Week 65: What to do when the devil attacks 悪魔が攻めてくるときはどうしょう？

It was an interesting week. Had a companionship of other missionaries stay at our apartment while waiting for their apartment to be ready for them, and another companionship of missionaries stay over because they were here for conference. Also, with the start of the transfer, Sister missionaries came to Matsuyama! so now we can refer female investigators to them and such. Should help a ton.

what a great general conference. I really felt like some of the talks were straight answers for me.

So we had quite a few lessons fall through and investigators drop and such the last couple weeks. I`m pretty sure Satan is attacking them. And with that of course comes some disappointment and some disagreeable feelings.

wait......

`of course`?

no. it doesn`t have to be that way. Perhaps it has been that way in the past, but it doesn`t have to be so now.

We are all children of God, who loves us. He provided this life as a chance for us to learn and grow. We all knew there would be trials and hardships along the way.

He sent us the gift of the Holy Ghost, to be our constant companion and guide our way through the darkness.

Why should we be caught up being disappointed in the small, insignificant battles we lose, when the War was already won with the completion of the Atonement?

However, There is opposition in all things.  Of course, with a solid understanding of those principles, we should just be happy all the time. But, Satan is there, and he jumps on every thought of incompetence, disappointment, anger, etc. He glorifies in our misery.

So when He comes to attack us........ how do we counter him?

Its easier than perhaps we make it sometimes.

This week I found he can be defeated very simply. By doing the work of God. Focusing our efforts and minds on helping other people. So yesterday an investigator didn`t want to meet all of the sudden. He had a baptismal date and everything. Ok, so that`s pretty disappointing. In the past I probably would have been pretty bothered.

Well, we had an hour freed up in the day`s schedule. Thought maybe to try visiting an investigator we haven`t been able to meet for a while.  We found him home and taught a powerful lesson with the spirit. He now has a strong desire to come to church on Sunday, and is moving toward a baptismal date.

The moment where you fail, or something bad happens to you, that is a very important moment. The Devil will be there, in your head. He will try to make you feel as if you can`t do anything, that you`ve failed and you can`t fix it, that you are worthless. He will try to make you question your motives, and try to weaken or destroy your faith.

At that moment, it is crucial to listen hard, because the Holy Ghost will be there, in equal opposition to the yellings of the devil, but in a quiet, yet powerful voice. It will remind you that even though things didn`t turn out, you are a child of God, Christ performed the atonement,  and what you truly are capable of.

The reason Satan attacks you? he is afraid of you. He is afraid of what you are capable of. While he cannot destroy the kingdom of God, we are certainly capable of taking part of destroying the kingdom of Satan. He knows that, and he hates it. Its pretty great.

So I invite you all to take part in destroying Satan`s kingdom this week. In the moment of discouragement, panic, or distress, choose to let the spirit come in and be filled with the love and confidence your Father in Heaven has for you. Lets make Satan squirm.

I love you all.

Elder O`Reilly

So we go to indian curry pretty often. It is wayyyy good. So you know how its super delicious to dip bread in soup? well, Indian curry is where you have a bowl of curry, and you eat it buy dipping delicious bread in until its gone. Pretty great. The bread is all you can eat.

All these bananas (18)....... for 400円. about $4. what. \(*O*)/