A testimony of a missionary and the Atonement

Another week down, things are plugging along with only two weeks left in the transfer things are starting to fly by. We reset our baptismal date with our investigator and that was reset for June 15th. So that is really cool. Hopefully that all works out and gets together. Other than that, no groundbreaking information from the area.

This last week I had amazing study on the Atonement and how it can be applied in a temporal sense just as much as it can be in the spiritual sense. It was amazing. One of those experiences where I wasn't writing or taking notes, it was like I was in a third person experience watching myself write things down. 

It started with the Question "How can the Atonement be applied in a temporal sense?" 

• This led to the definitions of Atone and the suffix -ment. Atone: At one, in agreement. -Ment: Result of action or process (Advancement).
• The inspired definition for Atonement revealed to me "Being reconciled in agreement with the result of an action or process." 
• Dictionary: (Theo) The reconciliation of God and men thus brought about by Jesus Christ. 
• So, we are at the point where the Atonement allows us to be saved but only saved according to (In conformity with) the actions or things we did here on this life.
• Wickedness never was happiness. Corruption cannot bring about incorruption.
•  This led to reading Article of 2 which led to Article of 3 and that is where the magic happened. 
• Break it down: Through Atonement we will be saved (promise from our Heavenly Father).
• How are we saved? 
• Obedience to laws and ordinances of the Gospel. (This is why we need to make covenants. They are a result of the process of being obedient to laws and ordinances.) 

• Remember President Monson at conference? He taught - "The toughest test in this life is obedience." 

• Ordinance meaning "A custom or practice established by long usage". 
• Ordinance comes from ME ordinance which comes from (<) OFr: ordenance < MED Lat: Ordinantia < Lat: Ordinare, to ordain < ordo, ORDER.
• Ordinances provide ORDER. 

1. Think of it, every ordinance that we perform in this life is built off of each other. 
2. We cannot repent if we do not have faith. 
3. We cannot be baptized if we do not repent.
4. We cannot receive the gift of the Holy Ghost if we are not Baptized.
5.  We can not endure to the end (Priesthood, Temple, and marriage in temple) if we do not have gift of the Holy Ghost. 
6. And if we are not OBEDIENT to those ORDINANCES and LAWS we cannot be saved through the Atonement, God cannot save a man in ignorance.

Joseph Smith said "When a man works by Faith (1st Principle of the Gospel) he works by mental exertion and not by physical force." Step one connecting Faith in Jesus Christ to temporal, Mental Exertion. We must exert force in our mind to find out what we must do. This leads to reptence. In the Greek Bible "Repentance" is used as "Mettanuao" (Met-ta-new-ay-o). When you translate that back into English it means "A CHANGE of heart and mind." So there you go, Repentance is change. When we mentally exert ourselves we gain a knowledge of what we need to change in our lives to become more like Christ. What happens when we Change? We must evaluate ourselves. Thats the temporal application to the spiritual principle of Baptism.  We hold ourselves accountable by physically performing the action that we have come to the knowledge of through mental exertion and the change is solidified. To continue to mentally exert, change and hold ourselves accountable, we must be inspired (Or have the gift of the Holy Ghost) to continue to gain what we must do. When we Do that we internalize it and it becomes a part of us. We endure to the end.  "Salvation in not east we must work at it.  How can we bear testimony of the atonement if we have never known anything of it." - Holland  We come to a knowledge of everything we need to do to stay worthy in the site of God(Priesthood, Temple, Temple Marriage). THE GOSPEL IS PERFECT. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6FKiNVbw3Y  missionaries and investigators have to pay a token of that price to know the atonement.

Pants before I tailored them

I don't know how much sense this made but to me through the Spirit it made absolute sense. This Gospel can be applied in Business,  School, work, family.  If this Gospel wasn't perfect in every aspect that would make Heavenly Father not perfect which would make him cease to be God. Its all there.

Pants after I tailored them!

Okay, so that is it for now. We had Zone Conference yesterday Got to see Elder Armstrong so that was good. President Cook told him that "I was more impressive than Elder Armstrong when he was out this long."  thats nice to hear!

Sheets bite the dust

The work is going great. I have to end this shortly because like always my companion is super strict on the 1/2 hour rule and I wont have time to email president if I dont hurry.

Sheets I mended with my sweat shirts

I love you all so much.  I havent figured out what we are doing on Sunday (Mother's Day - I can call Home) yet so just be signed into Skype/Facetime all day. My companion has been lazy and hasnt put any effort into figuring anything out for us, since he is going home 10 days after Mothers Day :)  Wish we could all go for Pizza!!! 

Anyways,

Pizza is perfect!

Love you all so much. hope everything is going great and that all is well. 

keep it classy and true to the faith. 

Love you so much :)

"Fourth Floor Last Door"

"That's What's Up"

Elder Amric Zane Sobczak

California, Carlsbad, USA

January 2013-January 2015

Change is coming

Hey there my dearest family, March 5, 2013

Some big news from Orange County and The California Carlsbad Mission office, Starting July 1st 2013 all missionaries in the Orange County Stakes, or Zones, of the California Carlsbad Mission (San Clemente, Laguna Hills, Mission Viego, and Rancho Santa Margarita) along with the missionaries in the Newport Beach Stake and Irvine Stake will be moved into the newly created California Irvine Mission. Irvine mission will have 6 stakes and the Carlsbad Mission will have 7 stakes. If I am assigned to the Irvine mission I will have a temple in my mission which means I could go once a transfer instead of once every three months which would be awesome. The things I have realized, The Lord called me to the California Carlsbad mission in October of 2012 with the full knowledge that 8 months later the Irvine mission would be created. So either A) I am where I am because there is someone or a certain number of people that I am supposed to meet in Orange County That i wont be able to meet after June 30th or B) I got called here because I am needed in Irvine but there is someone I was supposed to meet before the Irvine mission would be created. So I know I will end up where the Lord needs me. Its cool to think about everything going on around me, everything happens for a reason and the Lord calls those who are ready to assist in His work in the exact location and time He needs them. It is so cool knowing that. One more thing that I found out this morning during studies...Dana Point is getting a second set of missionaries. Yep in about four and a half weeks we will have two more Elders or Sisters which will be awesome. Really means the work is moving quick and the Lord is getting ready for something to go down!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Irvine-Stake-LDS/100223786692726
http://www.lds.org/?lang=eng

Okay, update on the week...

The work is picking up. Elder Armstrong and I are finally starting to find our companionship groove and sorting everything out. Last week we had five lesson in one night...and we had to help a lady move into her apartment...right.across.the.sidewalk. She is super and asked a lot of questions about the church. She's a born again, so many born agains, so she was not to interested in discussing, kind of just interested in bashing with us especially at the end of helping her. But hey at judgement day that is going to play through her mind and she will be judged accordingly.

Hummmmmm who else, We have 3 Progressing investigators and 1 with a Baptismal Date. The 1 with a BD we might actually have to drop because we have not had a lesson, well since we made the date so about 3 weeks. A couple we are teaching could possibly have a date within the next week or two for a baptism in April which would be sweet. They both are super awesome, they keep commitments and ask loads of questions which is helping them gain a better understanding. He does not want to move fast but he is keeping commitments he just doesnt want to agree to something He is not fully converted to yet. Which is completely fine we love the questions.
The family with the girls are back on board with everything hopefully. We had a lesson with them last night and, oh man, mind blown on the memory of her girls. We taught the Plan. We taught it because the Oldest Daughter had never been taught the plan by us before and it had been about 3 or 4 weeks for the girls. We got to the kingdoms and asked Her to tell us about them because she piped up and said she knew about them. Not only did she give 3 amazing explanations for the kingdoms, she also gave a description of Outer Darkness. We have never taught the plan to her and so she must have remembered it from church when she came about 4 or 5 weeks ago or done some studying on her own. It was awesome to see that she is remembering what is being taught to her.
I love helping people gain this understanding and conversion for themselves to help themselves move forward into these life saving ordinances.

The work is moving forward and somehow by the grace of God I am improving little by little as a missionary. I am sure after two years of this I will not be the same person I was before I left. Heck! I am not the same person I was 2 months ago. Its weird to see a change mentally, physically, and spiritually and such a big change. I know everything happens for a reason.
I hope all of you are doing fabulous and loving the Outside world. Keep me updated on the life and always live your life the best you can. "Everyday in Every way, we get a little better." Love you all so much, keep the faith and keep on the straight and narrow. Let your light so shine before men and be a light and standard unto the nations. I know the Lord will give you nothing that you can't handle. All our trials are capable of overcoming, it does not matter if you fall, it matters if you get back up. In the words of Brother Clark - in his testimony which shook me to the core "God loves broken things, thats why we have the Atonement. Just like the Sacrament prayer we have as many tries to get through lifes troubles as we need. God will always help us become fixed." Love you all so much. Stay Safe, Until Next time...


"Fourth Floor Last Door"
"That's What's Up"
Elder Amric Zane Sobczak
California, Carlsbad, USA
January 2013-January 2015