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February 5, 2018 - Defend the Truth

Hi,

We had 2 very cool service opportunities with non-members this week. On Thursday we had a planned activity at 11 a.m. to help a guy move a king size bed set from his basement to his upstairs along with a big cabinet. Thursday came and at about 8:30 in the morning we got a phone call from an unknown number. We answered and he said his name was Britain. He said he had just arrived in Petrolia (a small town about 30 mins away) and needed help unloading his Uhaul to his new house. He said he contacted us a few weeks ago about it (through our kijiji ad). We forgot about it because he didn't set a date or time. Despite the confusion we said we could help him and left right away. Apparently he loaded the big Uhaul the day before and had driven all night and now was unloading it. He and his wife really needed the help and we were happy to be there. It felt really good to just help them. By the time we finished and drove back it was about time to help the other guy named Kieth at 11 a.m. 

Kieth's house is a short walk away from our place so that was convenient. It took about 1 and 1/2 hours to move the stuff and set up the bed. He was grateful, because it was something he wanted to get done for 2 years. He doesn't know many people here who can help him. He's in his 60's and was a elevator mechanic in Toronto for the majority of his career. He was involved with the job of replacing all of the cables on the Toronto CN Tower. A huge job. Anyways, a couple years back he lost everything. Since then he has quit drinking. He said he used to spend $10,000 a year alone on alcohol. He feels like a "new man". He's not ready to go to a church at this time but whenever he needs help he'll call us up and we'll walk over there. It was the first time Kieth had met Mormon missionaries but I don't think it will be the last. It was a great experience to help him out.

I wonder how many "Keiths" there are out there. I wonder how many reach that point in life where they lose all of their "stuff" only to discover that what's left in their life is not important. Their lives have been cluttered with fleeting and artificial happiness which rises only to vanish away. Maybe everybody will eventually have a pivotal experience that lays life out on the table per say. 

Keith, like most people on the earth doesn't know the gospel and the Plan of Salvation. They don't know where to find truth. It's not impossible to live a good and honorable life without the gospel; however, it's impossible to do good without first being influenced by a heavenly source. 

Elder Christofferson shed some light on this issue in a recent address to church educators (you can find the link on lds.org). A Pew Research survey revealed that for the first time, a majority of Americans (56%) say it is not necessary to have religious belief to be a good person. In response to that Elder Christofferson said, "I'm sure we would agree that people who are atheist or who otherwise have no professed religious belief, can be, and most often are good and upright people. But we would not agree that this happens without God.... Whether someone likes it or not, believes it or not, or is even aware of it or not, he or she is imbued with the Light of Christ and therefore possesses a common sense of right and wrong that we sometimes call conscience."

How true that is.

I wish you all a good week and I hope you learn lots!

Elder Johnson

Pictures: Did some shoveling on Super Bowl Sunday



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