Hope you all are doing well, and had a wonderful week!
We got the cambios today and I am going to be staying here in Alianza Real with Elder Santiago as District Leader for another change, and I am honestly so excited I have another chance to serve here because I have grown to love this branch so much, and all the wonderful families that we are teaching and helping ot progress in the church teachings! We have been searching high and low for the prepared families and God has truly answered our prayers this past week in being able to receive references from other people and have some experiences in street contacts or unexpected occurances to help everyone come unto Christ!
One More Change with our District in Rama Alianza Real
Elder Santiago, Elder Raven, Elder Basurto, Elder Aguilar
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| Our District serving in the Rama Alianza Real |
One of the coolest ones has been Antonio who is a college student that is very well versed in the bible, and he recognizes that the Catholic church has a lot of doctrinal holes to him, and he has been searching for the truth for quite some time and it is so awesome to be able to answer some of his life long questions through the Restoration, the Plan of Salvation, and all the wonderful teachings and principles of the perfectly restored gospel! Being able to see the light in his eyes growing each time we speak, is a testimony to me of the reality of the church that we as missionaries represent!
Sorry I never seem to have enough time to share everything, but I will really try next week, haha!
Spiritual thoguht-Things that happened
So this past week was honestly the greatest in many aspects because of the challenges and opportunities given, as well as the joy of overcoming all of the curveballs and having a truly blessed week! I really thought a lot this past week about a Japanese saying that roughly translated means the title of this week´s email! That We really are successful if we can take our mistakes and our errors and learn from them, and not let them define us if we fall another time!
This was especially true in a situation that we had on Tuesday because what happened is that I was giving the weekly capacitation when suddenly the Zone Leaders called and said that they were outside of the casa de oracion where we hold our meetings and wanted to drop in and evaluate the capacitation. No pressure ... right, haha! The capacitation was going well, and then suddenly President Maucotel and his Wife called, and they said the exact same things that they wished to be able to drop in and were waiting outside for us to open the doors! This really put me under a lot of pressure to capacitate well, and it was in this moment when I really felt the Spirit guiding my words to be able to bring across all of the ideas that I had about missionary work! I honestly felt so blessed that this didn´t result in an embarrasing situation, and we all left edified from the capacitation.
Looking back, I would like to share some of the thoughts and experiences that I learned from Early Tuesday morning!
First, the way in which expressing love is really the intelligent way to live! Jesus Christ was the most intelligent being to walk the face of the earth, and he dedicate all of his days to serving others, being in the present moment, and building up the Church so that all the children of God can receive the promised blessings of the Gospel. They are two ways to gain this love and charity for others, if we can act as Moroni stated and pray unto God with all the energy of heart for this love, and If we truly dedicate ourselves to at least two pure acts of service everyday, I promise that we will see the quality of our lives improve, we will feel a greater sense of personal worth and value, and grow in love, and after a great effort we can become true disciples before God for we are filled with his love, because it is like King Benjamin shared in his grand address to the Nephites: ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins.” This is truly the way to greater intelligence and a more blessed life.,
Secondly, consecrating all that we have to God is really the true way to enduring happiness! If we feel that we are missing something in life, we can take a moment to reflect about our connection with God, see where we are in this process, and then commit to the small things that bring us closer to him. For example, if our scripture study is shaky, we can make a concentrated effort to sanctify these learning experiences in the house! I love the words of Omni 1:26 that state:
And now, my beloved brethren, I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved.
These were some of the thoughts that I shared, and I wish that I had more time to write all these things down, but until next week!
Love you all,
Elder Raven
