" In spite of my.....sometimes juvenile follies, the Lord has allowed His holy work to progress. Even in my greatest weakness, He has seen fit to use me, however clumsy or unfit, as a tool in His hands to advance the areas to which I've been assigned...... The Master Carpenter is continually carving, shaping, and sanding me into the witness He needs me to be....."

Dear Family and Friends,

            So I received some conference talks from Mom some time ago, and they were from my favorite speakers: Elders Holland and Oaks. There were pretty awesome. One of them mentioned a scripture from D&C that caught my eye. D&C 64: 32-34 says, "...be not weary in well doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work." The story of my mission life. That's apparently my role as a missionary--- to plant seeds. It's not easy, but I've learned a lot of patience. "...We should waste and wear out our lives in bringing to light all the hidden things of darkness." (D&C 123: 13)

            Last week I finished the Old Testament! And guess what I gained a testimony of? The Book of Mormon, haha. From reading the OT, I understand the difference between an inspired collection of writings and a not-so-inspired one.  The Bible as we have it now was compiled by a council of men who fought over doctrine. The Book of Mormon, however, was compiled by a man inspired of God, who was led as to what he should include. There are parts of the OT that I'm not sure are 'inspired writings' at all, as defined by Peter in 1 Pet 1: 21. Reading the OT is quite like mining: you'll go through tons of repetitive dirt that all looks the same, but occasionally you'll find hidden treasures of doctrine. And those doctrines you discover are really intense. For example, I learned a lot about the role of the tribe of Ephraim: Gen 49:26/ Deut 33:13-17/ 1 Chr 5:1/ Jer 31:9, 31-36 cross referenced with 2 Ne 12: 2-5 and D&C 133: 30-34. Besides those fun hidden truths, the rest of the OT is about the follies of Israel, their cursings, and the fact that the Lord will gather them in the last days. I can't count how many times I 

read about those things, haha. All in all, it was good to read, though. I understand all the chronology much better now. Now I'll never have to read it all the way through again! I prefer the more poetic and personal feel of the rest of our standard works anyway. (I'm NOT bashing the OT, by the way.)

            This week we taught the second group of people who came to District Conference, most of them were just kids, albeit they were really smart, and our member helped us a ton. It's... an experience to teach a large group, and slightly more chaotic if that's at all possible.

            Some months ago, Sis. Shulz challenged us all to re-commit to exact obedience, and she promised that we would see miracles from it. I was up for it, I had slackened a bit and there was room for improvement. So I did as directed, went through my white handbook to mark the places where I had fallen short, and began to work on them. Things did improve, but over time I realized I was still making mistakes. I was doing my best, and my best was the most I could give. I came to internally understand and personally realized the words of the Preacher, "For there  is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not", (Eccl 7:20) Also, "...there is not flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah..." (2 Nephi 2:8) I thought I could simply choose to be perfect; I now know it's not possible by my own meager power.

            I have seen miracles from my EFFORTS to obey, though. There were no majestic visions opened to my eyes; there were no grand outpourings of the Spirit; there were no golden investigators begging to be baptized. The miracles I've witnessed were small, seemingly finite instances in everyday work. In spite of my repetitive and sometimes juvenile follies, the Lord has allowed His holy work to progress. Even in my greatest weakness, He has seen fit to use me, however clumsy or unfit, as a tool in His hands to advance the areas to which I've been assigned. He has still led us to the people we needed to meet, and granted that necessary circumstances fall into place.

            Perhaps the greatest miracle I now see is how all along the way, the Almighty manages to teach my stubborn soul one by one, the lessons I must learn. The Master Carpenter is continually carving, shaping, and sanding me into the witness He needs me to be--- for now and for years to come. I need to be forever strong on the field, so I can be forever strong off the field.

Love,

Elder Doggett

P.S. The computer I am on right now is apparently British. It's trying to correct my spelling, telling me 'favorite' is actually 'favourite', and 'meager' is actually 'meagre'. Pssh... Brits. :D