How to love...

Love is the best. Everyone wants to feel loved. Everyone wants to feel like they belong. I feel so much love for the people in Oklahoma. Some of the craziest people I have ever met, but by far the kindest and most loving people I have ever met. So genuine. I love it out here, I really can't imagine living anywhere else again, but then again, I am not down for the humidity, heat and mosquitoes and bed bugs. I had no idea bed bugs were real until I came to Oklahoma.

This past week was busy. We had transfers on wednesday so we were down in the city all day and then we did a 24 hour exchange in enid with those elders because they had baptismal interviews. We got home Friday evening and had a ward party for all of our investigators and ward members. Saturday morning we had to travel down to Edmond to meet the assistants and give them some stuff and also get my allergy meds from the Orgills, so of course we had breakfast with them. ;) Then we came back and we were home the rest of the weekend. So much traveling, I am sick of being in a truck. With all the traveling we do, and as little time that is spent in our area, its amazing how much the grace of God makes up for it. We have two baptisms set for next week with Gail and Clifton. Two HUGE miracles, (love those two) and then about 4 more within the end of the month. Its amazing to see how the Lord can direct us to people who want to follow Christ more exactly, and who want to build stronger faith in the Lord. The more time I spend on my mission, the more I realize how much we depend on God in all we do. Each night when I pray and account, I realize how weak of a missionary I am and how many mistakes I make during a day. The beauty of the Gospel is that an Atonement was made to strengthen our weaknesses and heal our sinful natures.

I have come to realize how central the Atonement of Jesus Christ is to all living intelligences that God has ever created. Anything else is just an appendage of the Atonement. The truth that Christ descended, set an example, suffered, died, rose again, and then ascended as a glorified resurrected being means more to our life than we can mortally comprehend. As we come to understand the cleansing, empowering, consoling and exalting powers of the Atonement, our desire to "do god continually" will shoot up dramatically. I have come to gain a testimony of this truth: The Restored Gospel not only was the means by which Christ restored His church, but much more importantly, it was the means by which He was able to restore sacred and pertinent truths about His atoning sacrifice and the means by which we can now learn more about the atonement at an accelerated rate than ever before. The ONLY thing we are doing when we invite others to read the Book of Mormon and to learn about the Restored Church of Jesus Christ, is inviting them to learn more than they could have ever imagined about what the Atonement of Jesus Christ means for their lives specifically. In other words, when we invite others to learn about Joseph Smith the Book of Mormon etc..., we are ONLY showing our love for them and offering them a greater opportunity to feel, deeper than ever, of the Saviors infinite love for them. Why wouldn't we want to do that? 

Yall are great, I love all your emails and letters. I miss all of you so much!! Keep on doing good. Keep on doing the little things. I can't tell you how many people i have seen get lost because they get distracted and stop reading the scriptures, praying and going to church. It's too easy...

Take care.

Elder Dallin Cutler