This past week has been an interesting one! In my last blog post I mentioned how we had to take our car to the shop for needed repairs. The car was in the shop for almost a week which put Elder Lang and I on foot for a few days. Normally we would be riding bikes, but we only had one bike. On Friday Elder Grant, a missionary serving in Lake City, came down to Branford to see a few people with me. Friday went good, no problems really. But Saturday was where we learned a simple, but lasting lesson. Saturday morning started out like any other morning as a missionary. As we were about to head out to walk around trying to talk to people we received a warning text from Sister Barry informing us that we had thunderstorm warnings. Sister Barry is a wonderful lady who has been called to help protect us missionaries. Well we didn't want to just sit in the apartment, so we decided to go out and work, besides if it got bad we would just hurry back to the apartment. As we walked out of the apartment we could see dark clouds but they were a little ways off and we thought we would have at least 30 minutes to proselyte. So we started walking. As we got a some distance away from the apartment guess what happened? Yep it started to pour rain. We stood under some persons porch for a little bit hoping that the rain would just go away. After a minute or two it calmed down a little but it didn't go away. The logical idea at this point would be to start heading back, right? Right, that would be the logical decision, but did we choose that decision? Nope. We thought "hey it calmed down!" and moved on with what we were doing. As we walked some more we saw a lady and went to talk to her. As soon as we started talking to her it started pouring again and she told us goodbye then ran inside. We decided at this point that the weather is getting pretty bad so we should head back. We ran under a little roof extending off from a shed and sat there again hoping that maybe it would calm down again. But this time it didn't. Really the best way back to our apartment was to run through a small forest. And thats just what we did. We ran through the forest the best we could, but as we ran through vines and brush blocked our way, along with spiders and other bugs. About half way through we got a little lost and wondered if we were heading the right way. Rain was pouring. Lighting filled the sky and thunder followed behind. The thought came to my mind "if we would've just heeded the warning by Sister Barry we wouldn't be here right now." Eventually, after some trial, we made it back safely. 
This experience reminded me of times in every ones life. At times everyone is faced with a decision and must act upon that decision. Sometimes we choose wrong, other times we choose right, or other times we dont know what to choose. Today we have special people, called prophets, who are called by Jesus Christ himself, to warn us and keep us out of danger. Prophets are righteous men called by God to be His mouthpiece. They speak Gods will, and we have the choice to obey their council and be blessed or take our own path and accept the consequences. Elder Grant and I didn't heed Sister Barrys warnings and because of that we were caught in a storm. We justified our actions, took our own course, and thought that it would be easy to return back Then when we got caught in the storm we hoped that it would just "go away". Everyone may experience the same feelings when they disregard Gods commandments and commit sin. After Elder Grant and I continued down our own course we realized that it would've been best to just follow the warning. We then had to take the long hard course back (repentance). But we did make it back! I know from experience that its best to listen to and follow the living prophets. They point us to Jesus Christ, who is the source of true happiness! The Prophets know what lies ahead and tell us exactly what we need to do to prevent unnecessary trials. When we heed their council we are blessed with those things we stand in need of. Our lead prophet today is President Thomas S. Monson. This weekend on March 31st and April 1st President Monson and the Apostles will be speaking to us! We can hear the wonderful and uplifting word of God (see Jacob 3:2, Book of Mormon) and see His will be revealed to us in these days. What a blessing! I am excited to hear their words and follow their council.
To watch President Monson and the Apostles speak go to: http://www.lds.org/
To learn more about how God again called a prophet go to: http://mormon.org/restoration/
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