One of the things I learned this week is that we need to have fun! Heavenly Father has sent us to this life to have joy, definitely to learn and grow, but to have a good time doing it. Preach My Gospel says that God is not only preparing people to receive the restored gospel, but also to receive *me*, like me with all my personality and quirks and goals and experiences. So I've been trying to figure that out this week, who is the person that these people have been prepared to meet? And how can I be myself more? That seems like a silly question, but it's been a challenging one for me. Heavenly Father has a way of getting right to the point with faults or questions or attributes I want to develop. I can promise you that if you have a goal or a question or a skill you want to develop, if you take it to the Lord He will bless you with specific things that will help you with that. Like patience. That's an attribute you better be really sure you want to develop before you ask for help... But anyways.
So this week we decided to shake things up. Angel has had a hard time deciding to get baptised. And I know I've written about him a TON and you're probably thinking that he just needs to get baptized already. I know. So we went with this great inspired idea to kind of do Lehi's vision with him. We read part of 1 Nephi 8 and then had him pick some of these footprints we made. Some of them we let him put in front of him to progress towards the fruit we had brought him, and some we had him go backwards. And then when he chose the footprint that said baptism we helped him pick the right footprints to get all the way to the tree. We taught him that these steps he was taking he needs to take in order to come closer to Jesus Christ. And that baptism was going to help him come closer to Jesus Christ. He didn't really get it, but we felt the spirit in the lesson and felt good about it anyways. We went back the next day or two days later and we asked him really how he felt about baptism. And he said that he didn't know. So we asked him to pray right then for an answer, that Heavenly Father would give him an answer as we read a conference talk by President Monson. He prayed and it was a very sincere prayer. This kid knows that when he prays he is talking with his Heavenly Father. And the talk we had picked out to read (like a week ago) was "Ponder the Path of Thy Feet". And guess what. We were talking about Jesus Christ and following His example when Angle whispers "I got my answer." And sister Rea and I are dying on the inside with joy and incredulidad. He says "I get it, I need to get to Christ, and baptism is the step that I need to take next" (but in spanish). The Spirit taught him the point of the tree activity, and also answered his specific prayer. We sat there enjoying the spirit that was there testifying of Christ, and then Angel starts flipping through the pages of the magazine and finds a beautiful picture of the sacred grove, and I found myself telling him of my experience there in Palmyra New York. How I was there, but also how I have come to know that God, our Father, came to earth that morning with His Beloved Son to restore the fullness of the gospel to the earth. The peace that I felt sitting in the grove was amazing, but the divine love and power we felt sitting there looking at the picture in the Liahona magazine was something I will not forget. The Restoration happened. The Gospel is on the earth again. We are in the dispensation where the truth will not be taken away again.
Angel now is back on date, hopefully for good. This Sunday he almost didn't come to Church. Sister Rea and I were on his doorstep trying to show him that he knew he needed to come and encouraging him and helping him make this decision to come to church even though his mom wasn't there and it would be hard. He was being stubborn, even though he knew he needed to come he didn't want to. So we left his porch telling him we would send someone by to pick him up and that we would see him at church xD and he came!! This 14 year old kid had the faith to do something really difficult for him because he knew it was right and trusted in his Heavenly Father. We are going to do origami with him tonight to kind of mend our friendship with him though because I think he was annoyed with us.
We've been working super hard. Every day praying to follow the spirit to the people who are ready to hear our message, working every day to give Heavenly Father the chance to answer our prayers. One day we were going about with the plans we had made the previous night and Sister Rea got a distinct impression that we should not go and visit this investigator. She felt that something bad would happen or that it wasn't safe. So we drove a little and I got the feeling we should knock on this door. And we did and guess what, it was a lady I had taught a long while ago who just sort of yelled at us and told us off for teaching things other than the Bible, and who was definitely not interested. So we talked with her and she told us she thinks we are good people trying to do good things, but mislead or whatever, and that she doesn't need us to talk to her again. We just told her that God is aware of her and her family and loves them and that He wants her to be happy and stuff. We bore our testimonies and then left. I was confused about why we were told to go there. And the whole day was kind of filled with experiences like that, where we felt directed to certain houses to find people who just were not interested or ready. I don't really know why, but I can say that even though it was a hard day and I was kind of frustrated, I learned a lot about following the spirit and trusting Heavenly Father and His plans for the day. I was reading back through some of my notes from the MTC and found this question "Where does today fit in with the Plan of Salvation?". We are mortal beings and as such we don't have the ability to see eternity as a whole, but Heavenly Father can. And we just need to have faith and act on the things He has given us.
I beseech of thee that thou wilt hear my words and learn of me; for I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day. Alma 36:3
Love and prayers for you. I know you are in good hands. I am too, yo lo se. Do or find something this week that is unbearably funny, and PLEASE send me an email about how it went!
LOVE YOU,
mle
So this week we decided to shake things up. Angel has had a hard time deciding to get baptised. And I know I've written about him a TON and you're probably thinking that he just needs to get baptized already. I know. So we went with this great inspired idea to kind of do Lehi's vision with him. We read part of 1 Nephi 8 and then had him pick some of these footprints we made. Some of them we let him put in front of him to progress towards the fruit we had brought him, and some we had him go backwards. And then when he chose the footprint that said baptism we helped him pick the right footprints to get all the way to the tree. We taught him that these steps he was taking he needs to take in order to come closer to Jesus Christ. And that baptism was going to help him come closer to Jesus Christ. He didn't really get it, but we felt the spirit in the lesson and felt good about it anyways. We went back the next day or two days later and we asked him really how he felt about baptism. And he said that he didn't know. So we asked him to pray right then for an answer, that Heavenly Father would give him an answer as we read a conference talk by President Monson. He prayed and it was a very sincere prayer. This kid knows that when he prays he is talking with his Heavenly Father. And the talk we had picked out to read (like a week ago) was "Ponder the Path of Thy Feet". And guess what. We were talking about Jesus Christ and following His example when Angle whispers "I got my answer." And sister Rea and I are dying on the inside with joy and incredulidad. He says "I get it, I need to get to Christ, and baptism is the step that I need to take next" (but in spanish). The Spirit taught him the point of the tree activity, and also answered his specific prayer. We sat there enjoying the spirit that was there testifying of Christ, and then Angel starts flipping through the pages of the magazine and finds a beautiful picture of the sacred grove, and I found myself telling him of my experience there in Palmyra New York. How I was there, but also how I have come to know that God, our Father, came to earth that morning with His Beloved Son to restore the fullness of the gospel to the earth. The peace that I felt sitting in the grove was amazing, but the divine love and power we felt sitting there looking at the picture in the Liahona magazine was something I will not forget. The Restoration happened. The Gospel is on the earth again. We are in the dispensation where the truth will not be taken away again.
Angel now is back on date, hopefully for good. This Sunday he almost didn't come to Church. Sister Rea and I were on his doorstep trying to show him that he knew he needed to come and encouraging him and helping him make this decision to come to church even though his mom wasn't there and it would be hard. He was being stubborn, even though he knew he needed to come he didn't want to. So we left his porch telling him we would send someone by to pick him up and that we would see him at church xD and he came!! This 14 year old kid had the faith to do something really difficult for him because he knew it was right and trusted in his Heavenly Father. We are going to do origami with him tonight to kind of mend our friendship with him though because I think he was annoyed with us.
We've been working super hard. Every day praying to follow the spirit to the people who are ready to hear our message, working every day to give Heavenly Father the chance to answer our prayers. One day we were going about with the plans we had made the previous night and Sister Rea got a distinct impression that we should not go and visit this investigator. She felt that something bad would happen or that it wasn't safe. So we drove a little and I got the feeling we should knock on this door. And we did and guess what, it was a lady I had taught a long while ago who just sort of yelled at us and told us off for teaching things other than the Bible, and who was definitely not interested. So we talked with her and she told us she thinks we are good people trying to do good things, but mislead or whatever, and that she doesn't need us to talk to her again. We just told her that God is aware of her and her family and loves them and that He wants her to be happy and stuff. We bore our testimonies and then left. I was confused about why we were told to go there. And the whole day was kind of filled with experiences like that, where we felt directed to certain houses to find people who just were not interested or ready. I don't really know why, but I can say that even though it was a hard day and I was kind of frustrated, I learned a lot about following the spirit and trusting Heavenly Father and His plans for the day. I was reading back through some of my notes from the MTC and found this question "Where does today fit in with the Plan of Salvation?". We are mortal beings and as such we don't have the ability to see eternity as a whole, but Heavenly Father can. And we just need to have faith and act on the things He has given us.
I beseech of thee that thou wilt hear my words and learn of me; for I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day. Alma 36:3
Love and prayers for you. I know you are in good hands. I am too, yo lo se. Do or find something this week that is unbearably funny, and PLEASE send me an email about how it went!
LOVE YOU,
mle