Refiner's Fire

God is good and his steadfast love endures forever!

 (Weber State Thursday)

Here's the update: 

            The Filers are back east in New Jersey and West Virginia spending time with loved ones and raising support. They are gone most of April which is so exciting for them! Joe has been feeling great, praise God!

            Last week I went to Temple Square a few times and had some good conversations. When I was going down to Salt Lake with the group from my ward I kind of realized my mission field is LDS girls specifically, because I hadn't been able to open up relationships with LDS guys. However, this weekend I did! I had a game and movie night with a few guys from my ward at the Blue House and it was really fun. I'm glad God continues to break my expectations!

This past Thursday-Saturday I got to hang out with Meghan Cassidy, a girl from college group at LBAC. She was traveling to Wisconsin to go raise her niece and nephew. I was so encouraged by her dedication to being Jesus to this family. It was SOO cool to hang out with her for a few days and be able to encourage her as well. We spent time together watching Zac Efron movies (HSM3 and 17 Again!), singing songs from Tangled, going to Intervarsity, exploring Temple Square, hanging out with the LDS guys, and having people over for pancakes on Saturday. It was a joy to have her here and I hope God makes it happen again soon!

            Sunday I went to my ward and in Relief Society (girls' club) we were told to not give into sexual temptation because we are daughters of god and are future goddesses. From here on out, I will use a lower case "g" when referring to the god of Mormonism. I did not like hearing that crazy doctrine said so nonchalantly, but it does open me up to addressing the blasphemy to Mormons, because I heard that from attending their meetings and not from reading "anti-Mormon" literature. 

            Something to pray for: Joe asked me to move forward with a new thing for the blue house. We basically want to make it a living community centered on loving God and people. Please pray for God to do a miracle with this whole thing and how to not make it interfere with what God is doing with Intervarsity. I'm impulsive but am horrible at making things actually happen. Please pray that God will put this vision on the hearts of those he wants involved and that Ogden will be changed.

            Tonight I got a really cool place marker for where I am at spiritually. What people here observe in me is not anything like I was last year. What I took pride in before seems empty compared to what God has done in me now. He has made me a new person. He has brought me through the Refiner's Fire that I may love him. When asked who Jesus was, the man born blind said, "One thing I do know, though I was that though I was blind, now I see." My “testimony” of Christ is that though I was proud, now I love. I get to bring my new self back home for Easter (how fitting)!

(My backyard Friday)

            It has been snowing here which is a cool illustration for the blood of Christ. It covers up a dead land with the whitest stuff you ever saw. It’s the most peaceful in the world. When the sun comes out, it nourishes the land and out comes healthy plants, deeply green and hearty. Though we have to go through spiritual winters, I hope you find the peace, purity and nourishment that come from Jesus alone. When you are made new, may you be hearty and healthy and glad for even the coldest nights. It has been a really tough process for me because some parts of it still hurt, but I thank him all the same for freeing me from myself.

 (This week at Temple Square)

Isaiah 42:5-10 and 43:1-5

Thus says God, the Lord,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people on it
and spirit to those who walk in it:
“I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness;
I will take you by the hand and keep you;
I will give you as a covenant for the people,
a light for the nations,
to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness.
I am the Lord; that is my name;
my glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to carved idols.
Behold, the former things have come to pass,
and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth
I tell you of them.”

Sing to the Lord a new song,
his praise from the end of the earth,

But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
I give Egypt as your ransom,
Cush and Seba in exchange for you.
Because you are precious in my eyes,
and honored, and I love you,
I give men in return for you,
peoples in exchange for your life.
Fear not, for I am with you;
I will bring your offspring from the east,

God Responds!

Proverbs 24:11 Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. 

            This weekend is/was General Conference, the semi-annual meeting of the LDS Church where the Prophet and Apostles speak and give new revelation. 21,000 Mormons go into the conference center to hear their speakers and the Mormon Tabernacle choir in person (this is where Proverbs 24:11 hits home). Thousands of others spread out through Temple Square to hear the broadcast in overflow sections. The rest watch it on the TV or listen on the radio. It’s the central event in the LDS Calendar. They basically stopped giving prophecy as we understand it, because they realized they can’t. Most of the “talks” as they are called are feel-good messages about how great it is to be a Mormon. Sometimes big changes are made (like a few years ago when the Word of Wisdom was re-interpreted to not mean any caffeinated beverage, but only tea and coffee…funny how that same year one of the Apostles was on the board for Pepsi), but usually it’s about being good people and feeling the spirit. Crazy evangelists hold signs during this time and tell Mormons they are going to hell. Others try to strike up conversations, but most of the throngs of people are set on getting into that building.

            I was invited by a girl in my ward to join her and a handful of others to try to go get tickets in the standby line. We went to her parents’ house the night before in South Jordan, and then awoke early the next day. I regret that I put my own comfort above showing love actively for most of the night, but I was able to learn a lot about what it means to be LDS and how LDS families work.

            Temple Square during General Conference is almost unrecognizable. As we waited in line for a couple hours, we were visited by several pairs of missionaries. It was interesting to hear them speak to an audience of Mormons. They have a new policy of doing teaching through the phone. They asked everyone to go through their phones and give them the names and numbers of all the non-members they know. One in particular struck me because she was so well-suited to be a missionary there. She is a strikingly beautiful girl from Germany and was forceful and flirtatious in everything she said, so that she got what she wanted from everyone. About half the people they talk to on the phone get baptized. That was really sickening to hear. Please pray about that. It was very frustrating to hear them be super excited about the “spirit” and worshipping God by all singing “Praise to the Man” in the conference. My stomach turned at the thought of that. I started praying that we wouldn’t get in. I saw several missionaries that I know and tried to get to know the ones that stopped by. Two that have been fake and deceptive in our talks thought I was in the process of converting when I said I came with my ward. Their excitement and pride really bothered me but I didn’t know how to tell them I wasn’t interested. I think they assume I’m in that successful half.

            When I finally texted people for prayer, God answered! The encouragement I received back built me up and gave me more confidence in having friendly conversations with my group. The conference started and we did not get in. They decided to go back up to Ogden instead of staying in Salt Lake. I had been pleading with God to bring the Temple Square missionaries I love to us. Just as we were leaving I finally saw them and went up and said hello. It was a really friendly greeting and I gave them my phone number. I’m really excited to start talking with them more.

            We saw the anti-Mormon crowd and on another corner I saw a pastor I know holding a sign that said “God Loves Mormons.” I said hello and introduced him to my group. He gave them a paper he wrote on how the atonement happened on the cross rather than in the Garden of Gethsemane which is LDS teaching. They politely took it but one kept muttering to himself “lies!” as he read. Right after I saw Tommy, a homeless guy whom I had lunch with a few weeks ago. It was cool to say hello and give him what I could. That’s something strange to Mormons. They don’t usually take care of homeless people, because they give so much to the Church (that does not take care of homeless people), they value hard work very highly and look down on idleness, and because they see tobacco and alcohol as such evils.

            After a few hours of public transportation, I was back in Ogden and got to go hang out with Christians. I was so excited that God took care of that situation. He really loves his people and he responds to their requests! I don’t know what we would do without prayer emails and texts, but I am thankful for them! I want to encourage you to ask people to pray for you; God really does it! You can’t get much more biblical than crying out to God.