All good things are a result of hard work

Well this week has been like Christmas against the backdrop of the two previous ones. FINALLY got to teach investigators! EVERYONE didn't cancel EVERY appointment we had. Great. The biggest thing was with the guy Rob. This was a miracle. I mean it. It wasn't a miracle of healing or the gift of tongues or anything like that. It was the gift of the spirit. I continue to be blown away as a think back on it. Rob has been extremely hot/cold lately. Wasn't sure what was going on but we were never able to meet with him. Finally last Monday he sent us a text saying he had watched some of conference on the internet and heard some good things and was seeing the light again. Great. So we called him and set something up for wednesday. Tuesday night we called to confirm and he was totally different. He saw some of that PBS documentary thing and had a HUGE problem with polygamy and Joseph Smith. And like 10 other things. Great documentary huh. NOT! Well anyway, he told us he was done with the Mormon church and it would be pointless for us to even come over. "You be beating a dead horse." We were super excited to hear that. No actually we were pretty much devastated. But he did say we could come over if we really wanted. So we said Yes. We will be there. That moment Tuesday night we started a fast. Over the course of the next day we were extremely prayerful, possibly more than I ever have been in such a short period of time for one particular cause. We said so many prayers together. Elder Mansfield and I were totally united. It was great. We prepared all through studies. We thought of everything we possibly could that could come up, angles to take, things to address, etc etc etc. Praying the whole time in our hearts. We were prepared. We were kinda getting ready to boldly declare our testimonies and be done. But we were ready for anything I think.

Man we were scared when we pulled up to his house. But one thing we'd been praying for was that whatever happened that we could be at peace with the situation, and that we could be able to do the will of the Lord. I put a lot of trust in that. We were prepared, and I knew that the Lord was going to be able to work through us. I was just nervous for what the heck was going to happen! Rob appeared to have become extremely hardened.

So we went in there and sat down. Eventually got to talking. And we did talk. We talked about soooo many things. We got into polygamy a bit. He told us his issues with it what he thought and we explained some things about it from the Bible and Book of Mormon and on and on and on. We got into baptisms for the dead, spirit world, authority, so many things. Prophets, Joseph Smith History... ... ... But - Eventually, something clicked. We were talking about temple marraige and if people got sealed to more than one person because they die or something, then what happens. They guy had concerns from here to cape cod. Anyway, as the conversation progressed, suddenly something clicked. Suddenly Rob said oh my gosh - thats why they had polygamy. That makes perfect sense.

It was pretty amazing. We don't even have a direct answer as to why the church did practice polygamy. There's all these different things that might have been, and i had talked to him about some of them a long long time ago. But the Spirit of the Lord entered into Robs heart and he was at peace with polygamy. He understood. I don't even get it perfectly, but Rob does, and that is a miracle. After that, everything just came crashing. Well, the opposite of crashing. He suddenly was at peace with Joseph Smith and all the things he did that he thought were strange and out of line. He was committed to all the other things we'd been saying. He's still got some hang ups and questions, but he kinda realized, I think, that there were explanations for them somewhere. He noticed that everytime he has a question or concern or something is bothering him, when we come over, it usually gets solved and he feels MUCH better. He realized that that is a testimony of something in itself. Pretty cool.

I could go on for a while about this whole experience, but for one - God answers prayers. And two - I absolutely know that it was nothing short of the power of God that changed this mans heart. If you could have only seen what we were dealing with when we walked in there, and what we were joyfully seeing after it all, you would be dumbfounded. I am. We witnessed a change of heart (which we have before with Rob like 2-3 times!), and it is something that I know that I, of my own accord, talent, or ability, was not capable of creating. Not even close. God changed this mans heart on this day. We were but his servants. His instruments. We prepared to the absolute best of our human ability, and that put us in a position for the Lord to use us. As I look back on this experience, I continually feel like I didn't do anything! I think about everything that happened during the appointment. All the things I said, scriptures I read, points I brought up, all the things I tried to do to help persuade him of the error of his ways. It was all nothing. It just kinda facilitated a discussion that lead to the Spirit speaking to Rob about some big time issues. Again, I look back and feel like I did nothing. God just worked a miracle and we got to witness it.

Among many other amazing things that I have seen on my mission and will never forget, this experience has been a great testimony to me that the Lord has his hand in our lives. That His power is very much present on the earth today, and that we have access to it. Again I will emphasize that having been through all this, I know that there was NOTHING short of the power of God that could have brought this change in Rob. He was not in a position to be convinced or persuaded. But, and this is not only a testimony of the power of God, but also the truth of the Restored Gospel, the Holy Ghost testified of truth to Rob, and it testified of the truth of Joseph Smith as a prophet, and of Polygamy as a practice of the church in those times. One of the roles of the Holy Ghost is to testify of truth. The spirit wouldn't have testified to Rob if it wasn't truth. I continue to be amazed by all of this. The Gospel is true! I don't think people grasp the magnitude of that statement!

Well everyone, I wish I could explain even more of the details of all this. One thing I will add is that people still have their agency, and it is still up to Rob to act upon these great revelations he has been given. He knows what he needs to do, and I wish he would do it more than he has been. We're all guilty of it I suppose. Agency is such a killer with people we teach! Sometimes you do just want to force them to do things!! But we couldn't even if we wanted to. Just hope and pray and commit and follow up and all that. Yes. Miracles.

Good things come to those who wait, after the trial of our faith and much diligence and desire and hope and all that good stuff. God is aware of us as His children and loves us SO much and will ultimately take care of us for the best. Thats great huh.

Love David Austin