Hola todos!
Mission just keeps on going! The weeks are starting to really fly. I blink and its monday again. That did NOT used to be the case 😅
We have been seeing so much success here! Weve turned the area around. We had 3 baptisms last 2 weeks and we hope to have another this week! It is crazy to see the work and the people change from area to area. In my last area it was 12 weeks of TOUGH work and contacting, everyone already being religious (especially catholic) and not being able to find people ready to grow. And here there are people accepting and have been prepared. I feel so blessed to be here.
Ive been eating tooooo well here. Part of me is grateful i didnt get called to a stateside mission just because of the fast food options haha! Because my areas up until this point have had nothing, not fastfood, or even food at all haha! And now i have dairy queennnn and Pizza hut and burber king down the road. In other areas even if there was food, i had to spend so much money on travel i never got to get any but here we barely travel! But if my problem is im having too much good food, i am too blessed haha!
I got to go to the temple this last week, and i had missed it so much. I felt proud to understand the endownment in spanish haha! What a gift it is to experience heaven on earth and enter into the Lord's presense. There is so much insight to why we are here. I speak to so many people everyday who, when i ask if they know what their purpose is or why they are here, they shake their heads no. How blessed are we to have such insight. Go to the temple.
This last week we had zone conference with elder douglas from the 70! He spoke in general conference a few years ago, it was so nice to hear from him! We were asked to prepare a 5 minutes talk about faith and there was a chance we would be called on to present ours and speak in front of everyone. I prepared mine and didnt get a chance to share, so ill share it here. I love you all and i thank you for all the support!!
Hola elderes y hermanas. After reading and listening to the talks by elder Bednar, it seems fitting that I form this little talk, about faith. Elder Bednar teaches about the ways that we can grow our faith, and how faith can guide our growth with our heavenly father. What I feel as though we often forget, or don't realize, is that faith is an ordinance. The fourth article of faith says that the first ordinances of the gospel are what? First, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. What does this mean that faith is an ordinance? And how should that affect how we look at it? How do we, as missionaries, explain what an ordinance is? What I usually ask is if they know what a covenant is. And most of the time they will tell me it is like an agreement between two people. So an ordinance is a covenant and a covenant is an agreement, and faith is an ordinance. So simple math would tell us that faith is an agreement between us and God, but what does that mean? We don't often think of faith more than a one sided belief we cling on to when we have nothing else to explain our beliefs. Thanks to the prophet Joseph Smith, we know that faith is the power which God holds. Wait, god works through faith? How can this be? What does God have to have faith in? Us, and the elements that he controls! If we remember that our faith is an ordinance, or an agreement with God, we can begin to put the pieces of the puzzle together. I read once, that faith connects us and God like an electric circuit. When we have faith in the Lord, he can have faith in us. He can have faith and trust that we are going to keep the commandments, and therefore endow us with spiritual power because we are worthy of it. I think of Nephi in the book of helaman, who received the sealing power from the Lord on account of the fact that the Lord knew he wouldn't use it in a way contrary to how the Lord himself would use it. So now, us showing our faith has a whole new meaning. My stake president told me once, that if we break the commandments, it is because we did not have enough faith in the first place to keep them. I feel like this insight adds to the picture I am trying to paint. When we keep the commandments, we show the Lord that we are worthy of receiving his power and knowledge. He can trust in us, as we can trust in him. This is the ordinance or the active agreement we have with God. When we choose to have faith with him, we complete the circuit of power that allows it to grow and wax stronger. Faith isn't just to have faith in things we cant see, but the evidence of that which we can not see, that is there, says Hebrews 11. Elder Bednar points out in his talk, that faith is the principle of action in all intelligent beings. He points out many times the fact that we need to act, act in obedience and showing the Lord we are worthy of his power and his divine help. That we want him. And thus, we build the trust between us and the Lord, until our faith really can move mountains. The question isn't whether or not we believe in the Lord enough, it's whether we care to draw upon his power that is waiting for us, and what we are willing to do to receive it. This is faith. Keeping the commandments because of this faith we have and seek to gain, not only grows our faith, but grows us closer to God because we are becoming more like him. When we keep the commandments, we put off the natural man. You are all very hungry right now from fasting. What a better way to show your faith, and the power your spirit has over your body as well, to bring it to a higher, celestial level. Elderes y hermanas, we are not anything without faith. Faith is the first ordinance of the gospel we live and preach, and it seems fitting that it is something we seek to master everyday during the length of our probation and into the eternities.
