Elder Jordan Paul Kocherhans: April 13, 2015-- Email #77

April 13, 2015

Bagabag, Philippines

Dear Family,

Always such a refreshing experience to listen to the words of living Prophets and Apostles! Like always, their messages fit right into the needs of all those listening, because they come from our loving Heavenly Father who knows what we need to hear at this specific time. We must trust in the revelation received this weekend, and begin to live it immediately! That is how we make our sustaining vote count! I feel bad for those who opposed... I don't know what sort of Prophet their looking for, but the kind that God prepares is not one that satisfies itchy ears or gives fluffy, pleasing doctrines. The kind of Prophets God calls are those who have been called from the most obscure of circumstances, strengthened by God Himself that He may show forth His power, to declare His word to all those who will hearken and heed the voice, no matter how difficult the truth may seem to follow. It is a test of our faith and the key to obtain eternal blessings. The scripture I've especially enjoyed sharing this week, whilst inviting others to hear the Prophet's voice, is found in Mosiah 15:11:

"Behold I say unto you, that whosoever has heard the words of the prophets, yea, all the holy prophets who have prophesied concerning the coming of the Lord—I say unto you, that all those who have hearkened unto their words, and believed that the Lord would redeem his people, and have looked forward to that day for a remission of their sins, I say unto you, that these are his seed, or they are the heirs of the kingdom of God."

There seems to be a key link between our eternal salvation and these specially foreordained men who have brought the scriptures to our understanding, performed miracles, and held the power of God Himself to prepare the children of men for the time they'd be brought to meet their Maker. How great to know the Priesthood has indeed been restored! It's the foolproof way to have a sturdy home and family when it is presided over by the Holy Priesthood, which God in His mercy has allowed us to hold, live, and practice for His purposes!

Anyways, there are too many thoughts from Conference for me to be able to narrow down on one, but I enjoyed as well as you did the thought about "I can teach you to dance, but you have to hear the music". It's what we do as missionaries every day. We're teaching everyone the most complete and correct of any dance on earth, and everyone looks at us like we're a little crazy. "Why is this crazy white guy talking to me about a living Prophet? What does that even mean?" It's because they haven't yet heard the amazing, life-changing, perspective-shifting, harmonious-beyond-compare music of this precious restored Gospel! I think of the lyrics to a EFY song from "Meet the Mormons":

It's like a symphony

Just keep listening

And pretty soon you'll start

To figure out your part

Everyone plays a piece

And there are melodies

In each one of us

Oh, It's glorious

This computer shop always malfunctions and it's super annoying! I have to stop having such long testimonies at the beginning or something, I never get to talk about the people we're teaching! We have a lot of people in our teaching pool shifting in and out so it's been difficult to center in on specific investigators. But Efren Oro came to attend conference and I saw him tearing up at many parts, especially when the speaker would bare testimony of the living Christ. It was awesome! God has something big in store for us, just around the corner. I can feel it. I hope you feel it too. I've been learning how to obtain hope as of late, and trying to distinguish it between patience. A perfect brightness of hope is the attitude that we know the blessings will come as long as we keep living the way we should to obtain them and appreciate them. I know this church is true. I know God lives, and that Jesus Christ is the victor over sin and death. Stay on His side. He has given us plenty of evidence to let us know He will never fail us, and the adversary always will fail us. I leave this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

-Elder Kocherhans

Editors note-- Elder JPK sent 17 digital photos along with his email this week! :-)