Another day goes by

Another week already? Whew! It's hard to keep the days apart and they only seem to gain speed as the semester progresses.

I'm not sure the happenings have been out of the ordinary. Eden is constantly growing, as you know, and it won't be long before we have news of her walking. She has taken her first steps as of this week, but at most has taken 6 before losing her balance. At that, it's more of a run and fall than steady walking. She is getting really good at standing up, however, and gets a delighted cheerful smile and applauds herself whenever she manages to stand on her own. She really is the cutest thing.

As you saw, she also learned to blink and loves to be my little helper around the house. She's good with a broom and likes to clean, clean, clean!

We became good friends with the Jehovah's Witnesses this week. We took a brochure from them in passing and then met them again when they were proselyting later in the week. They were bothering Yaba, who obviously didn't want to talk to them. So we interrupted by saying hello again and mentioning that Yaba loves God and always says, "God is good, God is good" and that he could teach them a cool handshake. After inserting myself into their circle, I mentioned that I had read their pamphlet and didn't agree with some of their teachings and asked if they wouldn't explain what they believe. Yaba gladly took the opportunity to hightail it out of there while I spent the next hour having my own missionary discussion with them. We turned the tables on them and had a great talk. I gave them a lot to think about. One of the men said that he had never talked with a Mormon before. Once, a Mormon gave him a Book of Mormon and told him to read it, but that was all. Lesson learned- simply handing out Book of Mormons is not enough to get someone interested in the gospel.

I have really appreciated getting to know more about other people's beliefs and religions because it increases my desire to study and learn, thus strengthening my own conviction in what and why we believe all we do. And it's beautiful. There is an answer to everything and it all fits together.

My conversation with the JW's all started because they proclaimed to believe that a soul could literally die. Understandably, the scriptures to say that a spirit can die, but we know that to mean that a man dies temporally and spiritually like Nephi teaches. When a spirit dies, it is only dead unto God, but not unto existence. Well, from there we talked about the Plan of Salvation, the Fall, the nature of God, and Adam and Eve. I have come to realize that if you truly understand the Plan of Salvation, you know everything you need to about the gospel because everything relates and those are the precious truths that have been lost. It was the JW's understanding that Adam and Eve could have had children while still in the garden and while living in their perfect state. Also, that Adam, being a sinner, was dead unto God. What a shock to them when I said that I was grateful that Adam partook of the fruit!

That was only the beginning. I am sure that they will be back for more and I can't wait! I love feeling like a missionary! As much as I want others to know of the truths of this gospel and happiness and blessings they can have in this church, my eyes have been opened to the goodness of people around the world. Though not members of our church, there are many, many good people who have devout faith and a strong love for God. Seeing that, and their openness about religion, has been a sort of inspiration to how I want to be.

Isn't this beautiful? Eden and I go for walks around the neighborhood and this was our view one night. You don't get to see this too many places in the world, and definitely not fro your own backyard.