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| April 10, 2019 Cecilia and Gerardo Baptism! :) |
Hey Everyone!
This past week has flown by and I have honestly loved every second of it! With so many cool experiences it has been hard to put them all down with the time allotted but I am going to give a handful of my favorites! Well, for starters the title of this email comes the goal of my companionship of really keep us in good physical shape, because the mission here in Monterrey is really awesome, but keeping a balanced diet is really difficult to maintain, so we have begun to place even more emphasis in an exercise program where we can try to burn off the extra tortillas and the extremely well-cooked meat, haha! So while we were talking about this one day, my companion began to ask me how somebody describes someone that is really strong. I jokingly responded with some slang about how you can call someone huge and it is a wonderful compliment. So now, every morning after we finish our workout, he looks in the mirror and asks me I´m huge, right Elder Raven? and I just chuckle and say absolutely every time! This is just so priceless because knowing my companion Elder Chavez does not speak a lot of English, it is about the only English interaction we have outside of language study, and somehow it strikes me really funny!
Anyway as for the more spiritual side of things:
The power of a personal inventory
As I was reflecting this past week during our companionship inventory that we do, I came to realize something incredibly powerful about the gospel. The moment in which we come to know better our own personal weaknesses the better that we can connect with the grace and atoning powers of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Sometimes I have noticed a cultural thing within the church that we can become debilitated by our apparent lack of effort, results, or whatever other lies that Satan wishes to give. Sometimes we in the midst of an abundance of blessings can let the tiniest of details steal the abundance of happiness that the gospel offers us. From this I realized something important, the much like the week prior, that if we can truly find our ways to improve then we can begin the process back to God, because I personally know that I have in some way s deluded myself into seeing my true colors, but during this past week I have tried to have a daily inventory with God in my personal prayers at night. I am trying to sincerely ask to be filled with gratitude for all that I have, and then in turn, reflect, and ask Heavenly Father what it is that I can repent of. These two steps have made my prayers infinitely greater this past week, and I have been able to see my little errors, I begin to see the infinite virtues of God who loves us perfectly, who acts in our best interest, and allows to face difficulties so that we can grow. I truly testify that we have a loving Heavenly Father, that he wishes for us to become as He is, and that only through His Son we have the opportunity to receive these blessings! I truly have felt the power of liberation that comes when we seek to genuinely look into our shadows to permit the light of the gospel to fill us! I feel that this might be a ramble, but the point is that I testify of the Love of God for each and everyone of us, I testify of our divine potential and that God is at the Helm of this wonderful Church that was made to help us gradually become more perfected!
Weekly Recap
Martes: Intercambios con Los Elizondo (Elder Ramirez)
Take I had some intercambios with the Elders from Los Elizondo, with Elder Ramirez from Mexico City being my companion for the day! The real highlight from this day was in being to help a member in the ward take the initiative to begin activating all the less active members of her family who live in Los Elizondo, and the Elders this past week were able to have many begin to come to church again which was a beautiful piece of news to receive!
Miercoles: Bautismos de Cecilia y Gerardo
Cecilia and Gerardo got baptized and confirmed this past week and because we held the baptismal service with special permission to do it on Wednesday night after Mutual, we had basically all of the active ward members supporting her in this decision and it was a truly beautiful service because as well we were able to include a recent convert, Hermano Jahaziel to do the baptismal ordinance for her, and although he was incredibly nervous, he was able to do it flawlessly! I truly testify that we have greater access to the atonement of Jesus Christ through these Ordinances and that through our faith and commitment to our covenants, we can truly become more like Christ, and shake off the darkening influences of the adversary! I love this gospel for this exact purpose and that we can become beings of light to help illuminate everyone around us to find the joy of the gospel!
Jueves: Isael y David
We have been teaching the family Cabral for quite some time and we have been really focusing on David and Isael (Isael is the father of the family) and we are hoping that they will be able to be baptized soon! They are a wonderful family, and we have really focused on maintaining daily contact with them to help them in their critical moments of opposition and blessings!
Sabado: Alonso y Paola
As a result of the bautismo de Cecilia and Gerardo on Wednesday, her daughter-in-law, and her son became really interested in the Church, we have begun to find a few difficulties with them, but their desires to follow Christ are wonderfully strong, and we will see what this next week holds.
Domingo: Familia Garcia de la Cruz
We were able to spend time on Sunday to teach the family Navarrasco another time, but the really cool experiences happened when we were eating with the Garcia de la Cruz Family who are incredibly active and for 20-plus years have been battling with the father of the mother of the Garcia family to help him be baptized to be a member of the church and so that their family and be sealed together! She shared that the missionaries before never really took much interest in her family life, but because we listened, we were able to give meaningful counsel through the Book of Mormon, and she told us that she is going to try another time to see if she can directly ask her father what impedes him from progressing in the church, and then lovingly invite him to speak with the missionaries for the zillionth time and begin the road to an eternal family! It was a beautiful experience and it made me really reflect about how we always have missionary opportunities, and I am praying that this sister will be able to have the Spirit help her to touch her father´s heart!
Lunes: Los Elders de la casa rosada
We helped the Zone Leaders move houses today, and their new house is a tint of pink so bright that already they are creating the legend of the little pink house Elders and I have been able to successfully use it to help other people find the directions to the chapel, haha!
I love you all
Elder Raven
Here is a pic of the baptism!
