowing God and His Son. In my relationship with God, I have learned the importance of having relationships with God's children. These relationships with His children enable us to live like Christ lived because they give us the opportunities to serve as Christ served, to love as Christ loved and to forgive as Christ forgave. We can always be a little kinder, be a little more compassionate, be a little more patient and love a little deeper when we are serving God's children. We are to bring others to Christ, by being like Christ and in so doing we will someday find ourselves in the presence of God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. We can't be like Him, if we don't know Him and we can't know Him unless we know His children. Today, go find Christ, by finding "the one"….

I love you all. I have an increase of joy in my heart. My happiness in life seems to come and go with the ups and downs I face in life, but the "joy of the Son" (Alma 32:23) is constantly increasing as I am beginning to realize who I am and Whose I am. I love Him. My love for Him and what He did for me grows as I get to know Him. I have joy in Him.

Elder Dallin Cutler

How do you know Him?

This week has been crazy. Remember how I told you we switched gears recently and started working with the members more closely? That has been going really well. It is bringing forth fruits already. We had some crazy miracles happen and one of the biggest is that we will be having 3 unexpected baptisms this weekend. On top of the 3 dates we set for this weekend, we set 7 more with different people and one with a baptist pastor. "The field is white, already to harvest." My testimony of prayer and fasting has grown each time we do it. So that is just a low down on what has happened the past week. 

Had a cool experience with a missionary out here while I was on exchanges this weekend and we talked about the WHY of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It seems to me that a lot of what is happening today in society is that "believing in Christ" is just the popular thing to do sometimes. I know for me, before my mission many of the reasons why I went to church were just because of social pressure and environment. I believed it was the right thing to do because I was taught that my whole life. I knew of Christ and of His gospel, but I didn't know Christ or His Gospel. These are two completely different things. If there is one thing that I treasure above anything else in the world that I have gained on my mission, it is my relationship with God our Father and His Son Jesus Christ. To be spiritually self reliant through a relationship with Christ is to feel secure in an ever changing and unpredictable world. Knowing of Him and about Him is not going to cut it anymore in these days. We must know Him. John 10:27 has taught me a lot about coming to know Him. "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:" 

How can we get to know His voice if we do not have the Holy Spirit in our lives? How can we follow Jesus unless we are willing to keep the commandments of the Father? How can we be known by Him because "Not every one that saith unto me 'Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven."(Matt. 7:21)?

If there was anything that I could offer after these two years of service, it is my simple testimony that coming to know The Master requires real, personal experiences with Him. Those experiences come naturally as we interact with His children the way that He did while He was on the earth for we know that "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me". Get lost in this great cause and go rescue the "one" and there you will also find Jesus Christ.

I love you all. Take care.

Elder Cutler

At-one-ment

This week was great. Here's our affliction that we overcame. We have a pool of about 55 people that we are teaching that we have found on "our own" (obviously not ours) efforts. By "our own efforts" I mean that not one of those investigators came from a member referral. We had about 8-10 baptismal dates with people and were about to set 6 more this week, but then our lesson came. Sometimes it is so much easier to go out work hard and get immediate results. I've hit the point on my mission where I can either choose to "sell" the gospel as a sales person, or I can invite others to go to Christ patiently. You can sweet talk anyone into letting you into their house to share a message about Jesus Christ, especially if you have been doing it 24/7 for two years straight. What I am saying is that on a mission, you can be doing a lot of 'good' things, but sometimes the good can distract from the 'best'. We just don't have enough time in our days to stay on top of our zone, and visit over 55 people a week who aren't too keen on changing. That doesn't even include less actives, recent converts, and active members. We haven't even had time to take dinner most of the days these weeks.

So this is what we did.

We dropped about 50 investigators and all of our baptismal dates except for one. We are doing it the way the Lord wants us to. We are called to build faith in an area as a whole. We have a large congregation of 800 members on the ward roster. Constantly the Prophets and Apostles in these days have stressed the importance of member missionary work. Imagine what would happen in Midwest City if half of the members (400) found 1 new person for the missionary's to teach in their home? Is that too much for God to ask? Imagine what would happen if members worldwide would simply pray and ask God to show them 1 person a year who has been prepared? I am tired of hearing from other people that the only friends they have are members and that's why they can't do missionary work. How on earth do you think you will be able to come to know God, if you don't even know His children. "For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same."(Luke 6:32-33) It's easy to be friends with people who already have your beliefs, values and interests but "what thank have ye?". Recently a general authority said this..."We don't know the Master because we don't know His children". Think about it. Reach out, branch out and be social. Let your light shine. Let me explain why.

The word Atonement is derived from the english language. It has no latin or greek roots. It literally means "At-one-ment" suggesting a putting "at one". That is the purpose of the Atonement. The Atonement of Jesus Christ cleanses us from the effects of sin and naturally changes our very natures so that we become more like Jesus Christ so that we can someday be "at-one" with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." (John 17:20-21) We know that God and Jesus Christ are perfect and encompass all the Godly and Christ-like attributes that we so diligently work towards such as love, patience, mercy, and compassion etc...but for what purpose? Why do they have all of those perfect and Godly attributes? Moses 1:39 teaches us that God's WHOLE purpose is "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man". God is the way He is so that He can accomplish those two purposes. He encompasses all the traits and characteristics of love, grace, mercy, patience, truth (etc) because He wants to bring us back into His presence. He wants to give His children eternal life, the life He lives. He wants to "draw us back" by the way His very nature is. We can only do that through His Son Jesus Christ and His Atonement. 

 If we are to be "at-one" with God and be "saved", our WHOLE lives must eventually be completely aligned and focused on His purpose, which is "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man". The Atonement cleanses us from sin so that our natures can be changed to be more like His. Jesus Christ did this for only one purpose and that is so that He could  "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" or in other words "accomplish the will of His Father". We cannot be saved ourselves if we are not engaged in the work of salvation. This is the lesson God wants to teach us. If you do not like doing missionary work, or you just don't have time for it, or you think it is uncomfortable you need to have more experiences with the Atonement. When the Atonement works in our lives, our purposes naturally change to become the purposes of God. What evidence do you have that the Atonement is working in your life? What are you doing "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man"?

Love you guys. :)

Elder Dallin Cutler 

#GenConf

For my whole life, I have taken for granted the fact that we have living apostles and prophets of God. It wasn't until I came out here did I begin to appreciate the fact that, that was true. How blessed we are to have that happen two times a year. I have to keep this one short because we don't have a lot of time, but I wanted to give you a little highlight of the week.

 

This week went by quickly. I was on exchanges pretty much the whole week because we had an elder in our zone get injured pretty badly and he couldn't bike, so obviously he got to hang out with the fat kid in the truck all week ;). We had a great time together. His name is Elder Carter and he is from Pleasant Grove, Utah. He is 18 years old....haha crazy.

 

Tell you about a cool experience we had over the course of a couple of weeks. Two Saturdays ago, we had a member out with us and we were going to an appointment but the appointment fell through. We were on our way back to the car and were talking about his conversion story when suddenly we passed a family. I didn't want to interrupt the members story so we kept walking. But then, I had the feeling come back to chase that family down and talk to them. So I turned around and yelled, "hey, I want to give yall something, wait up". I walked over there like a fool and started talking to them. :) We asked if they had ever met missionaries, and they said that they had just moved from New Mexico and the missionaries used to always come over when they were young. We set a return appointment and waited. Fast forward to this past week. We went to the appointment and sat down and talked. They were Native American and were apart of the Navajo tribe. Little did we know that their dad was a member of the church and that he had passed away a long time ago. Their mom was baptized, and by the end of the lesson, they spilled the beans and told us that they had been baptized when they were younger. Now they had their own families and wanted to learn more. After our closing prayer, the sisters both looked at each other and smiled and said to each other "I think dad is in the middle of all of this". It was pretty cool to watch how the Lord worked with this family. I'm telling you, if you get a prompting, FOLLOW it no matter how dumb you look!! :) It's all worth it in the end!!

 

Well, I wish I could explain my whole week each week, but sadly time doesn't permit. Lo siento. Anyways, take care and remember this quote from conference. It was one of my favorites. "Who we are is not who we can become". #RealTalk

 

Elder Dallin Cutler