Hello!
Wonderful week here
in good ole Cecil County! I am excited I get to talk to my family on Sunday!
It's been about 4 1/2 months, but it felt like a few days for sure. I really do
not have all that much to report on this week, so I'll just talk about Rosa and
her baptism.
So about 7 weeks ago,
my last companion and I were having a hard time helping our investigators
progress further. We were at a dinner appointment and I was telling the member
that we have all these people who are not progressing. He told us to drop them,
which I basically said ..."Umm, not going to do that." He then came back around
and said, "Do you have faith that the Lord will provide people for you to
teach if you take a chance?" I was very hesitant and then he basically
rebuked me In a loving way. He was just like, "Maybe it's not the area that
is hard. Maybe it's the faith of our missionaries in this area." So we went
home that night and in my head I was like, "How dare he? I work my tail off
and he says that?!" But then, of course, when I really thought about it, he
was right. That night we told ourselves we would spend ONE day, completely
tracting and finding, the whole day, but we wanted to know where to go. We wanted just one prepared person to be there.
We both felt
inspired to choose this small dinky neighborhood, which we were sure had been
tracted before. Anywho we went, after two hours of rejections from all these
Catholics, we came to a split in the road, about to give up we said, "Let's knock
these last three houses on the right and then head out." The first house we
knocked, Rosa came to the door and she didn't understand my English, so then she
started to close the door and I remember just raising my voice, "NO NO NO
VAS NO VAS." (Don't go, don't go), so she came back and in my broken Spanish, I tried talking to her. She agreed to have us back the next day.
We came
back and she told us her life story. She claims (but I know she wasn't) she was
baptized into the church eight years ago in Mexico, but she moved from Mexico to
Italy and left the church (she says because it wasn't as strong there) and went
to all these different churches trying to find the truth. (That's how I know she
didn't join the church because she would have already found truth). So then
after a while of going to different churches, she moved here to MD so that her
autistic son can get better education. She married this man who is extremely
abusive, physically and verbally, and is still married to him. Anyways, we met
with her, she came to church, and ever since then she has just been incredible. She reads and reads and reads and goes to church, she prays. She's amazing.
During all this, her husband took her scriptures and ripped them all to shreds.
She went and pieced them all back together and taped them. She threw all of her
coffee away on the spot during our lesson. She always tells us (and it's funny to
listen to her nice little English), "This church true because Joseph Smith
prophet, Book of Mormon true, priesthood and revelation" to which we say,
"YES!"
Anyways, her baptism was beautiful. I was able to baptize her. She
was crying and crying and so happy. Sunday she was confirmed, she went up and
bore her testimony to everyone. It was wonderful. The ward LOVES her. We are
hoping to take her to the temple next week... Her reaction to that was, "Is
good for Mother's Day gift!"
I just love this
story because it was a smack in my face basically saying that the Lord has
prepared people everywhere in the world to receive missionaries and members.
Where they are is the question, but it is definitely our part to find them and
help them.
Anywho I read a talk
this week I really liked. It is called, "A Pattern For Peace." I'm
going to share a few parts I liked.
In our journey
through mortality, as glorious as our intended destination may be and as
exhilarating as the journey may prove, we will all be subject to trials and
sorrow along the way. Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin taught: “The dial on
the wheel of sorrow eventually points to each of us. At one time or another,
everyone must experience sorrow. No one is exempt.” “The Lord in
His wisdom does not shield anyone from grief or sadness.” However, our ability
to travel this road in peace is, in large part, dependent on whether or not we
too have a hard time thinking about Jesus.
Peace
of mind, peace of conscience, and peace of heart are not determined by our
ability to avoid trials, sorrow, or heartache. Despite our sincere pleas, not every
storm will change course, not every infirmity will be healed, and we may not
fully understand every doctrine, principle, or practice taught by prophets,
seers, and revelators. Nevertheless, we have been promised peace--with a
condition attached.
In the Gospel of
John, the Savior taught that despite the tribulations of life, we can be of
good cheer, we can be of good hope, and we need not fear, because He declared,
“In me ye might have peace.” Faith in Jesus Christ and His
atoning sacrifice is, and forever will be, the first principle of the gospel
and the foundation upon which our hope for “peace in this world, and eternal
life in the world to come” is built.
In our search for
peace amidst the daily challenges of life, we’ve been given a simple pattern to
keep our thoughts focused on the Savior, who said: “Learn of me, and listen to
my words; walk in the meekness of my Spirit, and you shall have peace in me. I
am Jesus Christ.”
Learn,
listen, and walk--three steps with a promise.
No wonder in my
mission we say, "Learn it, live it, share it." It is definitely a
promise, and it is definitely one I have seen come true.
God bless.
Elder Wilde
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