Ain't No Mountain High Enough

Hey Hey! Man, it is has been a great week here in East Moline. It has been one of those weeks that probably won't be a highlight of my mission, but it has been great none the less. 

I will start off with a quick shout out to J-Dog! Happy Birthday momma! I love you so much and you don't look a day over 30. I have never seen such a slim Grandma in my life. You are the greatest. I will be having a party with Elder Blau and Elder Cline this week to celebrate! 

We did have a couple wild experiences though so I will jump right into it. 

To start off, we have been in a trio all week. Elder Cline from the Twin Bridges 2nd ward has been serving with us all week. It is really nice to have him around. We were in the same MTC district so it has been cool to see the growth in each other since the MTC. He is a great guy and it has been nice to have some extra company while we do the work. 

One of the days we went to a chiropractic office that the 2nd Counselor of our bishopric runs. Elder  Blau has been having some back problems so he helps us out.  He also aligns our spines for free so we take full advantage of it. When we walked in this lady from a ward close by asked us if we could give her a blessing as well. I was asked to be the voice for that. That is one of the cool things about being a missionary, we get to give blessings all the time and exercise our priesthood. Giving blessings is such a great experience. 

We did find a couple new investigators this week so I am really excited to teach them. We have started to work with a part member family in our ward. The father is inactive but he is such an awesome guy. Hopefully things will turn out for them. They are one of those "Why aren't you already Mormon families?" I would love to be able to help them become sealed as a family. 

Because of the trio, we got to attend two ward services yesterday. Six hours of church is always a treat. Man, it was a long day. It was ward conference in both wards, so it was quite the day. Mom, I don't understand how you did that stuff with the Young Womens. I was exhausted just from sitting there all day. In the Twin Bridges ward, one of the Sunday school teachers didn't have a substitute for his class so he asked us if we could cover for him. No warning, all he said was the lesson was on the Atonement and he took off. Sweet. When we sat in the class, we found out that it was the 16-18-year-old class. As we got started one of the beehives came in and said that they didn't have a teacher either and wondered if they could come with us. So basically, we taught the entire youth of the Twin Bridges ward about the Atonement without any prior preparation. Luckily, we study a lot. It was a great lesson. The Atonement is an amazing act of Love that our Savior provided. 

To conclude I will share a cute thought on the Atonement. In Romans 8:38-39 it says, "For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."  In the margin of my scriptures I wrote, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough..." Of course, I have to compare gospel principles to classic music. In reality, there is absolutely nothing that will separate us from the love of God and Jesus Christ. The Atonement is always there for us. In Jacob 6, we read that He has his hands outstretched towards us all the day long. It is such a comforting message when sometimes we feel that all is lost. I love this gospel and I am grateful every day for the Atonement. It should be used every single day, no matter how good we think we are doing. We all fall short of the glory of God, but through the Atonement, we can keep trying and keep progressing. 

That is all I've got for you guys this week. I hope that everything goes well this week! I love you guys.

Have a great weekend and pay extra attention to Conference! It is Christmas already! 

The Momma's boy,

Elder Obray

p.s. Transfers are this week, so I am getting a new companion. I will keep you posted on how that goes. I am most likely sticking around here in East Moline.